How to Direct Your Energy Towards Increasing Your Income Through Advancements in Your Career, Pursuing Additional (Money)

Focus on Earning Over Saving

Published October 06, 2025By MetalHatsCats Team

Quick Overview

Direct your energy towards increasing your income through advancements in your career, pursuing additional streams of income, or starting a side business.

How to Direct Your Energy Towards Increasing Your Income Through Advancements in Your Career, Pursuing Additional (Money) — MetalHatsCats × Brali LifeOS

If we are honest, most of us spend more attention on shaving small costs than on building larger income. We sit at the kitchen table with a receipt and a pen, circling a $7 charge that should have been $5. Meanwhile, the unopened email at the top of our inbox is a recruiter asking if we have 20 minutes to talk. The pull of small savings is strong because it is concrete and immediate; the push required for earnings work is harder because it involves uncertainty, visibility, and the chance of rejection. But the math is not close: one hour spent improving our offer to the market, or making one more specific ask, can outperform months of coupon-level frugality.

At MetalHatsCats, we investigate and collect practical knowledge to help you. We share it for free, we educate, and we provide tools to apply it. We are not trying to make you into a different person overnight. We are suggesting a shift in where we put our best hour: from trimming to earning. Use the Brali LifeOS app for this hack. It's where tasks, check‑ins, and your journal live. App link: https://metalhatscats.com/life-os/focus-on-earning-over-saving

Background snapshot: The field behind this hack includes career mobility research (people who switch jobs strategically see 5–15% pay bumps per move), micro-entrepreneurship (tiny service offers often reach first revenue in 2–6 weeks), and behavioral economics (present bias and loss aversion keep us stuck protecting pennies rather than building dollars). Common traps: confusing busywork with earning work, chasing passive income fantasies, and waiting for “the perfect idea.” This fails when we skip the pipeline: no offers, no asks, no scheduled earning blocks. Outcomes change when we define earning actions clearly, cap our experiments by calendar and count, and track conversions like a simple funnel.

We will not propose a branding exercise or a grand plan. We will propose that today we move three small stones: 1) an advancement stone inside our current role or job market; 2) a monetization stone outside our job (a tiny paid offer or asset); and 3) a credibility stone (signal that increases our rate). We will narrate each stone as a lived micro-scene, because the habit depends on how we behave in a 15-minute slot when we are tired and tempted to tidy instead of ask.

The practice is simple to say and rough to do: we will schedule an “Earning Block,” define eligible actions, run them like reps, and track outcomes weekly. When we track counts and minutes, our fear reduces because the next action becomes obvious. The core pivot we will make, publicly, is to choose small visible moves that may fail over large invisible preparations that can’t.

We begin with a scene. It is 7:40 p.m. The house is quiet. We open a notes app and write three tasks for a 45-minute block: 1) reply to recruiter with three times we can meet (4 minutes), 2) draft a short “value email” to two warm contacts (18 minutes), 3) submit one application with a tailored 90-word top section (23 minutes). We put our phone on the other side of the room. This is not heroic. It is humble. And yet it is the habit that reassigns our evening from protecting small budget lines to adding potential dollars to our pipeline.

We will hold three lenses as we work:

Rate: what we earn per unit (per hour, per deliverable, per role).
Volume: how many paid units we deliver (hours, sales, clients).
Duration: how long this income continues (one-off vs recurring).

Earning work sits where at least one of those moves up. Comfort work sits where none of them do. That means “polishing the logo” is likely comfort work; “asking a past client if they have a small project” is earning work. We intend to change our reflex.

The internal feeling we are aiming for is a small lift — not dread, not hype — that says, “I moved something that could return dollars.” If we feel relief after clearing our desk but nothing changed in our pipeline, we notice that. We learn to feel better for the right reason.

The field in brief, with numbers

We can use a few reference numbers to ground choices:

Career moves: Median job switchers see roughly 5–10% immediate pay increases; switching industries or roles with new responsibilities can push that to 10–20% after a 6–12 month ramp if skills align.
Negotiation: A one-time 8% raise on a $70,000 salary is $5,600 per year; 60 minutes of preparation that improves a negotiation has a very high hourly value.
Micro-offers: Simple services (resume editing, tutoring, local setup help) often get to first $50–$150 sale within 10–20 targeted messages; conversion rates of 5–15% are typical when the offer is concrete and the ask is specific.
Skill-to-rate: Completing a focused certification or demonstrable work sample can move rates by 10–30% if it resolves a buyer’s risk.

