Nobody writes this in a LinkedIn announcement:
“Thrilled to accept a role that sounds impressive, pays well, and slowly turns me into someone my family avoids between 6 and 8 p.m.”
A lot of people are living it.
Salary is easy to compare. Title is easy to congratulate. Both hide the cost.
I get the call eight months after the LinkedIn announcement. By then, the title doesn’t matter. The salary, divided by actual hours, is a step backward. The hobbies are gone. The family gets what’s left.
Sometimes the bigger title came with less agency, not more. More org chart. Less authority.
A better measure: mental health, physical health, free time. Still liking what you do. Work that gives something back instead of finding new ways to take.
A bigger salary can still be underpayment if the difference is paid in sleep, weekends, or who your family gets after work.
The better LinkedIn announcement would be:
“Thrilled to accept a role I can actually do well, with people who tell the truth, the authority to make decisions, and enough left at the end of the day that my family gets the best of me between 6 and 8 p.m.”
That is success.
Read on LinkedIn →