Less than half of all workers ever ask for a raise and close to 30% are uncomfortable negotiating salary. Does this sound familiar?
If this is something that you’ve struggled with yourself and you’re ready to see a bump in your paycheck, then here are three tools you can use to make that process easier.
First, let’s acknowledge that every job is a mix of aptitude and attitude.
Being good at your job is aptitude. We’ve all known people who are absolute workhorses, but who never seem to get that promotion. They keep their head down, nose to the grindstone. But while their job performance might be consistently better than some of their co-workers, they’re rarely invited into creative meetings.
Let’s assume that you’ve already got the right aptitude – now let’s look at your attitude. Your attitude is nothing more than your point of view. People who feel uncomfortable asking for a raise are usually experiencing a combination of doubt and fear, and that’s not going to contribute to adding more money to your paycheck.
Here are three things you can do to shift your point of view and get that raise:
Acknowledge the contribution you already make.
Asking to be rewarded fairly for the contributions you make to the company and your co-workers should be the most natural thing in the world if you believe it. This doesn’t have to come from a place of entitlement, but rather a clear view of your value to the team, your goals, and the company.
Lose the judgements.
If you walk into a meeting for your next raise with the attitude that you deserve more money because someone else makes more, or that you do more work than others, you’ll emanate that mindset and create a situation where judgement becomes the dominant force. Lose it! Fun fact — gratitude and judgement cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Go into work every day with an attitude of gratitude and not only will you enjoy your job more, but others will enjoy working with you more, too.
Stop asking questions!
The person who sits diligently doing their job in a methodical fashion month after month, year after year, doesn’t have any questions. They have answers. They know how to do that job, they’ve worked out a system for doing that job efficiently, and they will do that job that way until retirement, layoffs, or death come to claim them. Does that sound like fun to you? Instead, try to live in the question! What contribution can I be today? What can I do or be that would make this fun and easy? Who or what can I add that would make this project greater? In what way can I exceed our goals that I haven’t considered yet?
All three of these tools are simple adjustments in your point of view. You don’t have to be cocky to get a raise. You have to be an obvious contribution.
There’s an old saying about the two wolves who live inside us: one who thrives on doubt and fear, and the other who thrives on hope and gratitude. The one that survives is the one you feed. So when you walk into that meeting to ask for a raise, think about what you’re putting on the menu!
Daria Hanson is a business mentor, life coach, Joy of Business facilitator and global finance coordinator for Access Consciousness®, a set of life-enhancing tools practiced in 173 countries worldwide.
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