None of these are promises. They are plausible ranges that help us decide where to invest an hour when we have one to give.

We will now walk through the practice. We will mix planning with doing, purposely light on theory, heavy on moves.

Section 1 — Define “Earning Work” so we stop lying to ourselves If we give ourselves too much discretion, we will pick easy tasks that feel like progress. We write a definition we can test: Earning work creates or improves a near-term path to more dollars in 1–12 weeks by either:

Starting a money conversation (ask, application, pitch, proposal, or negotiation),
Improving our rate (signal, sample, certification with buyer relevance), or
Expanding delivery capacity tied to booked demand (not speculative).

Examples in the wild today:

Career advancement: Book a 15-minute 1-on-1 with our manager to discuss a measurable next-level deliverable; submit one targeted application; ask a colleague for a referral to a specific role ID; prepare a 3-slide internal proposal that saves 10 hours/month for the team and ask to lead it.
Additional streams: Offer a one-hour paid session doing something we already do for friends (e.g., LinkedIn profile tune-up at $60, 3 slots); list a high-demand item for resale with a clear margin; pre-sell a micro-service to two warm contacts (e.g., “I can set up your email domain + SPF/DKIM for $80, done in 48 hours.”).
Side business: Draft a one-screen service page with a single call to action and send it to 5 people; record a 90-second demo of us doing the thing; send one lump-sum “starter package” offer.

We can keep a small whitelist and a small blacklist to guard our attention.

Whitelist (counts as Earning Work): sending pitches, making asks, submitting proposals, price change conversations, creating a buyer-facing sample, targeted applications, interviews, negotiating, follow-ups with dates, invoicing, issuing W-9/W-8BEN to get paid, onboarding new clients.
Blacklist (does not count): endlessly rewriting About pages, rearranging logos, generic “networking” with no ask, updating systems with no buyer impact, watching strategy videos, researching for more than 15 minutes without producing an ask.

Reflection: When we see our whitelist, some part of us resists. It is social and risky. That is the point. We cannot earn without some exposure. If we reframe a pitch as offering help to a specific person with a specific problem, it softens the friction without removing the clarity.

Section 2 — The 90-minute Earning Block: the smallest repeatable unit We will reserve 30–90 minutes, 3–5 times per week, and call it by name. To start, we will use 45 minutes once today. Then we can scale. We will set up our block with:

A clear location (kitchen table, library desk, parked car).
A start time and a visible timer.
A pre-written task list of 3 actions, each with a 15-minute cap.

A micro-scene looks like this: it is 6:15 a.m., we are in a hoodie, coffee brewed, timer at 45:00. The list says: 1) Update the first 90 words of our resume for Role X (15), 2) DM A and B with a specific offer (15), 3) Draft a 3-line negotiation anchor for Friday’s review (15). We know exactly what “done” is for each.

We will track on paper or in Brali: Action, Minutes, Outcome (Sent? Yes/No), Follow-up date. We drop perfection to speed. A 70% email sent today beats a 95% email unsent forever. We finalise and learn by seeing response data.

Mini‑App Nudge: In Brali, open “Pipeline: Earning Block” and pin the 3-slot checklist. Set the timer module to 15:00 × 3 repeats. Tap “Sent?” to log reps.

Section 3 — The three tracks we keep in motion

Advance within or beyond our current role Our biggest lever is often inside our paycheck. If we are employed, we focus on one of three moves:

Raise: Document outcomes and anchor a number.
Promotion: Propose and deliver a next-level responsibility with measurable impact (time saved, revenue captured).
Switch: Apply strategically to roles that fit our next-rate profile.

We do not prepare for months. We do actions:

Write a “win sheet” for the last 60 days: 5 bullets with numbers (e.g., “Reduced report cycle from 3.5 hours to 1.2 hours, saving ~9 hours/week across team; created SOP; trained 3 colleagues.”).
Draft a negotiation anchor: “Given the expanded scope (X, Y), and the market band for [Role] in [City] at $A–$B, I’m seeking $B.”
Identify 10 roles with direct fit and a referrable person at each company. Send 10 messages like: “Jade — we haven’t met. I saw req 8712 for Data Associate. I cut cycle time 65% on similar pipelines. If it helps, I can send a 1-page before/after. Would you be open to a 10-minute call this week?” Expect 1–2 replies out of 10. Follow up once.

