It’s a common issue that many people face at some point in their career – how do I achieve the holy grail of Money-Happiness Balance?
Professor Horacio Falcao at INSEAD has been researching this topic and has some initial insights to share.
So often we separate our professional lives from our personal lives and gain no satisfaction in either.
We may be unfilled in our professional lives and use the time in our personal lives as simply a respite from the daily grind. That is not a path to happiness.
It might be useful instead to think of your career as a stock portfolio.
We are always told to diversify our assets. So, why wouldn’t we extend that idea our career to find true happiness?
Managing your professional life as an investment can lead to less vulnerability professionally and more fulfillment personally.
Expand Your Career
If you are unhappy with your current position, you could look for a new job. But, there is no guarantee that you would gain long-term fulfillment from moving somewhere else. Often, after the honeymoon period of a new job/company, it’s just more of the same.
A second option is to leave your job and pursue your real passion. However, this might have an impact on your financial situation and while you may be fulfilled in ways your traditional career did not provide; other areas may be lacking.
Big and drastic moves might not achieve what you are looking for and are risky as well.
A better option is to diversify your career and take small steps, in order to develop expertise in multiple areas and maximise money-happiness, while keeping risks low.
Barbell Career Plan
This is where the barbell career strategy comes into play.
You know a barbell has weight on either side with a bar in the middle. Think of one weight as the ‘safe side’ and the other as the ‘speculative side.’
Indicatively, you could keep around 80-90% of your career investment on the safe side and around 10-20% on the speculative side.
Obviously, your current full-time job is on the safe side.
The speculative side could involve taking on two jobs, charity work, auditing a course, or part-time employment, without overhauling your life.
Safe investments provide financial cushioning. If your speculative extreme fails, the impact is not significant. You can be proud that you took the risk and then identify what you would like to try next. At the very least, it helps you feel that you are not stuck in a rut.
Benefits of the barbell strategy
Implementing the barbell strategy has a number of benefits, such as:
- Introducing new opportunities for you to increase your fulfillment and happiness.
- Allowing you to engage in trial and error, and make small mistakes.
- Attaining a broader set of skills and experiences, which might be useful for future roles and career paths.
- Providing a better understanding of what you want from your life and career.
The barbell career strategy is not for everyone. However, more and more people are using it and here is one example.