Finding the Right Career for You
Maybe youβve only ever thought that you can make money or be happy when you choose your career. That seems like an extremely hard choice, right? Either you find a job that makes you satisfied and happy to go to work every morning, or you get a job you despise purely because it pays well.
How do you choose?
Maybe we can suggest that the two arenβt your only options or that they arenβt mutually exclusive. Thereβs always another way to think about it.
Being Happy With Your Job
As you browse the internet, youβll probably come across quotes that say stuff like, βWhen you wake up every morning excited to do your job, youβll never work a day in your lifeβ. That makes you think that you should find a job that makes you happy. Right?
Not necessarily.
Being happy is what people think itβs like when youβve made it, when youβre sitting on the top of success, when youβve gotten everything in life youβve ever wanted. Thatβs when youβre happy. Only, thatβs a horrible way to look a life. Because nobody ever feels like theyβve achieved everything they ever wanted. Even the richest person looks at something they donβt have and works to attain that.
Itβs a poor definition of the word, though. Life isnβt about being happy; itβs about being satisfied. You should find meaning in what you do. That little transformation makes all the difference in how you choose a career. If you find meaning in it, if you can find satisfaction in your job being well done, that make you satisfied. You might not be βhappyβ all the time, but you have meaning, which matters much more.
Making Money with Your Job
The other side of the coin is that many people choose a job because it gives them money. They might not like it, they might not have wanted it growing up, but it pays pretty well. Seeking a satisfying paycheque isnβt bad; it just shouldnβt be the end goal of how you choose a career.
Havenβt you ever wondered how you hear all those stories of people whoβve won the lottery continuing to be miserable, losing all their money within a few years, and feeling worse off than ever? Havenβt you wanted to just have the chance to test to see if that would be true for you? Money might not buy happiness, you say, but I sure would like to find out for myself.
Studies show that after a certain point of income, money does nothing for us anymore. We seek a paycheque to avoid the pain, not to gain happiness. Once you have enough money to avoid a painful life, thatβs all that matters.
That means that itβs not a bad thing to seek out a career that makes you money, but you shouldnβt try to find satisfaction from it. Your satisfaction should come from somewhere else than your money. You should be defined not by your career (βIβm a doctor. Iβm a pharmacist. Iβm a solicitorβ), but as a person who happens to have this profession (βIβm an avid fisherman who happens to practice law. I love to bake cakes when Iβm not at the pharmacy.β)
Should you make money or be happy with your job? It turns out you can have both.