A note on negotiation: If we fear asking, we script the first sentence and a silence. “I’m excited about the offer. Based on scope and market data, I was targeting $86,000. How close can we get?” Then we count to five silently. The pause is a skill. Practice it twice before the call.

Monetize a simple element we already do We avoid romantic “passive income” and choose a small service or asset that a specific person will pay for this month. The first $100 matters less for cash and more for proof we can ask and deliver.

Identify an offer we can deliver in 60–120 minutes, priced $50–$200, with a clear outcome: “30-minute LinkedIn profile clean-up; headline, summary, and 3 bullets; delivered in 24 hours; $60.”
Write a message to three people who plausibly need it: “I noticed your LinkedIn headline doesn’t show your target role. I help with quick tune-ups; $60; done within 24 hours; if not happy, don’t pay. Would this be useful this week?”
Send. Expect 1 yes from 5–10 messages. That is fine. If zero from 10, refine: is the offer concrete? price right? wrong audience?
Deliver once, on time, and ask for a one-line testimonial. Save a before/after screenshot for future proof.

If we prefer selling a thing:

Resale: Pick one platform (Facebook Marketplace, Vinted, eBay). List 2 items with clear photos, weights, and prices tonight. Price to sell, not to maximize.
Digital template: Ship one “plug-and-play” file we used at work (budget sheet, weekly planner, onboarding checklist). Price $5–$15. Post in one relevant group with a simple sentence: “Free for the first 5 DMs; feedback welcome.”

Increase our rate by reducing buyer risk Buyers pay more when uncertainty drops. We can:

Publish a small “proof piece”: a 1-page case with before/after metrics; a 90-second screen recording of us performing a task fast; a GitHub gist demonstrating a solved edge case.
Earn a micro-credential that buyers recognize (not any certificate — only one that shows up in job posts we care about). Cap at 10 hours. If the syllabus is 100 hours, pick one module that produces a demonstrable artifact in 2 hours.
Ask for signal: “Would you be open to leaving a 1-sentence testimonial if the work helps?” One sentence with a number moves rate.

We assumed we needed a perfect portfolio → observed that 1 clear before/after with numbers generated replies → changed to producing one proof piece per week and sending it with asks.

Section 4 — Today’s start: micro-choices and a pivot We will pick one of each:

Advancement: Schedule a 15-minute 1-on-1 with our manager with the subject “Next quarter: higher-leverage scope.”
Monetization: Send 3 specific offers to people we can help this week.
Signal: Publish one proof piece or record a 60–90 second demo.

A micro-scene: It is lunch break. We feel the pull to scroll. We open our calendar instead, type “Q: Next quarter scope discussion,” propose two times. That is 90 seconds. We paste our three offer DMs into Messages, each customized by one sentence about the person. That is 12 minutes. We hit “post” on a short Loom video showing how we cut a spreadsheet task from 8 minutes to 90 seconds using a formula; we add one line: “If this would save you 30 minutes weekly, I have 2 slots this week to implement it for $80.” That is 9 minutes. 22 minutes total. We still have time to eat.

The pivot

We assumed that “more research” would protect us from failing. We observed that it protected us mostly from action. We changed to a 15-minute cap on research, followed by sending at least one ask before any more reading.

Section 5 — Numbers we will use to steer It helps to move from feelings to counts. We use these working numbers for a first pass:

10 targeted applications → ~1 interview, 0.3–0.5 offers in our field if we match 70% of requirements.
10 specific DMs with a concrete small offer → 1–2 yes replies.
1 negotiation with preparation → +5–10% pay bump is plausible if there is wiggle room and the ask is anchored.
3 proof pieces sent to buyers → 1 call booked.

We use minutes too:

Drafting one 90-word tailored resume top section: 12–18 minutes once we have a template.
Writing one 3-sentence value email: 6–10 minutes.
Recording a 90-second demo: 10–20 minutes including upload.

We are not machines. If our conversion is lower, we adjust the offer, the audience, or the proof. If our conversion is higher, we raise price or improve scope control to protect time.

Sample Day Tally

07:10–07:25 (15 min): Tailor resume top for Role ID 8712; sent via company portal; logged follow-up for next Thursday.
12:05–12:17 (12 min): Send 3 DMs offering “LinkedIn tune-up in 24h for $60”; 3 sent; 1 reply “maybe.”
19:30–19:55 (25 min): Record 90-second demo “Clean CSV emails with regex in Google Sheets”; posted with CTA; 2 comments. Totals: 52 minutes; 4 asks sent; Expected value: if 1 DM converts ($60) and 1 demo leads to a $80 implementation this week, EV ~$140 for 52 minutes; if resume yields interview next week, longer-tail EV potential. Even if only 1 sale hits, hourly return is ~$69.

