Tomorrow, is the end of quarter. It isn't actually the end of the quarter, but our team has offset our quarter-end, so that we finish a month earlier than our target audience. This is because our stakeholders are sellers, and the end of quarters tend to be very busy. This allows us to plan when they are busy, and then spend time in development activities with them when they are more free, and when we are looking to close out the quarter, they are available for our needs. It works out well.
With tomorrow being the end of "my" quarter, it means that I have been pretty busy trying to get things done on my list, as it affects my bonuses. This quarter, 50% of the bonus has been pushed to a very large team task, which I have been the project manager for. This means that if I screwed it up, it is screwed up for others too.
I didn't screw it up.
In fact, it is in very good shape and not only was it valuable as a standalone activity flow, it raised a lot of good discussions that will knock-on to other activities in the near future. The amount of work it has taken has been quite high on top of other tasks, but the value has also been high, and it has put me in discussions with many, many people on many topics. It has been quite fun in many ways, even though concurrently difficult.
I was writing yesterday about the numbers that dictate our lives, and of course, salaries and bonuses are part of that set. I wouldn't say I am dictated by them, but I am definitely influenced and would be annoyed if I missed reaching the levels required by too much. As much as I should see the bonus as a bonus, it is very hard not to see it as part of the salary, as it effectively increases what I get by over 10% a year.
It is unlikely that I will get a 10% payrise, so this matters. It is far easier to add a 10% income stream than to get a 10% raise, though most people won't go to the effort. As I have said for years, the easiest way to increase income, is to get a shitty second job. The job I have now is because I wanted to add income to my business activities, though it is also my main source of income, after corona restrictions almost killed my business. But you know, working just about any extra job would have a significant impact on income, though people wouldn't want to miss out on all that "quality of life" scrolling time.
I do get that people don't want to work all the time, but I also get that if we want to live a certain kind of lifestyle, in an economy that is a mismanaged shambles, and a cost of living increase that doesn't look like it is ever going to ease - living on debt is not going to cut it.
Though many seem determined to try.
Perhaps it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the economy is destined to crash into oblivion eventually. Rather than try to stop from crashing, lean into it, take on all the debt possible, and speed the process up. Go out with a bang.
A bit like my way of suicide would be to take a whole lot of ecstasy and hit the dance floor.
Anyway, I understand that the financial world is shit and that people are struggling all over the place, but things aren't going to change very fast for the better, and pretending that they will, is going to end in more personal pain. Some seem to think that they are beating the system in some way by not working, or not working more, or not doing a job they dislike, but they don't seem to be enjoying their life that much doing what they are doing either.
I assume they are outliers, but I hear about these younger people who are unable to handle the "daily grind" (a normal job) and they are at the start of their careers. Often, they are celebrated for putting their "mental health" first. But, it is going to be interesting to track their outcomes as they move deeper into the age bucket, and their teeth are longer.
It is actually going to be quite interesting as a social experiment, as there is going to be a mass of digital data, where people have put their lives online from a very young age, and that information is going to be able to be collated and serve as a report card of what led where and when, at the individual, and at the group trend level. When they are 40, what are they doing, and are they happy?
What did 20 year old them say about the future?
Anyway, tomorrow I will close out my quarter at work, knowing that I did a good job and that some people at least got benefits out of the efforts. I think regardless of the bonus, there is benefit in having the sense that what I do matters to other people occasionally.
I will take the bonus for it still.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]