Here's how you can secure a higher salary or raise using your skills and experience.

It's a little known fact that you get paid what YOU think you are worth, not anyone else. So if you want to earn more, you need to change the story you are telling about yourself. And it has far more to do with the value you give to your life and your being than your skills and experience. Then, you ensure that thoughts of lack and limitation don't detract from your worth. You need to be vigilant with the words you use and the thoughts you give attention to. You'll know if they affirm your worth by how they feel. Over time your perspective will shift and you will notice opportunities that previously would have been missed. Persist in the knowledge that no one is worth more than you are.

Take a moment to reflect on what makes you truly stand out in your role. Whether it's your knack for problem-solving, your exceptional communication skills, or your ability to lead with empathy, owning your strengths is key. Next, it's time to showcase these talents to your employer. Schedule a meeting to discuss your contributions to the team and the value you bring to the organization. Be prepared to provide concrete examples of how your skills have positively impacted projects, productivity, or company culture. And remember, confidence is key! Believe in your worth and don't shy away from advocating for yourself. Lastly, stay open to feedback and be willing to negotiate. You deserve to be fairly compensated for your hard work!

To secure a higher salary or raise, document your achievements, research market rates, highlight your value proposition, quantify your contributions, continuously improve your skills, build relationships, prepare for negotiations, choose the right timing, consider alternative compensation, and be open to feedback. Approach the process with professionalism and a clear understanding of your worth to the organization.

I’ve found that sharing personal growth experiences can be really effective. For example, I told my boss about how my daily mindfulness practice has not only boosted my focus but also sparked my creativity in ways that have directly benefited our projects. I walked them through specific instances where my enhanced problem-solving abilities helped us overcome complex challenges or where my fresh ideas led to innovative solutions that saved time and resources. This personal story helped illustrate the real value I was bringing to the team, making it clear why I deserved a raise. Sharing these concrete examples made the conversation about my salary feel more like a natural acknowledgment of my contributions, rather than just a request.

"Knowing you worth in the job market" is a mindful awareness of the value of your experience, aptitude, skills, and perhaps leadership abilities. Your awareness also establishes a 'bottomline' in delineating where the conversation ends. Mindfulness ultimately focuses out of the material world and into the spiritual world when the concept of "Knowing Your Personal Value" is contemplated.

I have said it before, "Your Intentions are thoughts prior to manifesting into actions". Make them positive. Negotiations are a reflection of Mindfulness only if Both Sides achieve a Win-Win Scenario. Both sides giving up a little more than they would like, and also receiving a little less. It's not always about money. Consider alternatives such as Increased Vacation Time, shortened workdays or workweeks, increased benefits, and other incentives.

Setting intentions can be so powerful for achieving your goals. However, there is a distinction between this and goal-setting; intention setting is a lot more loose, and more focused on feelings rather than productivity or tangible results. Of course, it's normal to want to earn what you think you deserve. But sometimes, when we're not clear on our intentions, achieving our goals can come with the cost of feeling stressed, frazzled and burnt out. So make sure that you're setting intentions during the day on HOW you want to achieve a successful salary negotiation. It's as easy as saying "I love that I was able to successfully navigate this salary negotiation with ease and patience." Or other ways you'd like to feel!

A detailed visualisation of your future working with the company can be a very helpful tool. This is similar to what successful athletes do, imagine the day of their competition in as much details as possible and how you feel yourself, what you see around, what your loved ones feel, what you see etc. That helps to form a vision and make the negotiation more effective for you.

Practice makes perfect, and "perfection" at least takes some consistency! You have to remember that with anything good in life, it takes some time and effort to maintain it. In this case, infusing mindfulness into a salary negotiation will take some effort as well. Also keep in mind that our previous thoughts, habits and mindsets were forged over years, maybe even decades. So it isn't going to be changed immediately. With mindfulness, it will help you to remember to be more compassionate towards yourself as you do something you've never done before! And you may even set an example for others as you show up each and every day, even if it's not perfect. I always say, "do it scared." By practicing, you can prepare yourself!

Salary negotiation is like a poker game, there is always a margin for negotiations and it's not only about words, you should detect the 'tells' of the negotiators, their body language, eyes and facial expressions as you talk numbers, benefits, etc. Pick up on the clues and know where the margins are.

The world insatiably focuses on money., There is so much more to us and our planet. Once you accumulate too much, then what do you do? Buy a new, larger, house, and then more accumulation. My lacking wisdom and immaturity has directed me to a happily livable "Less is more philosophy" (Meher Baba). I guess I realized "I can't take it with me", but I can choose to be happy and love - things money can't buy.

It’s all about listening to what others want and using your skills and experience to help them. As Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Reciprocity is how humans are naturally wired, so apply this principle in your life, learn how to communicate how you help them and what you want from them (a salary raise), and that’s how you can make more money!