10 Key Motivators: #1 Fear of Losing a Job
Wage Slave!
Perhaps the single biggest motivator for people seeking financial independence is the fear of losing their job. Once we become accustomed to being “wage-slaves” we build our personal economies on an income stream that we take for granted. Our outgoings (perhaps including savings contributions) expand to absorb the entire amount of our income. Take away that income and our personal economies collapse very quickly.
I was once a wage-slave. I recall, very vividly, the sudden end of the income stream that I took for granted. There were signs of course. Secretive meetings between human resources staff and my manager, re-organization plans, rumours. My employer’s business was performing poorly and all the staff were alert to signals that the Sword of Damocles might be hanging over their own head.
The Beginning of the End
One day I was called into my manager’s office where a human resources staffer was sitting alongside him. The pronouncement of my “termination” was clinical, emotionless and short. In the space of a five minute encounter my career was over. More importantly, my income was gone. The mental torture was almost intolerable. It is very easy to make plans for your future when that future is secure. It is very difficult to calmly gather your thoughts and make plans when your future has been unexpectedly and painfully snatched away.
The End of the Beginning
After a couple of layoffs during a downturn in the industry in which I worked I knew I had to have a plan. I re-organized my finances, paid down my debt and developed a strategy to insulate myself from the usually devastating effects of job loss. The last time an employer laid me off was a very different situation. My boss was a nervous basket-case as he handed the sentence of termination to me. I consoled him with re-assuring words and whistled as I left with my final severance cheque.
