You always have to be willing to walk away. If you're early in your career, this means building up your skills (and certs, if you're in IT) to the point where y

You always have to be willing to walk away. If you're early in your career, this means building up your skills (and certs, if you're in IT) to the point where you feel very confident that you can get another job quickly if necessary. If you're more advanced in your career, it means keeping your networks/skills fresh and possibly doing some freelancing on the side. It's not even just about salary negotiation; knowing you can walk away whenever you want to (and actually believing that you will if you decide to) gives you the freedom to take risks and just have more fun at your job in general.