The target for this week: 150–240 minutes of Earning Blocks and 10–20 asks sent. We will track “asks sent” as the key behavior metric. Dollars will lag.

Section 6 — Scripts to lower friction (we can paste and edit)

Recruiter reply: “Thanks for reaching out, [Name]. I’m available Wed 12:30–12:50, Thu 9:00–9:20, Fri 15:10–15:30 (all ET). If helpful, here is a 3-sentence overview of relevant work: [X with number], [Y with number], [Z with number].”
Referral ask: “Hi [Name] — I saw [Role] (ID 8712) on your team. I helped reduce [relevant metric] by [number] at [company]. If you think it’s a fit, could you refer me? Happy to send a 1-page before/after.”
Value email (warm): “Quick one, [Name] — I noticed [specific problem]. I can [specific fix] and deliver by [day]. If useful, rate is $[price]. If not, no worries.”
Negotiation line: “I’m excited to join. Based on scope and market, I was targeting $[number]. Is there room to move toward that?”

We can adapt tone and culture. The point is to keep it short, specific, and respectful.

Section 7 — What we stop doing (for now)

Passive research beyond 15 minutes without an ask.
Building assets that have no buyer in mind (podcast, brand kit) before first $100.
Networking for networking’s sake. We replace with “helpful and specific.”
Extra unpaid scope. If we decide to do it, we name it and set a price next time.

This is not dogma; it’s a temporary constraint so we experience what “earning work first” feels like. We can bring back nice-to-haves once the pipeline breathes.

Section 8 — Common traps, edge cases, and how we’ll handle them Trap: “I need a perfect idea.”

Reframe: We need an idea that someone will pay $50 for by Friday. Perfection is the enemy of the invoice.
Move: Pick from three categories that tend to work: fix (something broken), speed up (time saved), clarity (make a mess legible). Price low to start; raise after 3 deliveries.

Trap: “I don’t have time.”

Reframe: We need 25 minutes to send 3 asks. That can be done in a parking lot.
Move: 3× 15-minute blocks this week. Protect by location (leave house), by device (laptop only), or by buddy check-in.

Trap: “I’ll get in trouble at work.”

Reframe: We respect contracts and conflicts. Earning work in our role means building our case for value; outside work must not conflict or consume employer time.
Move: Check contract for non-compete or non-moonlighting clauses. Choose offers unrelated to employer’s market. Do side work off-hours, off devices.

Trap: “I’m not a salesperson.”

Reframe: We are offering to help a specific person with a concrete outcome. That is not manipulation; it’s clarity.
Move: Write one sentence that declares what we do in plain words. Practice saying it out loud twice.

Edge case: Caregiving, disability, chronic fatigue

Move: Choose one 5–10 minute action per day (one ask, one follow-up). Aim for 5 asks per week. Use voice dictation. Batch templates on a “good day,” deploy on hard days.

Edge case: Visa constraints, taxes, and legal exposure

Move: Confirm any restrictions on outside income. If we can’t freelance, focus on job advancement or internal projects. For taxes, set aside 20–30% of side income into a separate account; track mileage and receipts. If in doubt, ask a qualified professional. We do not provide legal advice.

Edge case: ADHD and task initiation

Move: Externalize. Set a 2-minute warm-up: open doc, paste template, fill one blank. Music with no words, timer visible. Body double (friend on video silent). Reduce choices: pre-commit the three actions the night before.

Misconceptions addressed

“Passive income is the goal.” For most of us, “passive” is a misleading term. Almost all income streams require maintenance. We aim for “asynchronous and decoupled” later; start active to learn.
“You need a website.” A one-screen Notion page or a Google Doc with a PayPal link is enough for first revenue.
“Certifications equal income.” Only if buyers care and the skill transfers. We choose one that appears in at least 5 job posts we want.
“Networking is slimy.” Being specific and helpful is not slimy; it’s respectful of people’s time.

Section 9 — A week we can run, starting today We will outline a first week with explicit moves. Adjust for our field and life.

