You should be paid for doing nothing.
There, I said it.
For most of modern history, work was transactional.
You worked a certain number of hours.
You produced a certain number of goods.
You got paid accordingly.
This made sense on the factory floor, where output scaled directly with effort.
Time in = Product out = Wages earned.
But today?
That equation has broken down.
We still measure productivity with calendars and timesheets and attendance.
But in today’s world, value isn’t created linearly.
You might land one big client in a single conversation.
You might solve a six-month problem with one idea you had while trekking outdoors.
You might redirect the course of a project with a question that took five seconds to ask (but five years of experience to know when to ask it).
And yet, it’s not the norm to be rewarded for that.
In fact, we can be punished for it.
What happens if you close a huge deal in record time?
You’re given a pat on the back and handed your next target.
If you make something complex look easy?
People assume it was easy and give you more.
We’re still wired to reward input and not output.
But the reality is this:
In today’s world, doing “nothing” might be the most valuable thing you do.
It’s the difference between being busy and being effective.
It’s the space you need to discover your highest value.
Or the space you need to recover to do your best work.
Ask yourself, are you being paid for your output or your input?.
Because if all we do is reward effort, we’ll keep building a workforce that’s exhausted and not effective.
(And on a personal level, you’ll continue to be denied a share of the upside you’ve helped produce).
There are companies out there that reward output over input and will pay you for periods of “nothingness”.
What company are you working for?