How to See the Gold in Your Earning Journey
When you think about how to increase earning potential, it’s easy to start from a place of frustration. Maybe you’ve caught yourself repeating the mantra: “I’m not earning as much as I should.” It can feel like a crack in your sense of worth — a visible line you wish you could hide. But what if that crack isn’t a flaw to conceal, but a place where gold can flow in?
At Kintsugify, we believe every perceived imperfection can become a source of beauty and strength. In the Japanese art of kintsugi, broken pottery is repaired with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, making the cracks the most beautiful part of the piece. To kintsugify your life is to apply this philosophy to your own transformation — embracing your emotional, mental, or life “cracks” and filling them with metaphorical gold through healing, growth, and self‑compassion.
Your earning journey is no different. Whether you feel you’re cracking, splitting, crumbling, or even shattering under the weight of financial pressure, these are temporary, fluid states — never fixed, never beyond repair. Each one holds potential gold.
Alongside our primary mantra, here are other common ones we’ll kintsugify together:
- “I’ll never catch up financially.”
- “I’m just not good with money.”
- “I don’t have the skills to earn more.”
- “It’s too late for me to change my career path.”
Let’s walk through this journey — not to hide the cracks, but to illuminate them.
What If Your Current Earnings Don’t Define Your Worth?
It’s tempting to measure your value by your paycheck. The mantra “I’m not earning as much as I should” can feel like a verdict. But worth is not a number — it’s the sum of your lived experiences, your resilience, and your capacity to grow.
Imagine your life as a handcrafted vase. A fine line appears — a crack caused by the pressure of unmet expectations. In kintsugi, this is where the gold begins. By self‑kintsugifying, you acknowledge the crack without shame and choose to fill it with learning, creativity, and opportunity.
Example: A teacher who feels underpaid might start a side tutoring business, not only increasing income but also rediscovering joy in personalized teaching.
Actionable step: Write down one skill or strength you already have that could be monetized in a new way. This reframes your earning potential as an extension of your existing value, not a measure of it.
How Can You Transform “I’ll Never Catch Up Financially” Into Momentum?
This mantra often comes from comparing your financial timeline to someone else’s. In kintsugification terms, this is a splitting — a visible separation between where you are and where you think you “should” be.
Splitting in the earning journey might look like feeling permanently behind on savings or debt repayment. But gold can flow here, too. The split is simply space waiting to be filled with intentional action.
Example: Someone with significant student debt chooses to micro‑kintsugify their finances by automating small weekly payments toward the principal. Over time, these golden threads of consistency close the gap.
Actionable step: Identify one small, repeatable financial action you can take this week. Even a $10 automated transfer builds the habit of forward motion, turning the split into a seam of gold.
Could “I’m Just Not Good With Money” Become a Learning Adventure?
This mantra reflects a crumbling — when parts of your financial confidence feel like they’re breaking away. Crumbling can be discouraging, but it’s also an invitation to rebuild with stronger, shinier material.
In kintsugifying your earning potential, crumbling moments are opportunities to learn without judgment. Every crumble is kintsugifiable when met with curiosity instead of criticism.
Example: A freelancer who avoids budgeting because “numbers aren’t my thing” decides to macro‑kintsugify their approach by taking a free online course in personal finance. Within months, they’re confidently tracking income and expenses, leading to smarter pricing and higher earnings.
Actionable step: Choose one financial skill you’ve avoided and commit to learning about it for just 15 minutes a day. This small, consistent investment can transform crumbling edges into gilded strength.
What If “I Don’t Have the Skills to Earn More” Is Only Half the Story?
This mantra often signals cracking — a fine but persistent line in your belief system. Cracking doesn’t mean you’re broken; it means there’s room for expansion.
In the context of increasing earning potential, cracking might be the moment you realize your current role doesn’t fully use your talents. The gold here is in identifying and developing skills that align with both your interests and market demand.
Example: An administrative assistant notices their knack for organizing digital files. They self‑kintsugify by taking a short course in project management, eventually transitioning into a higher‑paying coordinator role.
Actionable step: List three skills you enjoy using, then research one way each could be developed into a higher‑earning opportunity. This turns the crack into a golden pathway forward.
How Can “It’s Too Late to Change My Career Path” Become a Renewal Story?
This mantra reflects shattering — when it feels like your entire earning structure has collapsed. Shattering can be overwhelming, but in kintsugification, it’s also the moment of maximum potential gold.
When a vase shatters, every piece can be reassembled into something even more beautiful. Likewise, a career shift later in life can lead to unexpected joy and prosperity.
