Promotion Opportunity - accept or not?

[Michael569]

Hi, 

So I might be given a promotion opportunity at my current 9-5 work. It includes some nice salary increases, change of title (I don't care about that at all)  but, of course, a change in workload. More work to be specific and more responsibility

On the other hand, I am trying to focus as much as I can on building my business and so to ultimately leave this company but that raise would go a long way to provide more capital towards building this thing in the first place. But the way I see this, my side business won't be self-sufficient within the next 5 years.

I'm just worried it will take away a lot of time I can invest into my Life Purpose. But maybe by taking this I will actually become more efficient with the time I have because right now I still waste some of it. 

The opportunity is not clear yet, it might not happen but I will have to apply and from what I know, there might be no other candidates. 

Has anybody been in this sort of dilemma or similar? Any insights?

Thanks a lot !

[Nilsi]

Do it!

More pressure and more responsibility most importantly means more growth.

Since you're just an employee, you don't have to bend over backwards and worry about this shit in your free time - so just do the work, learn your lessons and take the money.

[Realms of Wonder]

How much time would be taken from your LP work for the new responsibilities?

I am in a "similar" position, I am in Massage School, working part time, writing music, branding, and a lot of early, foundational work for my LP. Next term my school-load is decreasing by a third, and a difficult decision was whether or not to fill that extra time with work at my job, (more money,) or fill it with more life purpose work. In the end I chose to that I want to be challenged, I want to be in a position of more responsibility, and I  want to save more money so I have more resources for my LP, so I am going to move up in hours, and have a review scheduled to talk about a promotion that I turned down prior.

In the end for me, I recognize that my life purpose is 3-5 years from being my source of income, so, during that time, if I can grow and learn outside of it, gain experience, and expand, then it is worth it, even if I get a little less done with my life purpose until after I become a Licensed Massage Therapist.  

[Loving Radiance]

You write about responsibility. Does the position you are promoted to give you a broader field of responsibility? It could teach you about managing other areas, like the marketing. Is there some field which you would be responsible for that could provide you with experience about the trouble areas of your LP? This could change how you approach the trouble areas.

If you take the promotion, would you have to take responsibility for & guiding/managing people? That could teach you about having the small business LP and possibly employing somebody who takes care of the trouble areas… I see a lot of workshop facilitators in Berlin hiring “digital marketing managers”, which in turn frees up time for them to focus on the activities they actually care about: creating workshops and facilitating them.

Also consider that if the current lifestyle (9-5 & LP) is already a challenge for you, that the increased workload and intensity of, let's say, 9-6 may be too much for you.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Loving Radiance

[zurew]

55 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

On the other hand, I am trying to focus as much as I can on building my business and so to ultimately leave this company but that raise would go a long way to provide more capital towards building this thing in the first place. But the way I see this, my side business won't be self-sufficient within the next 5 years.

I think going for more money is generally speaking better, because it gives you more freedom and more opportunity. When I say opportunity, in this case I specifically mean instances like: Offloading some of the non creative work that you need to do on your business  (so for instance hiring people who will do advertising for your business or hiring people to do certain things that are boring but at the same time, time consuming so that you have much more time working on the creative things on your business)

Sometimes offloading some of the work to other people is better, because they have expertise where you don't and your business will end up being better and more efficient (of course assuming you can afford it) + you will have more time focusing on the important parts of your business. 

That being said, you need to contemplate which can fasten things up more regarding your business (more money or more time working on it) and you need to evaluate exactly how much more money you will get, when it comes to your promotion and how much more work you will need to do.

It might be the case, that you still need to do some foundational work on your business in order to get some things going . If thats the case, then maybe you shouldn't go for the promotion, because it might be better to get things going first than to do it later (assuming you haven't already done this).

[IDressMyDog]

You can't go wrong with good old bullet points and journaling I guess. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How do you feel about taking/not taking this promotion? Are you actually on a good track with your LP/side business? Perhaps you need some extra push in the form of more responsibility in your day job to use your time more efficiently. Maybe the change of status quo could do some good. Or perhaps any more time at work will affect you so much that it will put you off track too much and you won't be able to work on your business at all?

[aurum]

@Michael569

Been through this same internal struggle A LOT.

The solution for me has been taking on a 9-5 that at least puts me in the right direction of my LP, even if it’s not exactly what I’m looking for. So I’m able to get the capital I need while still feeling close to in alignment with what I want to do in the future, plus building skills.

