Inspired by some of the people round here who strive for highly-paid jobs that would make any sane man weep, I'm wondering what you chaps think about money vs. happiness. Now obviously up to a certain point money creates happiness, but would you choose a job you liked doing and paid you enough to live on, go on holiday, have a pint a couple of nights a week etc, or a job you didn't like doing that paid twice as much? Say 45k a year or 90k maybe? It doesn't matter how much you currently like your job or earn - in this scenario you'd be getting twice as much for a job that made you unhappy over a job that made you happy and paid enough to live on. I'm going to pre-empt the "I'd do the crap one for a couple of years then buy a pub" answer by saying you can't, you'd be too far down the career path to switch, you'd have bought a big house and a flash motor on tick so couldn't leave. Bit like real life in that respect maybe...I was thinking about it because here it's all 'thrust' this and 'achieve' that, and all the jobs above me look worse than the one I've got whilst a couple of weeks ago I was offered a cool job at Universal Music, looking after artist websites, updating the news and info, interviewing the bands, sorting out downloads and merch, all the free gigs and CDs you can carry... which paid pretty much half of what I'm on now. It wasn't a tough decision because half of what I'm on now wouldn't be enough to live on in Africa, never mind anywhere else, and presumably only some recent graduate still living at home can afford to take it (if they were a bit more forward thinking they'd up the cash and attract someone who was shit-hot at this internet caper, but that's anther story), but it got me thinking.
6 comments:
that's a lot of looking at yourself in the mirror there mate. I kinda feel like I am already too far down the career path, or least too far down done the mortgage path, to quit. That said, I don't really hate my job, as much as I really hate the concept of work. So, on the couple of occasions when other things have come up, I've always weighed up whether I'd really wanna risk going somewhere doing the same shitty job, but at a worse place. I guess it depends on what kind of not good the well-paid job is. If someone offered me a 25% raise to do the same job somewhere else I'd be out like a shot, but there isn't a job I could physically do that I'd take a paycut for right now (I'm excluding fantasy jobs like darts player or lead singer in nirvana from that).
See I on the other hand am doing a non-progressional job that I relatively don’t mind, cos a) I come in half hour late and have come to the point where I need’ant apologise, b) no direct supervisor and no responsibility for any employees as I’ve sacked them all c) I have on average a two hour lunch break coupled with a 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon of “me time” consisting of no work at all and leave early on Fridays, my current working week consists of 22.5 hours at a push – Now if I am to change jobs yeah for sure it could in essence double what I’m on but that would mean me working twice as hard for twice as many of the hours…maybe my attitude will change over the next coming months as I have been telling myself for the past few years, but who knows. My point is that every situation is individual to that being, yeah it would be hard to live on half of what your used too, but if the happiness that it brings comes with it then surely that will help in your well being, doesn’t that make money irrelevant if you have satisfied your thirst for happiness.…?
I've been thinking about this, and I think I've got the test. Would you take double your salary to work the mids shift at ADL? It'd have to be on like a 10 year contract (sentence?) so you know there's no escape. And if you're leaning towards a yes, how about if it's the ADL that Matt Brown worked in, when you couldn't commit all the excellent skiving we used to do.
Personally, I believe finding a job that you "enjoy" is a myth. There's always going to be aspects of it you hate, having to be at a certain place at a certain time, having someone on your back about whatever it is you have to do, in essence a job is always going to take you away from what you really want to be doing and Monday mornings (or the equivalent of) are always going to be shit!
You can take a job which in theory would be you ideal job (like working for Universal) and it'll still eventually end up being a drag due to the routine and the fact you're always answerable to someone higher up, unless you self-employed and then that person is the bank.
Therefore i think it's all about minimising your time at work so you can spend more time doing what it is you want to do, so if I was offered a worse job/one I would enjoy doing less but it involved me working fewer hours then I would be sorely tempted!
My dream is a mind numbing 9-5pm job where there's no question of you ever working outside of those hours and within 1 minute of leaving the front door you forgotten what it is you do, preferably about 15mins walk from my house...
6 years after leaving my London job I have only recently been getting paid more than what I used to, and that's only if I include tips. I'm defiantely happier, but I'm a bit more all or nothing, and can definately see why others would prefer to get on in a job that they don't really mind for a few extra quid. I would probably be happier sweeping streets for 20 hours a week if it paid the rent and put enough food on the table, than I would be doing my old job.
Of course I'm about to enter the, quite frankly, shit scary world of being self employed (although as far as the tax man's concerned I won't be self employed, I'll be an employee of a company that I happen to own!) which means you never really clock off. But if you want to do something to the point where it's compulsive, then why would you want to clock off?
I happen to know someone who gets paid pretty good money doing a lot of hours doing a job he hates. That's utter madness. Happiness was doing the rounds long before anyone ever invented money.
Ah, I like the way you've even factored in a 15 minute walk to the office there Dan (far enough away to distance yourself from it, with a handy bit of 30-minutes-a-day gentle exercise!). I always remember the singer from the Stereophonics (got a good name that lad) saying "My dad always told me 'don't matter what you love son, if it becomes your job you'll like it less'" or words to that effect, which is true. Certainly seems to be the case with half the slaves that play in the Premiership.
And Danny, ADL with the new non-skivving system doesn't bare thinking about. If I worked back there I'd be motoring round on my truck with tears pouring down my face, 1) because I was back there but also 2) because of what it once was and how they ruined a beautiful thing. It'd be mainly because I was back there though.
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