You are probably reading this because you feel overworked and underpaid. You might be feeling sad, lonely, anxious, or even angry. I just want to say this is perfectly ok - acknowledging your feelings is the first step towards finding satisfaction in life again. I'm writing this blog so that you can search for real meaning in life, and find true happiness by sharing my experiences and perspectives on life. We may possess different values in life, we may have different perspectives on the meaning of life, but what I can say confidently is that worldly pleasures, which refers to the material values promulgated by the world, especially by the media, will never bring you true meaning and purpose in life. In today's society, it seems like people are always chasing after something. They want to buy the newest car, the nicest clothes, or the latest gadgets. They want to be fitter, have bigger muscles, or be taller. They want to be rich, famous, or both. And while there is nothing wrong with having goals and aspirations, sometimes people forget what they are chasing after in the first place.
For me, I was chasing after money and worldly success, like most people. I was working long hours, often times skipping meals, and sacrificing my personal life for my career. And while I was successful by some people's standards, I was not happy. I realized that all of my accomplishments meant nothing if I wasn't happy. And so, I started to search for true meaning in life. I'll return to my story later on (so please read the full article!).
Common Reasons of Feeling Overworked and Underpaid
Anyway, before I get too deep, let's talk about the common reasons why people feel overworked and underpaid.
Reason 1: Underappreciated
The most common reason in my experience is being underappreciated at work. Whether we admit it or not, human tendency is to be egoistic, which means excessively caring just about ourselves, and disregarding people around us. In workplace terms, this may mean that our boss never compliments us when we do something well, this may mean that our colleagues delegate excessive work to us without considering our feelings. This is not to say you shouldn't raise out your concerns and dissatisfaction towards your manager or colleagues, but you shouldn't over-expect what others can do for you. Again, the sad reality is that we are primarily concerned about our own well-being, which is bad for society to say the least. I'll talk about my solution to this later on.
Reason 2: Paid too little
A second reason why we feel overworked and underpaid is simply because of, duh, being paid too little. We feel that we work for long hours but deserve little in return. It's more than within your rights to ask for a pay raise, but there is no guarantee of a positive outcome. As a small business owner myself, I can say from experience how tight profit margins can be and it is not easy for struggling business owners to agree to even a 5% pay raise when things are tough. If you are working in a large corporate, chances of a pay raise will be larger of course, but still, this isn't guaranteed.
Even if you are granted a pay raise, it might only translate to few thousand or even a few hundred dollars (or pounds if you are from the UK) per month - would you be satisfied with that? At least from my experience, there is no such thing as having too much money. As humans, we tend to always want more of something, whether it be love, money, compliments etc. If you feel happier simply by having a few more thousand dollars every month, good for you, it means you know how to be satisfied. For most people though, we want more even after a pay raise. So the more important question if you feel overworked and underpaid is if you will be truly satisfied once you get a pay raise you want. You will only know after you are fortunately granted one.
However, let's say in the worst case, you are not granted a pay raise even after asking for one, what are your options? Quit and start your own business? Quit and find another job? Quit and work in the gig economy? In my experience though, simply throwing the towel in and switching environments is not the cure - without having a larger purpose of life, you will simply find yourself back to square one in no time, feeling dissatisfied about your career and life.
Reason 3: Unhealthy Comparisons
Feeling overworked and underpaid could also be due to comparisons we make with other people. We can always find somebody around us who has higher pay, or seems to live a better life, at least on social media. Most humans are competitive animals, if not, at the very least, we can't help ourselves from making comparisons with other people, even if we hate ourselves for doing so. For instance, if our best friend gets a promotion or switches to a better job, we will of course be happy for our friend, but we might also have an inckling of sadness - why couldn't I do better? Am I doing something wrong? Why do I seem stuck in my career? It's ok to make comparisons and it's definitely healthy to have some sort of competition with others, but making comparisons is certainly a major reason why people feel dissatisfied at life.
