Compensation

Have you ever wondered why it is that athletes are paid millions of dollars while teachers get paid very little?  I have, and I had to chuckle when I saw today's Thought.

This summer I'm reading a book for my internship called The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann.  It's a story about a powerful business idea and focuses on The Five Laws for Stratospheric Success.  This comic strip is an interesting commentary on one of these laws: The Law of Compensation.  This law states: "Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them."

Thinking about professional sports, this makes a lot of sense.  These athletes serve a lot of people.  The viewership on any given football Sunday certainly is in the millions of people.  Now I'm not saying that everyone should run out and become a professional athlete (there's gold in them thar stadiums!).  Rather, we should reconsider our idea of compensation.

As a future teacher, money scares me.  What if I don't have enough?  I sure could go make a more comfortable living doing something else.  So why do I do it?  I keep coming back to the idea that my compensation as a teacher isn't about the money.  It's more than that.  It's not only about my money, it's about the money and the lives that my students will have as a result of my teaching.  It's about the relationships, the people you impact.  What is your TRUE compensation?