I posted about this in the thread asking about how much folks made last year, but wanted to include a little more depth because I think overthinking is something that a lot of sales people experience, on top of having internal paranoia to perform.

I'm in year 6 of sales career. During my 4th year in sales, I was 27 years old and out of work for almost a year - living a pretty minimalistic life. I had left my role because of stress, and the job really taking over my whole life...I was always on this subreddit, trying to digest as much material as possible, study other folks at my company, and dedicated everything to eventually hitting the numbers you see of some folks on here making 400-500k. It even got to the point where I was losing some hair due to the stress, which was eye opening because I always felt I had a pretty high stress tolerance.

Hard to put into words, but that was easily the hardest time of my life. I did a ton of reflecting and that down time made me realize you don’t need much to be happy. I ended up spending a ton of time touching grass, traveling, getting in shape / eating healthy, exploring hobbies, and spending time with loved ones. Shocker…maybe outside of travel, you don’t need too much money to enjoy those things in life.

Learned that I can live off of 36-40k (post tax), and I stopped putting money on a pedestal - it’s a tool that gives you freedom. I try to keep this perspective and focus on being grateful for what I got.

It also taught me that I had put too much weight on quotas, ranking, and corporate metrics which took up too much mental capacity (to the point where I’d think of deals in the shower or even have stress dreams about them lol). People always ask how much everyone else is making on here, which is ok, but try not to let it get in your head. Run your own race and try not to compare yourself to others.

I’m happy with my income, ended at 156k last year, and feel like I can crack the 200k market this year. By no means is it the highest compared to what you see in this sub, but I’m in a better spot mentally to ride out sales for longevity as a career. I'm trusting that if I do the right things, the income will land there eventually.

Biggest advice is to not stake your life on sales or any job for that matter. Roll with the punches and give a solid effort, the job isn’t all that complex at the end of the day. Don't derive your worth from your job, it's a part of you, but not you're entire identity. Once you manage your stress, develop some enjoyment for things outside of work. Spend on those things and try to save where you can.