If that’s not an option for you, then I’d say you just have to weigh the benefit of the extra capital with time loss on your LP. No perfect solution here.

[supremeyingyang]

13 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Hi, 

So I might be given a promotion opportunity at my current 9-5 work. It includes some nice salary increases, change of title (I don't care about that at all)  but, of course, a change in workload. More work to be specific and more responsibility

On the other hand, I am trying to focus as much as I can on building my business and so to ultimately leave this company but that raise would go a long way to provide more capital towards building this thing in the first place. But the way I see this, my side business won't be self-sufficient within the next 5 years.

I'm just worried it will take away a lot of time I can invest into my Life Purpose. But maybe by taking this I will actually become more efficient with the time I have because right now I still waste some of it. 

The opportunity is not clear yet, it might not happen but I will have to apply and from what I know, there might be no other candidates. 

Has anybody been in this sort of dilemma or similar? Any insights?

Thanks a lot !

You are not serious with you day job, don't do it. If you want to be more efficient stop doing some of the activities that waste time.

Or is it THAT much money? It's gonna be 20% at most I estimate

[ValiantSalvatore]

You could also see it as one of many multiple-assets. It's also advice given and one of the success principles.

I can recommend the book:

"The success principles" from Jack Canfield.

Most are not intelligent enough to have multiple assets, in that sense hobbies and passions that can create, income and take sometime to grow. Many work for these positions see Lex Fridman for example, running an entire Ph.D and beign a Professor, to create the podcast because it's one of his passions. As well as you need to have the wisdom and status... If this is part of your purpose I would not let it stop you, it might even give rise to some hidden potential. I see the point of having no time and not beign able to invest in the second business, maybe it will even be good for it? Because you are forced to use different stratgies to promote it. Or find a different way of getting into the field, like setting up more formal meetings with infield experts etc. Attending some event, creating more lean content that is useful. I read one of your e-books for example and I really did like it, I could not play around with the information, as I am not near any of this stuff currently. I dunno if you can have a script writter for health topics and hire someone and make larger attunements to the topics, and create distinctions. Maybe you can fuel another passion and get more fine-tuned ideas, like delivering content of health to more athletes who are very serious and could benefit from the deep scientific analysis, and eventual "mind-training", even when they are b-leauge soccer players, some amateur boxer etc. they might really appreciate it still. (see "Audiobook psychology of a champion")

Health will always have value as a topic, I bet as you are ultra passionate the wisdom in that area will also grow, and not deliver diminishing returns?  Do what you love as long as you don't go broke, I'd say as well as can finance yourself to some extend. 

Unfortunately, the world runs a lot on experience and experts, it might be good to even put that "name" on the second business and learn marketing and sales in a fashion, that still digestable and not to shady. 

I'd do it as long as you can still engage in the relationships that are nuturing to you, no need to risk a loved one who is not onboard that would be my personal biggest concern. As well as also I would kick-out others who are not serving me, and force me to their group-think. I bet the new position gives new challenges and growth areas, to handle. 

Maybe, you can have enough finances to rent an event hall and present health food and sell your books? Webpage etc. For some cheap money? I dunno what is possible. I would 100% network more (also principle from the book) for the second business as your content has so much depth already (especially Forum posts), it might simply be that the right connection is missing.

All I can say. I gave up one business ideas and one investment learning idea, that could have generated a lot of money to support my current purpose, was 100% a mistake for beign "to honest" and wanting to do it to much with others. As none of my friends were interested in providing honest trends, and doing some "fair marketing" in their free time. (That was with cryptocurrencies in 2016-17, where the hype mostly began IIRC) 

Hope this helps, I am in a dilemma where it's very needed to have very technical skills, so I am unsure how to handle that, how to set prorities around it, and what hobby to take as well as what value to offer. 

The new experience I presume it's some management... will also give rise to coaching skills no? I presume that is also of interest of many, as many like to give and share their experience. 

Maybe the new position gives rise to new experience so you can move to a place where health has more of a direct value, like fitness culture in the U.S? That might be an option, although I presume some of these scenarios you already considered.

Edited March 3, 2023 by ValiantSalvatore

[Michael569]

17 hours ago, Nilsi said:

Do it!

More pressure and more responsibility most importantly means more growth.

