Fresh out of school, 23 years old, and I’d just brought in €120,000 for a company that paid me barely enough to cover rent.

1. Corporate debt collection department. Five people plus a supervisor. They handed me €250,000 in outstanding debts and a framework to follow.

The framework didn’t work.

By month two, I stopped following it. Instead of chasing paperwork, I chased the actual debtors. By month three, I’d reclaimed €120,000. The next best person on the team? Less than €2,500.

Here’s what happened next.

They made my supervisor — a woman twice my age — report to me instead. I’d just brought in €120,000 and my reward was her job title, her responsibilities, and eighty extra euros.

€80. No bonus for the €120k. No percentage. Just more responsibility and a steak dinner’s worth of extra cash.

That was the first time I understood that systems reward compliance, not results.

The people who followed the broken framework and recovered almost nothing? Still employed. Still “doing the process.” I was the problem. Not because I failed, but because I made the process look bad.

I quit that job two months later.

Looking back, it was the best career move I ever made.

This week: Find your €80 raises.

You might be carrying a task that rewards you with more work instead of more freedom. You do it well, so you get to do more of it. The raise is almost invisible.

Here’s a quick way to spot yours:

1. Pick 3 tasks you did this week that you’re genuinely good at.
2. For each one, ask: “When I do this well, do I get time back, or more of the same?”
3. If the answer is “more of the same,” you’ve found your €80 raise.

The fix isn’t always quitting. Sometimes it’s a conversation. Sometimes it’s a boundary. Sometimes it’s outsourcing it to AI so you only do what matters and skip the rest.

The first step is noticing.

Most people never do.

If you’re the most efficient horse in a race with no finish line, it’s time to stop racing.

What’s your €80 raise — the thing you’re great at that just keeps generating more work?

Hit reply and tell me. I read every response.

See you next Thursday.

— Michal

P.S. Last week I wrote about the dreams we keep saying “one day” to. If you’ve missed it, here’s the archive link.