- Feeling Free
- Posts
- Chasing the pot of gold
Chasing the pot of gold
How much $$ is enough? Breaking free from the golden handcuffs and more money discussions
Maggie Blackburn
March 17, 2025
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 🍀 I love a good theme, and with raises and promotion cycles happening right now plus St. Patty’s Day… I thought it would be interesting to discuss the concept of chasing a pot of gold at the end of what seems like a never-ending rainbow. 🌈
Stay with me for a second.
A few years ago, I knew money wasn’t going to buy my happiness, but I also thought it couldn’t hurt it either.
I told myself: If I don’t love my job, at least I’m earning more money. Maybe that will make me feel better about myself and the work I’m doing.
And for a moment, it did. Every raise, every promotion felt good for a little while, but I’d always shift and focus on the next milestone.
I fell into the trap of sacrificing my values in the pursuit of a bigger paycheck, a better title, or a cooler company.
From the outside, my life looked pretty great. I was traveling, going out on weekends, and had built an impressive resume.
But what people didn’t see was the inner turmoil.
I felt like I was dimming my true self—playing a part to impress my boss, my coworkers, the leadership team, my friends, society—all for more money or prestige.
The problem with more
Corporations know how to dangle the carrot in front of you: Stay just six more months, and you’ll earn thousands more.
It’s very, very hard to walk away from that kind of money, especially when you don’t believe you can’t make it anywhere else or when you’re telling yourself things will get better.
But at some point, you have to ask yourself: how much money is enough?
Lifestyle creep is real. As we get older, we upgrade our apartments, our wardrobes, our vacations. We convince ourselves we need higher salaries to sustain it all.
But when you strip everything away, what’s the number you truly need to survive?
I’m not saying to change up your life completely, but do you know what that number is? I realized I had a rough estimate, but I never sat down to calculate what I needed.
Breaking free from the golden handcuffs
For me, it wasn’t one, singular moment that made me want to leave corporate. It was an internal feeling that I wanted to live a bigger life. This quote sums it up for me:
I’ve come to understand that one of the most ambitious things we can do, following our own true path, does not feel like we might expect ambition to feel…It feels natural, as if everything you are meant to be doing is obvious.
Our culture will attempt to steal your inner ambition and convince you to use it to do what organizations, your parents, or your manager might want. But this is not your ambition.
Your ambition desires more than a job title, a salary, or a brand-name company. It is a fire that burns inside of you—not for a bigger paycheck, but for a bigger life. Your mission is to make sure that this flame never dies.
To break free from the golden handcuffs, I had to look at my relationship with money, crunch the numbers, understand how I was (or wasn’t) living in alignment with my values, and finally ask myself, if I truly wanted to change.
I’m planning to write more about this topic, so if you’re interested in receiving a free guide, make sure to take the poll below.
Would you like to be notified when I create my free guide: How to break free from the golden handcuffs? |
💬 Your turn
Are you chasing a pot of gold? How much money is enough?
✨ Weekly Feels ✨
Feeling like Spring 💐: Lots of talks about rainbows and gold today and last week I made this gorg salad that brought me a lot of joy.
My most beautiful salad yet
🌟 Upcoming Events 🌟
📖 Keep Reading
💼 Ways to Work With Me
1:1 Private Coaching: I’m offering free coaching strategy calls to those interested in career and lifestyle coaching with me. Feel free to book some time with me!
Reply