One of the major themes of this blog is the importance of maintaining a good sense of perspective. It’s easy to become so wrapped up in our lives that we forget to take a step back every now and then, to gain some perspective. And one of the things in our lives that we’re usually wrapped up with is money.
So let’s take a step back and think about a quick, overly-simplified history of money.
Imagine the beginning of human existence – just a few people scattered throughout the earth trying to survive.
They’re hunting & gathering, cooking, making clothes, building shelters… It’s a lot to manage for one person or couple, so they start doing this in groups. Eventually they realize some of the people in this society are really good at hunting, others are better at building shelters, others are good cooks, etc. So they appoint the people best at each of the individual professions to perform them.
After a while the hunters start to think “Hey, we’re out here chasing animals all day, while the clothes makers get to sit around inside and sew all day. We’re working harder, so we want more clothes in exchange for our catches to even things up!”
And then the home builders think “This is really hard work, we need the hunters to provide us with more food to balance out our efforts!”
Eventually every specialty comes up with a relative trading value, but as more and more industries are developed all of the different trade ratios become too difficult to keep track of. So they need some way to quantify each one.
And that quantification is MONEY.
Later, on an individual level, the best hunters start demanding more money than the inferior ones. Some of the inferior hunters switch to gathering berries, but that job is so simple that after too many berries are being supplied, the gatherers’ value goes down and they earn less. Some of the other inferior hunters see that the shelter-builders are making lots of money and they think they can do that job, so they switch to that career. Eventually the builders’ pay comes down a little because there are now so many of them, but the good ones continue to do well. Eventually some of the great builders decide they don’t enjoy building shelters anymore, so they happily take pay cuts to become clothes makers… and a countless number of these cycles occur and an economy develops.
The point is: a person’s earnings should be highly related to their contribution to society and the uniqueness and level of that contribution… but the highest earners aren’t always the happiest people.
Society in general is always becoming more and more efficient, and competition for resources is always increasing. This requires constant improvement and evolution to stay relevant.
If you feel like you’re making less money than you’re worth, think about how unique your position is in society and how you rank among your coworkers. Think about how to improve and make contributions that others can’t or won’t. Or, take a look at other jobs that seem like easier money because they’re a better fit for you and/or could provide you with the same overall happiness in your life – possibly earning less money, but balanced by more satisfaction.
Everyone has something to offer society. These primitive people probably didn’t worry about hoarding money as much as obtaining the basics so that they could survive and enjoy their lives as much as possible. My recommendation is that you find the perfect balance of doing something you enjoy, are good at, and that will provide you with the lifestyle you want. Everyone has their niche – try to find yours.
-DD
