I was recently struck by this quote from “The Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb: “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates and a monthly salary.”
While there is nothing wrong with having a full-time job that pays a good salary, like having an occasional carbohydrate-filled piece of cake or cookie, it is no longer healthy when you hate your job and the only reason you are staying is the salary you are getting.
Here are some suggestions on how to break free from such a harmful addiction.
Live a simpler lifestyle.
I admit, it’s not easy to downgrade when you are already used to an expensive lifestyle. After all, you get what you pay for. Most of the time, you need to pay more to get better quality stuff, or to get things done quickly or more professionally.
Simplify
An easy way to simplify your lifestyle is to track your spending for a few months and identify items that you can easily spend less on without much sacrifice.
For example, you might be paying for monthly subscriptions on services that you hardly use, or you might be eating out too much, or buying clothes, gadgets or other things that you don’t really need just because they are on sale. The amount of money you save by doing this can be significant, reducing the need to keep a high paying job that you don’t like.
Find alternative sources of income.
It’s hard to quit a job that you hate when you need the salary to pay the bills. To address this problem, find alternative sources of income that you can grow so that when your income becomes big enough, you can quit your job or move to a lower paying job that gives you more time to do what you really like to do.
Alternative
As an example, investments can be a good alternative source of income. Personally, I invest in a mix of assets that include stocks and properties that provide me with a healthy amount of passive income.
Admittedly, earnings from investments will only be small at the beginning. However, don’t be discouraged as you can take steps to grow your income faster.
For example, you can fully reinvest the income generated by your investments. You can also set aside a bigger portion of your salary as investments. These actions will contribute to the growth of your passive income and help you reach your goals faster. More importantly, when you start investing, your skills will grow, enabling you to spot more attractive investment opportunities as they become available.
Remind yourself you are worth more than your job.
You might be hesitant to quit your job or change careers because you are worried that your friends will treat you differently when you no longer have a glamorous job or don’t earn as much.
Don’t let this discourage you. Remind yourself that you are worth more than your job. Besides, friends who treat you differently because you are not earning as much are not friends you want to keep.
Remember that many people spend money to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like. However, this doesn’t make them happy. Remind yourself of this every time you are worried about what other people will say if you decide to quit your job to do something that will make you happy but doesn’t pay as much.
Your happiness is more important than what other people will think or say. INQ