Day 1 (today)

45-minute Earning Block.
Actions:
1. Apply to 2 roles with a tailored top section (30 minutes total; 15 each).
2. Send 3 offer DMs (15 minutes).
Outcome logging: 2 apps sent; 3 DMs sent; follow-up dates set.

Day 2

30-minute Earning Block.
Actions:
1. Draft 1-page “before/after” proof piece with numbers (20 minutes).
2. Post in one relevant group or send to 3 buyers (10 minutes).

Day 3

60-minute Earning Block.
Actions:
1. Book a 15-minute 1-on-1 with our manager (5 minutes).
2. Prepare a negotiation anchor and a list of wins (25 minutes).
3. Send 5 targeted connections/referral asks (30 minutes).

Day 4

30-minute Earning Block.
Actions:
1. Deliver one small paid job or free sample (20 minutes).
2. Ask for 1-line testimonial (2 minutes).
3. Invoice or set up payment link (8 minutes).

Day 5

45-minute Earning Block.
Actions:
1. Follow-up on earlier DMs and applications (15 minutes).
2. Submit 1 more high-fit application (15 minutes).
3. Record 90-second demo of a micro-skill, post with CTA (15 minutes).

Weekend (optional)

30 minutes of bookkeeping and tax set-aside (move 25% of side receipts to a separate account).
30 minutes to look at numbers: asks sent, replies, sales, and adjust.

Reflection: We will feel a mix of curiosity and friction. After Day 2, something will have moved: a reply, a comment, a small sale, or a clearer sense of what doesn’t resonate. That feedback is the curriculum.

Section 10 — The money math that keeps us honest We can compare a saving habit with an earning habit for the same hour:

Saving: We spend 60 minutes finding coupons and switching a recurring plan, saving $18/month. That is $216 per year. Good, but capped. It also often comes with switching costs later.
Earning: We spend 60 minutes improving a negotiation and asking for +$3,000/year (4.3% on $70,000). Even if we only get half ($1,500), the hour returns $1,500/year recurring. If we do that once every 18 months, the compounding is large.

We do not shame saving. We will keep healthy default frugality: buy staples in bulk, cancel unused subscriptions, avoid high-interest debt. But when we have a focused hour, we assign it to earning because the return per hour is typically an order of magnitude higher.

Section 11 — Tracking: put the habit into the app We will capture three things:

Minutes of Earning Work.
Asks Sent (count).
Result: replies, interviews, sales, raises.

We can do paper or Brali, but we need a number we can glance at. The app also gives us gentle check-ins and a history to review. This makes the habit visible and reduces our self-judgment because we see work done even before dollars land.

Small decision example: It is Thursday night and we are tired. The app pings: “2 asks left to reach 10 this week.” We consider stopping. We open our template, send one DM to a past colleague and one follow-up to Monday’s contact. That is 9 minutes. The check-in feels like a tiny win. That is the point.

Section 12 — Handling rejection and no-replies Rejection is data. A “no” with a reason is gold: wrong price, wrong scope, wrong timing. No-replies are neutral. We adjust cadence:

Follow-up once at 48–72 hours with a single sentence and a new angle.
After two attempts, archive and move on. We do not chase ghosts.
Keep a log of reasons given; if “too expensive” appears in 3+ of 10, we adjust: either reduce scope, raise proof, or change audience.

We can create a small “Objection Jar” in our notes: we write common objections and one short answer. Practice reduces dread.

Section 13 — Protect the core job while building outside We do not sabotage the hand that currently feeds us. We can:

Deliver reliable work at baseline; this keeps references strong.
Avoid conflicts of interest; choose side offers away from employer’s clients.
If we grow outside revenue to a point of choice, we make it a choice, not a forced exit.

A warning: Some companies view side businesses negatively. If in doubt, ask HR about policy in neutral language: “Does the company have a policy on outside freelance work unrelated to our industry? I want to ensure I respect it.”

Section 14 — Better tools after we earn the right Once we have a few sales or interviews, then we upgrade:

A simple landing page with one CTA.
A calendar link with limited slots.
A template library for common messages.
A lightweight CRM spreadsheet: Name, Last Contact, Next Contact, Status.
A bookkeeping habit: First of the month, reconcile and set aside taxes.

We postpone these until after we see interest. Tools are leverage; first we need something to leverage.

Section 15 — A lived week: an honest account Monday. We sent 2 applications, 3 DMs. No immediate replies. We felt that tightness in our chest. We wrote in the journal: “It’s okay. The task was sending, not getting.” We made tea.

