I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program That Works.

by Ramit Sethi

Prepare for the following scenarios: ■ “You didn’t hit those goals.” If you genuinely didn’t hit your goals, you should have communicated that earlier and decided on a plan of action with your boss. But if your boss is simply using this as an excuse—to obfuscate what the goals were, or to move the goalposts—here’s your response: “If there are areas for me to grow, I’d love to discuss them. But on [date], you and I agreed to these goals. And I’ve sent you a weekly update since then. I’m all for exceeding goals—which I’ve done, as you can see from [Specific Project]—but I want to be compensated in good faith.” ■ “I didn’t agree to a raise.” Your response: “That is true. But as we discussed on [date], we both agreed that if I hit these goals, I’d be considered a top performer—and that we’d discuss a compensation adjustment in the future.” (Pull out a printout of the email chain.) ■ “We can discuss this another time.” Your response: “I understand if there’s a timeline for raises and we’re off cycle. But I’ve put six months of work in to hit these goals and I’ve updated you along the way. I plan to continue exceeding my goals, but I’d like to get clear that I’m on track for a raise on our next cycle—in writing.”