The three ways of getting paid.

If you work for a living, if you have a steady job, you get a paycheck once a week, or every two weeks, or twice a month. But the money that you get for doing your job is only one of the ways you should get paid.

A good job, a really good job, should pay you in three ways.

1. Your salary.

2. You ought to also get paid in the work you produce and the things you learn along the way. After all, if you leave your current job making X and start a new job making X + 20, that extra 20 you now earn is payment for having worked hard, for having listened and for having applied your skill and talent.

3. You also get paid in the friends you make, the connections you cultivate and the environment you create for yourself at your office. The best "for instance" I can give of this is blogging. Obviously, I don't earn a dime writing it. But I've met--at least electronically--some people whom I can learn from and whom I respect. That is payment, and important payment.

Not every job, or, these days, not many jobs pay you in every way, every day. I think that's ok.

Two years ago when I was unemployed, I worked for very little money for a brilliant friend who's opening his own agency. I think for three months I earned $5000 in total. Not a long-term survival plan, to be sure, but I also got paid in the dozen print ads we produced and the five commercials. And the quality of the friendship and companionship.

In short, think less about money and more about how well you're paid.