undervalued at work? you always have options.

If you're feeling undervalued at work, that's not weird at all, and it might in fact be the least weird thing about you. Work is really hard. And when I say it's hard, I definitely don't mean hard like a motivational poster and you get through it. Not like it's hard, but I've got a rising grind and love the hustle. I mean hard like your knees start clicking when you stand up. Hard like your phone is lighting up after hours. Hard like you're staring at spreadsheets until you're having dreams in Microsoft Excel.

you lift, soothe, fix, arrange, plan, lead, troubleshoot you remember all the birthdays and you're still answering these quick question emails at 9.13 at night work in this country is extremely tough no matter what collar you are wearing blue collar, white collar, pink collar, no collar no matter what it is you're probably giving up more than you're getting in return which is a mess because productivity is only going up according to the Bureau of U.S. Labor Statistics worker productivity has increased over 60% since the 1970s. Wages have not.

I don't want to go all into it, but this isn't a thing where you're just having a bad time if you work a quote tough job All the jobs are tough jobs right now and we created an economy where just doing your job well often means you get more work put on you And this isn just about money You know, people tie their identity to their work. We want to believe work equals respect. That effort creates respect. You know, when you care about something, other people care too. And it hurts because most people who work at a job are not lazy or entitled. But when you're going undervalued, the things that you are bringing to the table are going unseen.

I want to talk about a few things that you can do about that. First of all, you're not really imagining things, but you also shouldn't get yourself stuck. Whether you are full-time or freelance or you're doing gigs or you're in between, there are things that you can do with a couple of hours of your day to shift your work life back into your own hands. And I don't mean a couple of hours every single day. I just mean find some time, get a block of time, and get some clarity on what specifically being undervalued means to you.

A lot of people will look at that and just say, I want more money, but they don't really mean it. And a lot of people will say, no I do just want more money and I do just really mean it but they don You know what I mean Being undervalued is not just about the money you bring home It can be about your recognition your feedback your path forward at your job your ideas being taken seriously, the number of roles that you do, the way you're being treated.

Write down what you want specifically out of your work life and start building your portfolio too. And that means, you know, start documenting things you fix, things you streamline, compliments you get numbers you move you know if you even do something like raise morale start writing it down and i would say talking out loud about any achievement that you have had is a positive and then you got to start asking and sometimes you got to ask this stuff at a workplace sometimes you got to ask for this stuff like hold on a second like really be the person that's looking for opportunities at your job what can i do to help things here and people know what you mean. Sometimes people say they give you an answer that's not compatible with your progression. If that's the case, put that down. That's data about what your job is.

Another piece of advice that I'd give you is that you don't have to over Now I believe in overachieving at a job but I think a lot of the time people overperform at a job and create their own stress Try being less frantic at your job Look for ways to do your job while using less of your physical energy. A lot of the time people use more of their physical energy as like a way of expressing how much the money means to them. Don't start doing that.

uh and when you have this stuff all in place start building a parallel life you don't have to use that life but boy if you if you're not undervalued if you feel undervalued for eight hours a day dang times five times four twenty times twelve you're just feeling undervalued for like a big chunk of your lifespan and just That's just hammering at you. There are worse things to be thinking about on your mind.

So if you're a freelancer, start cold outreaching. And I'd say do a little cold outreach even if you're not one. Build your yes list out. Go through your phone book and talk about what you do and reach out to people. If you're an employee, what are the free courses you can take? Is there one more certification you need? Is there one more netbook? network that you need to make. Like, don't stop speaking to people about your field just because you have a job. Your job can't stop you from being an expert in your field, you know?

And everybody should be thinking about what their exit plan is, not because you're going to leave today. And I don't want anybody to get fired from their job from listening to this. But what if you get fired tomorrow? You know, you're not betraying your job to think about, hey, what's going on? what could my future be and do research you know think about what people with your skill set are being paid and that way you don't have to feel oh i'm undervalued maybe you do need to learn some new skill maybe you do need to like get some soft skill outside of what's at your job um you don't have to rage quit. You can still pay your rent if you have to, but you also don't let that be something that contradicts this idea of knowing yourself because that's always useful. Knowing the opportunities around you and pursuing them is something that you just always have the right to do. So make that the work that you do to improve your life and take back your own power.