Since you're just an employee, you don't have to bend over backwards and worry about this shit in your free time - so just do the work, learn your lessons and take the money.

Thanks man! I don't mind more responsibility, it's just I already got a lot of pressure from my business and in the work as it is. I do, however agree with the second part of the argument that being an employee is easy and I could eventually learn to navigate the new role effectively. 

16 hours ago, Realms of Wonder said:

How much time would be taken from your LP work for the new responsibilities?

this is something I am not quite sure, but I would say at least 2 hours more per day that will need to be dedicated to 9-5 work. 

16 hours ago, Realms of Wonder said:

am in a "similar" position, I am in Massage School, working part time, writing music, branding, and a lot of early, foundational work for my LP. Next term my school-load is decreasing by a third, and a difficult decision was whether or not to fill that extra time with work at my job, (more money,) or fill it with more life purpose work. In the end I chose to that I want to be challenged, I want to be in a position of more responsibility, and I  want to save more money so I have more resources for my LP, so I am going to move up in hours, and have a review scheduled to talk about a promotion that I turned down prior.

In the end for me, I recognize that my life purpose is 3-5 years from being my source of income, so, during that time, if I can grow and learn outside of it, gain experience, and expand, then it is worth it, even if I get a little less done with my life purpose until after I become a Licensed Massage Therapist.  

Yeah, I get you. These are not easy questions to answer and navigate. We all do our best with the resources we got. Sounds like you and I are in a similar boat. 

15 hours ago, Loving Radiance said:

Does the position you are promoted to give you a broader field of responsibility?

to a degree, yes. Most what will change is that my KPIs will change and I'll be expected to deliver more - which is fine. 

15 hours ago, Loving Radiance said:

Is there some field which you would be responsible for that could provide you with experience about the trouble areas of your LP? This could change how you approach the trouble areas.

This is a good perspective, I can definitely see some cross-overs. For the foreseeable future, I won't have people reporting to me but that might change in the future. I am not keen on that but also realise that should my LP pick up one day, I may need to hire someone to help me so you are right, this is a very valid point. 

15 hours ago, Loving Radiance said:

lso consider that if the current lifestyle (9-5 & LP) is already a challenge for you, that the increased workload and intensity of, let's say, 9-6 may be too much for you.

This is my main counterargument. Most of the time I dedicate to my LP is early morning, a little bit during the work time and then after work + weekends. In reality, I shouldn't lose as much but I am just not fully bought on this work I do. Like my commitment is low because I don't care as much about this company. With a promotion, I think that would temporarily change but knowing human nature, I will eventually slide back. But then seeing my colleagues who have this role already, they don't do much more than what I already do, I technically do about 70% of that work already ....having said it this way to myself actually helps, thanks for stretching my thinking  Appreciate your input my friend, as always. 

 

15 hours ago, zurew said:

Offloading some of the non creative work that you need to do on your business  (so for instance hiring people who will do advertising for your business or hiring people to do certain things that are boring but at the same time, time consuming so that you have much more time working on the creative things on your business)

Yes, this is exactly my line of thinking!! Thanks for bringing it up  Right now, I already work with a graphic designer who is doing some branding for me and will be helping me with social post design. That extra money could go towards getting more work like this done and eventually refocusing my attention on the core part of my business which is clinic & research - these I cannot (and don't want to) unload. 

Thanks very much for your response and feedback! 

15 hours ago, zurew said:

That being said, you need to contemplate which can fasten things up more regarding your business (more money or more time working on it) and you need to evaluate exactly how much more money you will get, when it comes to your promotion and how much more work you will need to do.

It might be the case, that you still need to do some foundational work on your business in order to get some things going . If thats the case, then maybe you shouldn't go for the promotion, because it might be better to get things going first than to do it later (assuming you haven't already done this).

these are critical points and I have no answers to them just yet. So far money has not been a concern for me as I make more than I spend but I'm thinking about having  a kid and future planning with my girlfriend within next 16 months so that would definitely help towards that cause. I think the extra income would probably balance out the extra work. 

14 hours ago, IDressMyDog said:

ou can't go wrong with good old bullet points and journaling I guess. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How do you feel about taking/not taking this promotion? Are you actually on a good track with your LP/side business? Perhaps you need some extra push in the form of more responsibility in your day job to use your time more efficiently. Maybe the change of status quo could do some good. Or perhaps any more time at work will affect you so much that it will put you off track too much and you won't be able to work on your business at all?

thank you, these are all great questions. I don't think I've given myself enough time to consider those. I will do this exercise, thanks! 

