Catching that headline in Dealbook, I thought, “what’s new?”
Bonus season always disappoints most people on Wall Street. It is only a question of whether this bonus season will disappoint you.
Now here’s the thing about disappointment: It takes adequate planning.
And while many people might be planning to be disappointed, how many people have been planning their strategy for getting paid?
Candidly, for most people it is already too late. If you haven’t been thinking ahead and laying the groundwork for getting paid, it is likely there is little you can do at this point.
Sure, you might be able to deploy a tactic or two here and there, but the best strategy for getting paid (and promoted for that matter) is to be planting and watering the seeds every day of the year.
It’s like the way an expert at seduction approaches a date. Whereas the average chump waits till he is dropping a woman off at her door to try and plant a kiss or negotiate his way inside, the expert is setting it up from the minute they meet.
Touching her innocently building intimacy, using emotionally-laden language, talking about unique and funny things back at his place, he’s subtly building expectations of where he expects the date to end.
You want to do the same if you are serious about getting paid.
Rather than waiting till the end of the year to make your push, you want to be sowing the seeds of what you are worth at the beginning of the year.
For instance, early in the year you might sit with your boss and say something like:
“This year I’m incredibly focused on doing everything I can to drive the business and deliver enormous value to the firm, and I would love your thoughts on ways you think I can keep driving the business this year.”
This is an example of what I call “Feed-forward,” which means, rather than wait for feedback at the end of the year, instead at the beginning and all the way throughout the year, feed-forward your expectations and performance.
This is easy to do when you are constantly planning your actions, and although this might seem like one random idea for getting paid, in fact, this is one part of the formula to building what I call a directed career.
A directed career means: know what you want and build your system for getting it. This is the entire purpose of The Guide.
It is the only book you will ever need for getting what you want in your career.