When young people discuss their jobs one of the first questions is usually, "How much an hour does it pay?" I know for a number of years that is what I looked at in finding a new job; how much an hour would I earn?

Then, somewhere along the line I got into the annual salary question, so instead of how much an hour, it became, "How much a year?" There was a time in my life where my goal, my dream and my vision was to make $40,000 a year. I thought, at that time, if I could hit that mark I would be very well off, having everything I could ever need.

But, married with two children and taking a full time job in the early 90's for a salary of $24,000 a year was a considerable distance from my goal. Yet, somehow that figure of $40,000 a year seemed to be etched into my mind. And I indeed attracted what I focused on. I soon hit my major plateau, my pinnacle of earning.

Now here's the funny part. Not too long after reaching that milestone in my life, I began to see that that figure wasn't quite as abundant as I thought it was. Can you relate? Have you ever been there before?

When you reach this juncture, there are two major considerations that can either help you along your way or hinder you.

First, you have to ask yourself honestly if you are greedy and unthankful for what you have. And by the way, it is not for anyone else to judge or decide if you are greedy and unthankful for what God has blessed you with. Only you know that. Religious people, and many times those who make less money than you, are sometimes too quick to judge others. It should be between you and God.

Having a desire to increase your earnings and thus increase your quality of life is not being unthankful or greedy.

The second consideration that can either help you along your way or hinder you is to ask yourself honestly if you really can earn more than you are earning now. Your answer to this question is the key!

You see, I knew what it took for me to go from 24 to 40. But now I had my sites set on 60, maybe even 80? But the question I had to answer was, "Do I have what it takes to get to that amount?"

Be very careful with this question. Do not put yourself into a boxed category, but rather, set your annual salary in your mind first. The picture you carry of yourself is what you will see happen in your life. That is the reason some people never move any higher than 10 or 12 dollars an hour. They would love to get an increase, but inside, they see themselves as a 12 dollar an hour earner.

Where do you see yourself?

With this second consideration, get truly honest. Anyone can simply state, "My goal is to make $95,000 a year!" It's easy to say that, and there is nothing wrong with having an annual salary goal. In fact, it is an excellent idea!

But then you have to honestly figure out where you see yourself right now. Do you really believe that you can earn 95,000 a year? If not, then that is the part of the consideration that you need to work on. I've said it so many times that it sounds like a broken record: first change what's on the inside and you will see the change on the outside.

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