12 hours ago, aurum said:

Been through this same internal struggle A LOT.

The solution for me has been taking on a 9-5 that at least puts me in the right direction of my LP, even if it’s not exactly what I’m looking for. So I’m able to get the capital I need while still feeling close to in alignment with what I want to do in the future, plus building skills.

If that’s not an option for you, then I’d say you just have to weigh the benefit of the extra capital with time loss on your LP. No perfect solution here.

thanks man, yah I have been pondering transitioning into something more aligned with my LP. The barriers I see there is that a lot of such businesses practice in a way that are misaligned with my ethics (as per our conversation about that longevity clinic), and it would also mean a pay cut and probably more time in the office.

On the other hand there is a lot of benefits of actually seeing what an established and successful business does which is a lot that I probably don't do and could learn. I see this as a huge benefit. 

One of the greatest benefits of my current work is that I am 100% remote with a possibility of hybrid coming up, if I had to be in the office now 5 days a week that would significantly mess up my schedule and ability to  work on LP. 

So yah, more questions than answers  Appreciate your time responding. 

 

4 hours ago, supremeyingyang said:

You are not serious with you day job, don't do it. If you want to be more efficient stop doing some of the activities that waste time.

Or is it THAT much money? It's gonna be 20% at most I estimate

I call bullseye on this comment, aimed straight into my prefrontal cortex  Exactly defines my main worries. 

The rise would be about 35% actually which is nice, it depends on how well I can negotiate that talk with HR. Because I have been with the company for 7 years and barely had a raise, I should have probably been on this position two years ago but because the company was struggling and I was afraid to ask for more in fear of being redundant it never happened. But now my boss is gently pushing me to go into this so there is that extra pressure. 

You are right about wasting time. I am actively putting a lot of effort into correction that by building more solid routines but a lot of productive time still leaks out. I am thinking this is actually time I could dedicate to my 9-5 because this time is not cognitively hard but more admin dependant and usually the hours where I am most distracted are the hours where I am cognitively the least capable anyway. 

 

To be honest, I might lose this job once I move countries next year to start a family so the way I see it it would be a nice boost of income before that happens but I am worried about losing valuable time and needing to pretend I care more than I actually do. 

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate the directness and sharpness! 

 

1 hour ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

I can recommend the book:

"The success principles" from Jack Canfield.

thanks man, I've added this to my trello board under recommended reading 

2 hours ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

it might even give rise to some hidden potential. I see the point of having no time and not beign able to invest in the second business, maybe it will even be good for it? Because you are forced to use different stratgies to promote it. Or find a different way of getting into the field,

yes, I am seeing this as a potential opportunity, as others have already said, sometimes having less time actually means you become more ruthles with the time you have. From my experience the more free time I have the more likely it is, more will just be wasted on nonsense compared to having a more rigid structure in place. 

2 hours ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

I dunno if you can have a script writter for health topics and hire someone and make larger attunements to the topics, and create distinctions

I am trying to include other people, right now I am paying my mentor and a graphic designer but in the future, I can see an addition of someone who could translate my research blabber into digestible content because my main struggle, for now, is to translate what I find into something that people understand and care about, that is my main source of audience retention, it is too technical. 

2 hours ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

Unfortunately, the world runs a lot on experience and experts, it might be good to even put that "name" on the second business and learn marketing and sales in a fashion, that still digestable and not to shady.

This hit the nail on the head. I do have a lot of dilemma about not being to shady or salesy but then making income in that way is difficult because most people in my industry have no problems exaggerating and dancing on the borders of ethical vs not so ethical as long as it can make them extra cash but then for many of them, health is their source of income where I am lucky that I have still 2 jobs. 

2 hours ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

Maybe, you can have enough finances to rent an event hall and present health food and sell your books?

that is an option in the future and something I would love to do one day, yes. But not a major concern right now 

2 hours ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

All I can say. I gave up one business ideas and one investment learning idea, that could have generated a lot of money to support my current purpose, was 100% a mistake for beign "to honest" and wanting to do it to much with others. As none of my friends were interested in providing honest trends, and doing some "fair marketing" in their free time. (That was with cryptocurrencies in 2016-17, where the hype mostly began IIRC) 

Hope this helps, I am in a dilemma where it's very needed to have very technical skills, so I am unsure how to handle that, how to set prorities around it, and what hobby to take as well as what value to offer. 

thanks for sharing, seems like a lot of us are sharing similar thoughts, struggles and concerns. Appreciate all your input, thank you. 

