A lot of people call me a f***-up. One woman I dated called me a chronic under-achiever. I’ve never earned more than $50,000 in a year.<\/p>\n
From TheFix<\/a>: For those eye-rolling readers ready to dismiss compulsive under-earning as yet another wannabe addiction, listen up: compulsive under-earning is a disease with specific characteristics and a specific solution. It\u2019s a way of using money (or lack, or fear of money) like a drug\u2014a subconscious strategy for keeping yourself at zero, thereby avoiding taking full responsibility for yourself and for not facing life on life\u2019s terms. \u201cWhile the most visible consequence [of under-earning] is the inability to provide for one\u2019s needs, including future needs, under-earning is also about the inability to fully acknowledge and express our capabilities and competencies,\u201d the Under-earners Anonymous (UA) website reads. \u201cIt is about underachieving, or under-being, no matter how much money we make.\u201d<\/p>\n Like all addictions, under-earning is cunning, baffling, powerful. And like all addictions, it\u2019s toward death: a true pathology, based on shame and fear, that leads if nothing else to spiritual death, and in many cases\u2014as with, for instance, people who are unable to bring themselves to see a doctor\u2014actual death. Here\u2019s under-earning at its starkest: I once heard a guy describe his job of 30 years\u2014rodent exterminator. He said, \u201cI\u2019m maxed out on my credit cards, I\u2019m in terrible financial insecurity, and I just don\u2019t understand why my business keeps going down. I have the most reasonable prices in the market. I try to be kind to my clients, often spending a few extra hours talking to an old lady or a guy in a wheelchair.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A lot of people call me a f***-up. One woman I dated called me a chronic under-achiever. I’ve never earned more than $50,000 in a year. From TheFix: For those eye-rolling readers ready to dismiss compulsive under-earning as yet another … Continue reading