For employees in good businesses and suitable organizations, their salary often reflects the value they create and the responsibilities they carry. Although it’s not always a perfect correlation, it’s generally true for most people.
Unlocking Your Value with Difficult Tasks
Imagine online games with different levels:
- Noob (Newbie)
- Beginner
- Pro
- Hacker
- God
Let’s say you’re a junior employee with a salary of $10,000 and have the opportunity to handle tasks at three levels:
- Noob (Easy tasks) = 1 XP
- Beginner (Standard tasks) = 10 XP
- Pro (Difficult tasks) = 100 XP
Suppose this year you completed 500 Noob tasks, 100 Beginner tasks, and 5 Pro tasks. Your total XP would be 500×1 + 100×10 + 5×100 = 2,000 XP.
If we consider each XP as $1, then 2,000 XP would be worth $2,000. Next year, you could have the chance to increase your salary from $10,000 to $12,000.
However, if you only completed 1,000 Noob tasks and didn’t do any Beginner or Pro tasks, your XP would only be 1,000, resulting in a salary increase of only $1,000 to $11,000.
Unleashing the True Potential
Realize that the world doesn’t always align perfectly with this model. Sometimes you may feel like you’re doing Pro-level tasks without a significant salary increase. It could be because your current workplace doesn’t have a typical XP calculation method, or you might have misunderstood the nature of your tasks.
However, for those who truly handle Pro-level tasks successfully, their salaries tend to grow exponentially. They receive promotions and opportunities for higher-level jobs:
- Hacker (Difficult, important, and department-wide impact tasks) = 1,000 XP
- God (Tasks impacting the entire organization) = 10,000 XP
Individuals who handle such tasks and excel in them often experience significant salary adjustments, sometimes in the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
Conclusion
Every difficult task you undertake is an opportunity to increase your value. Look for a job where your skills and contributions are valued by your boss and the company. Seek out chances to take on Pro, Hacker, and God-level tasks that stretch your abilities and have a significant impact. Accumulate XP as if it were the “Potential Energy of Salary,” and when the right opportunity comes, you’ll be appropriately recognized and rewarded.
Remember Benjamin Graham’s words: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” Embrace difficult tasks, unlock your potential, and watch your value soar.