Me again. This week what’s top of mind for me is value. Not the value you get from having money in your bank account, houses in your name, a really nice car. These things don’t really matter. I’m talking about the value you find from life, those around you, and the experiences you’re able to capture.

But why? Why are you talking about these things? The goal of this blog is to make me think about the non-tech things we face in a tech-centric role. Easy, the question to ponder for this week is what are you working for?

You should ask yourself, right now, what is it? What outcome are you looking to drive by showing up to work (or logging in to teams) everyday. Kneejerk reaction for most is money, a better life, or to provide. The truth is that we are all working for those things because those things are required to live. But think deeper, without the context of money, what do you get from your job?

If the answer is only money, I’d encourage you to look for a different career. Eventually the money won’t matter, and you’ll be burnt – toast, with no will to do a good job.

I think about this question a lot. I get asked by my peers (or others at my company) what fuels me (because I appear to have above average ‘drive’) – and I think it really comes down to a few things:

1. My Family
2. Real change
3. Impact on others

The first one is simple. Right now as I write this, my three young girls are playing with an ice cream stand set about 5 feet away from me that my job allowed us to buy. The fact they have no context of hardships, burdens, or limits are all a result of my employers choice to pay me a wage that represents my value and give me the flexibility to determine how and when I work. This is critical for me. While the money is a factor here (and I told you to forget it), what drives this more is the culture in my workplace – work/life balance is sewn into our culture. Our leaders demand it. I’ll never work for a leader that demands anything less. Others might debate me on it, but your perception doesn’t reflect the intentions of our workplace. Stop feeling like you have to be available to everyone all the time.

The second one is a bit harder to quantify. In my last article, I talked a bit about being a change agent. This is like a drug to me. The more impossible the problem, the more I want to do it. God save us if the impossible problem has a huge impact on others, then it’s over. I’ll obsess and chase this problem. It’ll work because I refuse to let it fail. This will be my downfall someday, but it won’t matter. The number of these problems I’ve delivered to others will far outweigh the numbers that have failed. In my short tenure in the workforce, I’ve delivered value to others I’ve never dreamed possible.

The third is easy. Impact on others. I switched roles about a year ago which allows me to wield a very small amount of power over a very small scope. But occasionally, someone says “This really makes my life hell…”, mostly because one of our products or suites doesn’t do something that is required by their business. Occasionally, these things fall into that very small scope, where I yield very little power. I can say, “Yeah, we’re going to just fix that.” It’s almost always met by disbelief, followed by acceptance, and then joy. This is what drives me to move up and into larger roles. Increasing that very little power over very little scope, making peoples lives that much better. I’m addicted to it.

You might be saying – ‘Thanks for sharing your useless opinions and views, not sure how this helps me.’ You’re right, it probably doesn’t. But I challenge you to look at more than just the money, more than the accolades and certifications. Look at the things you can’t measure. Don’t get caught up with titles, promotions, how much your peers make. None of that shit matters. Nobody said, remember when that person made Director – holy shit that was awesome.

People will remember the way you made them feel…

Whether that was being an ally in a meeting, helping them with a project that was crucial to their success, building a community tool or blog article that helped them learn and succeed, just listening – all of these are valuable. Focus on the way you feel and the way you make others feel around you.

All of that money garbage, fancy titles, that will come. The biggest mistake people make is thinking the high paying job or fancy title will make them feel successful. Jury’s still out on that one..

Until next time friends…