Example: A mid‑career retail manager, feeling burnt out, retrains in UX design. Within two years, they’re in a creative, better‑paid role that reignites their enthusiasm for work.
Actionable step: Identify one career path you’ve secretly admired. Spend an hour researching what it would take to enter that field. Even if you don’t act immediately, you’ve begun the self‑kintsugifying process.
What Does It Mean to Self‑Kintsugify Your Earning Potential?
Self‑kintsugifying is the conscious act of filling your financial cracks with gold — not by ignoring them, but by transforming them. It’s about seeing every setback as raw material for growth.
Example: A single parent juggling two jobs uses their limited free time to learn digital marketing. Within a year, they replace one job with a higher‑paying remote role, gaining both income and time with their children.
Imagery: Picture your earning journey as a vase with threads of gold running through it — each thread representing a skill learned, a mindset shifted, or a boundary set.
Actionable step: Choose one current financial challenge and write down three ways it could lead to growth. This reframes the challenge as a kintsugifiable opportunity.
How Can You Recognize Your Current Kintsugification State?
Understanding whether you’re cracking, splitting, crumbling, or shattering helps you choose the right self‑kintsugifying action.
- Cracking: Subtle doubts about your earning capacity. Gold potential: skill expansion.
- Splitting: Feeling behind financially. Gold potential: consistent micro‑actions.
- Crumbling: Loss of financial confidence. Gold potential: learning and rebuilding.
- Shattering: Major career or income collapse. Gold potential: complete reinvention.
Example: A laid‑off worker (shattering) uses severance to retrain in a high‑demand field, emerging with a stronger earning structure.
Actionable step: Name your current state without judgment. Then, choose one gold‑infusing action aligned with it.
How Do You Turn Financial Setbacks Into Gold‑Lined Strength?
Every setback contains the seeds of future earning potential. The key is to kintsugify in real time, rather than waiting for “perfect” conditions.
Example: A graphic designer loses a major client but uses the downtime to create a portfolio of passion projects. These attract new, higher‑paying clients.
Imagery: Think of each setback as a chip in your vase. The gold you choose to fill it with — new skills, stronger networks, refined focus — makes the vase more valuable than before.
Actionable step: After your next financial setback, write down one immediate action that could turn it into an opportunity.
How Can Joy and Intuition Guide Your Earning Growth?
Increasing earning potential isn’t just about logic and strategy — it’s also about joy and intuition. When you self‑kintsugify with these elements, you create a sustainable, fulfilling path.
Example: A software engineer notices they light up when mentoring juniors. They pivot toward a leadership role, increasing both salary and daily satisfaction.
Imagery: Gold flows most easily where the cracks align with your natural energy.
Actionable step: Reflect on one activity in your work that brings you joy. Explore ways to expand it into a greater share of your earning mix.
How Do You Keep the Gold Flowing Over Time?
Kintsugification is ongoing. Your vase will develop new cracks as life changes — and each one is another chance to increase earning potential.
Example: A consultant experiences a slow season but uses it to write a book, creating a new income stream.
Imagery: Your vase is never “finished.” It’s a living vessel, always capable of holding more beauty, more strength, and more abundance. The gold is not a one‑time fix — it’s a living network of choices, habits, and beliefs that keep expanding your capacity to earn and thrive.
Example: A small business owner who once relied solely on one product line begins experimenting with seasonal offerings. Over time, these additions not only stabilize income during slow months but also spark new creative energy.
Imagery: Picture a river of molten gold flowing through your vase, not just sealing old cracks but creating new, intricate patterns that make the whole piece more valuable.
Actionable step: Schedule a quarterly “earning potential review” with yourself. Ask: What’s working? What could be refined? What new gold can I pour in? This keeps your kintsugification active and your earning journey alive with possibility.
How Will You Begin Your Next Kintsugifying Step Today?
The journey to increase earning potential is not about erasing the past or pretending cracks never happened. It’s about seeing them as the very places where your resilience, creativity, and courage can shine brightest.
Whether you’re cracking with self‑doubt, splitting under comparison, crumbling in confidence, or shattering from a major change, you are kintsugifiable. You can self‑kintsugify in micro ways — a single new skill, a small financial habit — or macro ways, like a career reinvention.
Example: A part‑time worker takes on a short‑term project outside their comfort zone. The experience builds confidence, expands their network, and leads to a full‑time opportunity.
Imagery: You are the artisan and the art — the one who chooses where the gold flows, how it sets, and what new shapes emerge.
Actionable step: Before the day ends, choose one action — however small — that moves you toward your earning potential. Then, imagine the gold already flowing into that crack.
Begin Your Golden Repair
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