[Michael569]

Thanks so much everyone, I have a lot to reflect on. 

[supremeyingyang]

2 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

I call bullseye on this comment, aimed straight into my prefrontal cortex  Exactly defines my main worries. 

The rise would be about 35% actually which is nice, it depends on how well I can negotiate that talk with HR. Because I have been with the company for 7 years and barely had a raise, I should have probably been on this position two years ago but because the company was struggling and I was afraid to ask for more in fear of being redundant it never happened. But now my boss is gently pushing me to go into this so there is that extra pressure. 

You are right about wasting time. I am actively putting a lot of effort into correction that by building more solid routines but a lot of productive time still leaks out. I am thinking this is actually time I could dedicate to my 9-5 because this time is not cognitively hard but more admin dependant and usually the hours where I am most distracted are the hours where I am cognitively the least capable anyway. 

 

To be honest, I might lose this job once I move countries next year to start a family so the way I see it it would be a nice boost of income before that happens but I am worried about losing valuable time and needing to pretend I care more than I actually do. 

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate the directness and sharpness!

Thanks for appreciating my communication style:)

35%... now that's a signifant difference! But you deserve 10% for Inflation alone, not matter what happens.

Seems to be ok if you do it for 'only' one or two years, so I'd be leaning into doing it. Also the pay rise would be better than I thought.. and after 7 years it's time. Like in the hagakure: A man has to rise too slow in the eyes of his peers to be effective as a leader (paraphrase)

By the way I'm also horribly distracted nowadays. What is you worst distraction? To me podcasts, chats and youtube. Worst is.. all on high quality topics, but still.. won't give me the cake. I guess you understand:)

[Michael569]

2 hours ago, supremeyingyang said:

But you deserve 10% for Inflation alone, not matter what happens.

Yeah, there was some inflation adjustment but that doesn't count for much (definitely not 10% :D) so I ignored mentioning that 

2 hours ago, supremeyingyang said:

By the way I'm also horribly distracted nowadays. What is you worst distraction? To me podcasts, chats and youtube. Worst is.. all on high quality topics, but still.. won't give me the cake. I guess you understand:)

well, this forum for once! But also pretty much just anything that pulls me out form the pain of deep focused work. I just get exhausted really quickly from any form of intense concentration practice, probably years of playing video games, scrolling crap on social and constantly hopping between two jobs. Cal Newport says that once neurons become dependant on constant distraction it is never fully possible to reverse that...so maybe what we got here is like when you break a bone and it regrows but never gets back its former strength and resilience. You get 70% of functionality but never quite the same. 

That's how I think about it now, I'll probably always be distracted but it is about controlling the degree. 

For me major switch was eliminating 90% of my video game time and time blocking my day into slots. 

[Alex_R]

46 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

Yeah, there was some inflation adjustment but that doesn't count for much (definitely not 10% :D) so I ignored mentioning that 

well, this forum for once! But also pretty much just anything that pulls me out form the pain of deep focused work. I just get exhausted really quickly from any form of intense concentration practice, probably years of playing video games, scrolling crap on social and constantly hopping between two jobs. Cal Newport says that once neurons become dependant on constant distraction it is never fully possible to reverse that...so maybe what we got here is like when you break a bone and it regrows but never gets back its former strength and resilience. You get 70% of functionality but never quite the same. 

That's how I think about it now, I'll probably always be distracted but it is about controlling the degree. 

For me major switch was eliminating 90% of my video game time and time blocking my day into slots. 

Use the Pomodoro Technique in the morning before your formal job, problem solved. Start with 2x25min with 15min breaks and grow from there. In my experience i was able to do 3/4hours of deep work constantly for about a year using that technique

[Arcangelo]

On 3/2/2023 at 10:35 AM, Michael569 said:

Has anybody been in this sort of dilemma or similar? Any insights?

Yes. I said: -''No''

They said: -''At least hear them out.''

The increase wasn't even tempting. Good decision so far.