Tuesday. One “maybe” reply on the LinkedIn tune-up. We offered, “I can do a free headline rewrite; if you like it, we can do the rest for $60.” They said yes. We delivered a draft in 22 minutes and they paid. Relief.

Wednesday. We posted the CSV cleaning demo. A stranger commented, “Need this.” We DM’d and booked a call for Friday, 10 minutes. We also wrote our negotiation anchor and practiced a pause.

Thursday. We followed up on the applications. One auto-rejection. We logged it and moved on. We sent 3 referral asks. Two no-replies. It stung less than we feared. We added one new role to target.

Friday. The call turned into a $80 job delivered Saturday morning in 70 minutes. We invoiced. We also had the 1-on-1 with our manager. We proposed taking ownership of a recurring report that wastes 9 hours/week. They agreed to try. We put an outcome date in the calendar and made a note to ask for a raise after 60 days of running it well.

Saturday. We looked at the week. 5 Earning Blocks; 13 asks; 2 small sales; 1 internal scope expansion. We felt not triumphant but steady. The feeling we want.

Section 16 — Busy-day fallback (≤5 minutes)

Send 1 value email to a warm contact.
Or, reply to 1 recruiter with availability.
Or, ask 1 past client for a 1-line testimonial.
Or, post a 1-sentence offer in one group with a clear CTA.

Five minutes is enough to keep the streak. We can do it from a bus stop.

Section 17 — When to pivot bigger If after 4 weeks (600–900 minutes, 40–60 asks)
we have near-zero replies, we consider a structured pivot:

Audience: Same offer to a different segment?
Offer: Same audience, different pain relieved?
Proof: Do we have one strong before/after with numbers?
Price: Too cheap can signal low quality; too high blocks entry. Test a 20% move either way.

We write: We assumed Audience A would want Offer X at $80 → observed 1/30 interest → changed to Audience B (ops managers), Offer X with clearer time save, $120 with a 48-hour guarantee.

Section 18 — Risks and limits

Burnout: We limit Earning Blocks to 90 minutes, 5× per week. We keep 1 day with zero asks.
Money illusion: We count net, not gross. After platform fees (10–15%) and taxes (20–30%), what remains? We do not confuse revenue with pay.
Reputation: We deliver what we promise, or we refund. We prefer underclaiming and overdelivering. One bad review can cost more than one extra sale earns.
Compliance: Check contracts, visas, and insurance. If we are in regulated professions, we stay within scope.

Section 19 — The first $1,000 plan If we want a clean milestone, here is a small map:

1–2 weeks: $100 from micro-offers (2–4 sales at $50–$60).
3–4 weeks: $300 from repeating the micro-offer with improved proof (3–5 sales at $60–$100).
5–8 weeks: $600 from either a slightly larger package ($200–$300) or from a job bump (raise or interview leading to offer). We track asks: ~80–120 specific asks over 8 weeks may be enough. If that feels high, we remember: much of income is a numbers game paired with a proof game.

Section 20 — Closing the loop: reflect, adjust, and recommit We will not be perfect. We will sometimes spend an hour “preparing” and avoid an ask. We catch it and call it by name, not with shame but with clarity. Then we do one ask. The habit is not “build a business.” The habit is “spend our best focused hour moving a lever that can increase income in the next 1–12 weeks.” That is all. It is enough. It compounds.

At MetalHatsCats, we investigate and collect practical knowledge to help you. We share it for free, we educate, and we provide tools to apply it.

Check‑in Block

Daily (3 Qs):
1. How many asks did we send today? (count)
2. Did we complete at least one Earning Block (≥15 minutes)? (yes/no)
3. What sensation followed — dread, relief, curiosity? (choose one)
Weekly (3 Qs):
1. How many minutes of Earning Work did we log this week? (minutes)
2. What was our conversion: asks → replies → sales/interviews? (counts)
3. What did we change based on observations? (one sentence)
Metrics:
- Asks Sent (count)
- Earning Work (minutes)
- Optional: Revenue Received ($), Raise % (once per event)

Alternative path for busy days (≤5 minutes): Send one value email or reply to one recruiter with availability; log it as “1 ask; 5 minutes.” Keep the streak.

We close with a quiet commitment: when we have an hour, we will choose the hard, visible action that can increase income. We will count it, not judge it. We will let the numbers teach us what to do next.

Hack #125