Underearners are some of the most hardworking people you will come across. It is not unusual for them to go with little sleep and be exhausted. For them it is out of the question that they can make more money without increasing their workload. They are working themselves to death. Bringing in more money always requires more work and since they are already working maximum hours how would they be able to increase their income. Underearners make a strong connection between hard work and money, time and money. They can’t have one without the other. When one of my mentors asked me where my money went I could easily answer that. I had been working very hard at the time on my money. Or so I thought. When she asked me where my time went I had no idea. As I started to look at where it went I was amazed to find that only a small fraction of my time was used productively. Most of it was just wasted.
This is something that many underearners deal with. Is it really the best use of your time to iron all the kid’s clothes, including their jeans? There are underearners that do that and then complain about having no time. Another thing they might do is to spend too much time in keeping the house in order, or letting shopping taking too long. Of course, then there is the time spent in front of the TV or the computer, and there are many other ways they occupy their time.
The recommendation that I was given was to write down what I spend my time on and how that was benefitting me. When I did this I was horrified of what I saw. I was really busy doing what? I was spending a lot of time doing things that I told myself were really important. When I asked myself how they were important? The answer was not that clear. At the same time I was surprised by how much I accomplished in the short time I used on activities that were in fact beneficial to my success. Simply rearranging my work and either stopping or minimizing waste did wonders for me.
As I learn more about underearning and talk to more women I see the same patterns again and again. It is not how much time we spend on things that predicts how much we make, rather how we use our time. And of course how much we value our time.
Love and peace,
ElinAnna