$113,000 bonus was never enough
If you get triggered by people earning a lot of money...
...don't read today's Journal.
Still here? Good...
I remember the feeling when I got my first-ever bonus.
It was early 1997 I think.
My office was by Bond Street tube station.
I was working as (puffs chest out and announces proudly)...
An Office JUNIOR.
The company was Glencore.
One of the biggest commodity trading companies in the world.
A VERY interesting organisation, if you take a deep dive :)
We'll swerve the rabbit hole for now and talk about figures.
Some of the top traders were easily earning £5,000,000+
Maybe £10,000,000.
But, my salary was £12,500 a year.
So I wasn't expecting much of a bonio, and let's face it...
I wasn't adding any measurable value to the company (or so I thought).
But bonus time is a chance to dream.
Dream BIG, brother!
I got called into the Meeting Room.
One of the bigwigs with a deep bronze tan...
And a super sharp tailored bespoke suit that cost more than your house...
Had the honour of dishing out the bonus figures.
I doubt he even knew my name when I strolled in...
Wearing my pin-striped Jeff Banks suit from Debenhams.
I shut the door behind me and sat down.
My heart is racing.
He glanced down at the list...
'A n t h o n y'... (he slowly reads my name and looks up at me over his glasses)...
'Thank you for your contribution this year.'
He doesn't mean it - he has no idea what I do.
And he clearly doesn't realise that sometimes I go to the pub...
...with Hughesy, Sausage Fingers, Blobby, Tim and others...
Have 3 pints of lukewarm Stella and am completely immobolised for the rest of the afternoon.
After a pause... he delivers it.
'Your bonus will be two thousand five hundred pounds.'
Ho-leeee-shit!
Two and a half grand?
That's fucking great!
I keep a straight face...
(NEVER look pleased when you get a pay rise or bonus)
I then smile politely, thank him, and moonwalk out the door.
I'm RICH!
The joy was short-lived when I got told that...
Nearly half of that would be taken in tax by the criminal cartel.
A.K.A The Govern-men-t.
Bollocks.
But even so, I was thrilled.
I sat looking out the window on the hour commute home feeling on top of the world.
I knew that money would mean I could buy my first car.
The joy stayed with me for days.
I knew that if I worked hard, and earned bigger bonuses...
I would be happy.
And yet...
Watch this...
Years later I was in a similar situation but a different company.
This time I KNEW I'd made them a LOT of money.
Easily over £1,000,000.00 in 12 months.
But let me be clear...
I'd worked very hard...
Got up at 5:30 am every. bloody. morning.
I was good at what I did.
Put in long hours.
Clocked up thousands of miles travelling to entertain clients.
And it had been pretty fucking stressful.
I was called into the meeting room.
'I'm pleased to say your bonus will be $113,000.00'
I sat there deflated.
It was the biggest bonus I'd ever got, and yet...
It was the most underwhelmed I had ever been.
I'll explain why below.
First off, we got paid in $.
So I had to convert that $ to £.
Then I had to deduct the tax.
That's about £35,000. GONE
Unless you have lots of money that's a painful thought.
I remember thinking...
'That's MY fucking bonus money that I've sweated blood and taken risks for...
And I'm ALREADY paying another £30,000 in tax from my basic salary.
FFS.'
But anyway, here's the more important bit.
I knew that I was going to get about £45,000 paid into my bank account.
Now I appreciate some of you reading this would LOVE to have that paid into your account.
And yet, some of you wouldn't even notice if you LOST £45,000 down the back of your sofa.
So attachment to money is all relative to how much you already have.
But I knew it was NEVER going to be enough.
In the grand scheme of things, if you're truly thinking big...
£45k is nothing.
My mortgage was well over £150k so I couldn't even pay off a third of it.
A whole year grinding for a big bonus and I'd STILL have a mortgage over £100k?
That feeling stayed with me for weeks.
But here's one of the biggest lightbulb moments for me.
Around that time I had started to connect with guys who were...
In the 'personal development' space.
It was a different world to the 'City guys' who were deeply entrenched in 'the rat race'.
They showed me that they could...
Create, grow, and maintain impactful businesses...
That paid them multiple hundreds of thousands...
Or millions of £...
Some in the tens of millions.
And yes I have spoken to a Billionaire.
(How weird must that be to have over a Billion pounds?)
All doing something they enjoyed.
Lived with a smile on their face.
Plus, with some degree of freedom (or complete freedom in various cases).
Whereas I was chained to a desk for 241 working days a year.
And even if I worked TWICE as hard.
Did TWICE as many deals.
And got TWICE the bonus.
Which let me be clear sounded absolutely exhausting...
I was still capped on my potential earnings.
Here's the interesting part...
The big thing for me wasn't about the money...
It was about how I felt when I was around those men.
Like anything was possible.
They all want you to WIN.
And you know what...
Pretty much all of them offered to help.
With advice.
With connections.
With ideas.
I try to do exactly the same.
And all of them were in some kind of...
- Regular Mastermind.
- High-level Network group.
- Or Platinum members club for high achievers.
And they all had some way of being accountable.
I wanted to be part of that.
Because, in all honesty, I wanted their life.
Or some parts of it anyway.
The excitement, the financial freedom, the fun, the opportunities.
So that's one of the many reasons why I am excited about the launch of our own membership.
Because I want to unearth the men who want UNLIMITED UPSIDE in life.
And let me be clear...
You don't have to already be a 'high achiever'.
But you do have to THINK like one, brother.
The funny thing is, the less money you have...
...the hungrier you are to change your circumstances.
So there are only 2 things I will be looking for in YOU...
If you are going to join us.
And it's A.I.
No, not Chat GP Tizzle.
Or some other AI terminator that's going to nick all our jobs.
A.I. is your...
Attitude...and... Intentions.
NO matter where you are in life...
If you have a great positive attitude...
And you have bold intentions to create a life most other men would think is beyond them...
There is no limit to how far and how high you can go.
But it will be a lot faster and a lot more fun to ascend with me and 'The Others'.
Ok, let's wrap this up.
I appreciate it's a longer journal today...
But if you enjoyed it, let me know.
And I'll catch you on Monday where I'll be talking about SEX.
You won't wanna miss it.
Have a great weekend.
And remember, the world needs strong men.
Anthony
Whole Man Academy
When you’re ready to stop letting life pass you by and want to realise your potential instead, here are 4 ways I can help you:
Uncover your hidden characteristics to bring back the excitement and motivation you had in your twenties. Hero’s Journey (Free)
Quickly energise and optimise yourself in six short but powerful weeks by taking our Energy Protocol Course ($)
Deep-Impact, Elite and Exclusive Personal Coaching to take you from where you are to where you want to be. ($$)
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