To those who somehow work harder on low-paying jobs

Moneypenny File | Weapons of Thought (RE:ARM) #26

I'm going to tell you something a bit unpleasant.

Even though you'd prefer it to be the other way around, for some reason, you end up doing low-paying work more carefully.

High-paying work should be more important, but before you know it, you're putting more effort into the low-rate projects.

You rewrite the phrasing over and over.
You tidy up things you weren't even asked to.
You end up making the materials excessively polished.

Even if you go that far, the price barely changes.
But you can't bring yourself to cut corners, either.

......Does that sound familiar?

I always thought this was a personality issue.
Like being too serious,
or being clumsy,
or having a nature that won't let you rest unless you do things properly.

But after watching things in the field for a long time, it seems it's not just that.

In fact, the more diligent you are, the more perfectly you fall into the same trap.
It's not the sloppy people who lose out.
It's the careful people who are neatly worn down.

Why do you think that is?

The answer isn't skill.
It's position.

To be precise, it's the distance from the decision-making power.

The person who decides the price is far away.
You can't see what you're being evaluated on.
Moreover, there are plenty of people who can replace you.

When you take on this kind of work, you immediately start moving into 'defensive' mode.

You don't know where you're being watched.
You can't see where you might be penalized.
So, you have no choice but to at least be careful.

It's only natural that it happens.
It's not because you have a weak personality or lack business sense.
It's a rational reaction to the structure.

In places where the correct answer isn't visible, people try to fill the void with carefulness.

That's why low-paying jobs take more time,
and you end up tidying things more than necessary or rewriting them repeatedly.
Despite that, the compensation doesn't budge.

It's cruel, but that's what happens.

I was caught in this trap, too.

I was trying to make up for it by being meticulous in a place far from the decision-making power.
I was filling the anxiety of not seeing any evaluation with sheer volume of work.
Neatly. Earnestly. Well-behaved.

But you know, no matter how much I polished things, the price never moved.

I understand now.
That wasn't a problem of skill.
I was just working hard in a place where it wouldn't reach.

This is quite important, so I'll say it again.

There is nothing wrong with being meticulous.
The problem is that you are being meticulous in a place where it doesn't reach.

If you agree that "the cheaper the job, the harder I work," then
it means you are working hard in vain, far from the decision-making power.

The scary part starts here.

When you keep doing this kind of work, people gradually
"Maybe if I work even harder, things will change"
start heading in that direction.

Trying to be more thoughtful, anticipating needs, and so on.

But if you are aiming that effort at the wrong place, all that will increase is your fatigue.

So what you need isn't to abandon your meticulousness.
It's to change where you apply it.

Who is deciding the price?
Are you in a position to reach that person?
Are you just a person who makes things, or have you managed to move slightly closer to the side that helps with decisions?

This is what you should look at first.

But conversely, just by changing your position slightly, the meaning of that same meticulousness changes.

Get one step closer to the decision-making power.
Move toward the side that provides the basis for judgment.
Make it visible "what this person is helping with."

What you do isn't that flashy, but that's where the flow changes.

I'll leave you with one weapon for today.

Take just one of the jobs you are currently handling.

Who is deciding the price?
Does your work reach that person?
Or is it disappearing along the way as "pleasant meticulousness"?

Once you can see this, you can change your next move.

This topic is actually at the very heart of the book I'm writing now.
The theme is "The reason why your income doesn't increase even if you work hard."
I'm still in the middle of writing it, but I finally feel like all the old snags are connecting into one for me too.

Income does not move based on the amount of effort alone.
How you are rewarded changes depending on what you are connected to.

So, you just need to rethink where you put your effort.

That is the conclusion.

📌 Pre-orders for my new book have started!