Knowing your worth in the workplace is an ongoing challenge. Times are always changing, people’s opinions are easily swayed, and company demands aren’t always clear. Your career is an important aspect of your life. You spend hours each week in the office working hard to earn the next big promotion, that a leap in pay, and sometimes just to keep your job safe. Working is difficult because you may never feel secure in your position, no matter how hard you work. Regardless of how hard you may have to prove yourself, it’s crucial to value your worth in the workplace. You must know what it means, how to set yourself up for greatness, and how to stand strong in the value you offer.

Knowing your worth is complicated. You never want to come off as confident but you must show to be confident. Confidence at work is one of the most noticeable things employers look for. When you have self-worth and high confidence, the work you do naturally improves. You make better calls in judgment, work harder, and believe in what you do, and are much more productive. Your worth in the workplace isn’t defined by others. It’s something you get to define the first day you start. It begins with how you carry yourself, what boundaries you have in place, and what you are capable of.

Know What You’re Capable Of

This sounds like an obvious statement but too often, people accept job positions that do not live up their capabilities. This degrades your work, confidence, and worth. When going into a job interview, a meeting, or even just an evaluation, it is essential that you have a strong understanding of what you are capable of. This must be realistic and attainable. When you set these understandings prior to meeting with anyone in the workplace, it’s easier to stand strong in your worth.

Knowing what you are capable of includes various exercises. First of all, you need to know what your purpose is heading into anything related to work. Are you just there to passively get by or are you there to make a difference? You need to have a strong understanding of your “why” before being able to set the value to your work. Once you understand your purpose, you must understand what value that brings. If your intentions are to make great change, your value immediately goes up compared to someone who will work the same hours and passively get by.

Lastly, you need to know your strengths, weaknesses, and past successes. Having the drive and the heart to get a job done is great but employers usually don’t use this to aid their decision. It’s not a measurable way to make strategic decisions, especially if they don’t have anything to base that on. Evaluate things such as education, work on past projects, strong suits, and where you may fall a little flat. This will help you create an understanding of your capabilities on the job.

Boundaries

Once you have an understanding of what you are capable of and how competent you are for the job, set boundaries. This is important to do early on but it’s never too late to start. Setting boundaries will help you communicate your worth to others. Set boundaries such as how much work you will do, how many hours that consist of, how you expect to be treated, what your work will look like, etc. This will allow you to not get walked on and burned out from work. Setting boundaries may be a challenge at work. It’s common to want to agree to everything in hopes to continue to move up and be “easy to work with.” When boundaries are not set, the counter effect occurs. You will seem passive, uncaring, and insecure.

Doing more and agreeing to everything in the workplace doesn’t show your worth. It simply lets others know that you can take the brunt of all things. This will begin to wear on you you leaving you beaten down. Creating structure around your boundaries helps others recognize that you have your own work to do and you cannot pick up elsewhere because you want to give everything you have to the work you are assigned. Practice saying no. Stand strong in your opinions. And let others know that business is business and you won’t accept being pushed around. You’re worth more than that.

Salary

The money will always come when you follow your heart. I truly believe that if you’re doing the right thing, listening to what YOU need, and working hard, the money will follow you. But, it’s still incredibly important to know your worth and the work/effort you are putting forward. Pay is a controversial topic in the workplace. We are taught not to discuss what figures we make with others. But why? It’s not because money defines who we are; it’s because bosses and companies choose to pay people doing the same jobs different salaries because they know they can. Corporations and business owners have created the stigma of not talking about financials so they don’t get exposed to how much money they are making and not paying, and for the differences in the pay of various employees.

Why does this matter? You know what you’re bringing to the table; the hours you put in, the results of your work, and how much you contribute to your company. Own that. When you can evaluate your worth and how much you add to your workplace, you can understand how much money you deserve and start this open conversation. You should be able to confidently evaluate what you get paid and determine if it’s fair for the work that you do. What you don’t understand your worth in the workplace, it’s more of a challenge to own up to your value and ask for higher pay. Try to get out of your bubble, own your confidence, and get paid for what you’re worth.

Focus on Yourself

There is nothing more degrading than worrying about other people. This will tear down your worth in the workplace and impact overall self-confidence. For the most part, everyone at work has different objectives and goals. You aren’t always aware of the entire situation so worrying about what others are assigned, doing, and acting like will only impact your work negatively. When you focus on yourself and how to improve, you will have more positive outcomes through working harder. There is a difference between learning from others and trying to be like others. Note when you are working with others to improve rather than to take them down.

A good way to stay focused on yourself is by asking for feedback. Regardless of how much you are worth in the workplace, there will always be room for improvement. Asking for feedback is an excellent way to learn more about what you do best and where you can improve. This will enhance your work abilities, show you are willing to learn and apply yourself, and improve your confidence. When asking questions about you rather than others, you are focusing on where you can do better rather than what others do best. Chances are, they have faults too. When asking for feedback, you can better focus on yourself and how you can make a greater difference. This will help liberate you rather than resent others.