"You should only work as much as you're paid." Some people say this sometimes, but... That basically means if you're paid 30k, you should only do 30k worth of work.. But I don't know why anyone would give a performance review high enough for a raise to someone who only showed 30k worth of ability. Isn't it more like, if you get paid 30k but work like you're worth 50k, your contributions and performance get recognized, so it goes up to 35k or 40k?