Other reasons: Factors outside of our control
Finally, other reasons for feeling overworked and underpaid is mainly down to factors we have little control of, such as the nature of our job, the nature of our industry, the nature of our colleagues etc. We shouldn't overly victimise ourselves for feeling overworked and underpaid, but we should also acknowledge factors that are outside of our control. For example, I know a lot of people working in finance and law. These industries have long working hours by nature, but workers are compensated more for putting more effort in. There's always going to be some give and take in every job, but if you are faced with a career where you feel troubled by factors outside your control, you may need to ask yourself if it is the right time to switch careers, take a break or tell you boss or colleagues about your feelings, and see if they are willing to do something about it.
How to Search for Meaning of Life When You Feel Overworked and Underpaid
Whatever your reasons are for feeling overworked and underpaid, I can confidently say that you will continually feel unhappy or even depressed if you can't find a greater meaning to life, other than work. Work shouldn't be your end goal, but rather, a means to something bigger.
I have a few secrets that can lead to more satisfaction in career and life, but before sharing these, I want to talk a bit about one of my life experiences.
As a startup founder, I know what it feels like to be overworked, and underappreciated. I was heavily involved in relocation and career consulting at one point, and I made a fair living - I have a few stable clients every month and everything seems to be going well, at least one might feel that way if they didn't know me and heard my sharings. However, deep down, I was overworked and constantly stressed, worrying about my next client, my next payslip, my future business direction. These feelings didn't subside even if I managed to get a few clients in a particular month. In fact, it kind of made me even more anxious that I couldn't do as well the following months. I sort of created a tunnel of never ending anxiety for myself, not knowing how I can destress for more than a day. In short, even though I made a decent living, I was still feeling unhappy, or even depressed at some stage. I was overworked, I was paid ok but nothing too lucrative, and I wasn't feeling all that satisfied with life.
The reason why I felt overworked was because I felt that money would never be enough. What if I need to buy a house in the future? What if I had kids in the future and had to pay for expensive tuition fees for them? I was feeling unhappy because I only focused on material pleasures in life - having more money, more recognition, higher social status. My attitude towards life changed when I lost quite a huge amount of money due to a crypto scam. I started to care less about money, as I understood at that point that what can be earnt, can be lost in an instant - putting all your hope on money is a dangerous thing, it can cause you to mentally collapse if things don't work out well. I began searching for a deeper meaning of life afterwards, as I understood that money isn't reliable - I can dare say that every one of us humans long for something that lasts long, which money and social status can't satisfy. This is because we know that in the back of our minds, whether we wish to admit or not, that material pleasures cannot go on forever, and can cause anxiety as we can be so afraid of losing them.
I began to look for something that lasts longer, something that can fill the emptiness of my soul, and the answer, although basic, is giving to others. All my life, I, like countless people, have only thought about how I can receive, but never, how to give. In my case, giving means helping others resolve their difficulties through my business, and giving up my precious time to respond to customer enquiries even though I might not be paid to do so.
If you are overworked and underpaid, I strongly encourage you to start searching for a deeper meaning of life by first jotting down the reasons why you feel what you are currently feeling. Secondly, think about what you actually long for - are your priorities worldly pleasures or something more eternal? Lastly, which I think is the key, think about something that you are willing to do for free. All children have a passion for something when they grow up, including us when we were young, but we learn to give up our passions due to reality, yet the key to be happy, I think, is to think like a child. Forget how much money you need to pay your bills, how many friends you need to make yourself fulfilled, the next vacation you hope to go onto for a second. Go back in time and think about what you used to like doing as a child for free. Find a higher purpose in life and begin structuring your career and next steps afterwards. As I mentioned above, immediately changing jobs and changing environments might seem a cool thing to do, but most people end in dissapointment as the needs of our souls are still not met.
Of course, we should all get a fair salary, we shouldn't be overworked, but it's important to not be overly emotional and think about things logically - what is it that got us to where we are today, and how we can resolve our situation by figuring out our higher purpose in life. For me, it is about spending more time to help others in need, but it could be something different for you. Think about what you can do better to treat yourself and others around you. My secret of happiness is not to overly focus on what people can do for us, but what we can do for others. When you are overworked and underpaid, don't despair, I might not completely understand your situation but in life, if we are willing to stick with it and not give up, we will find a solution at some point down the line. Focus on finding a long term cure, instead of simply desiring for more material possessions, and you will be on the road to recovery!