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Do you need to love your career to be happy in life?

35K views 133 replies 121 participants last post by  Arthrospira 
#1 ·
Had an interesting discussion today about this. Someone was talking how they couldn't be happy doing a job they didn't love. The guy was ISFP and I told him that I, personally, don't need to love my job. In the end, money is the most important thing to me. I can do what I love doing on my own time. So, what about you all?
 
#2 ·
I think it depends partially on how much I need the money but I would have to enjoy some aspect of my work in order to stick with it. Ideally, I would want to feel fulfilled and that is my long-term goal, so if I had enough money saved, I would quit and look for something that makes me happy to do (like art). If I was low on money, then I wouldn't leave a well-paying job unless it was particularly intolerable. Like you said, we can use the money to buy stuff we enjoy.
 
#3 ·
I don't think the "perfect" job exists (for some people, it does) for everyone.

With THAT being said, I've decided not too long ago that I need to make a handsome paycheck, but I refuse to live for the number ON my paycheck.

What I mean by that is I can live with making $90k per year. That's more than enough for me. What's most important to me is that I'm making enough money to travel the world, not worry about feeding my (potential) family, and that I can get to see my kids everyday (when I have them).

I know too many people that think "I make $90K. Let me look good for my boss so I can turn this into $120K a year. (3 years later) Sweet! I make $120K, I NEED MORE."

Pointless. Honestly, you can make $60K a year and have a side business and still be worth a couple of million when you retire.

Happiness, to me, is the ultimate goal. It feels like work takes the majority of life (even if, by quantity of hours, it isn't necessarily true, we only have about 6 or 7 "awake" hours per day, 8 or 9 working hours), and I would like the vast majority of my life to be enjoyable.
 
#4 ·
I don't need to feel some undying passion for what I do. The work shouldn't be mindless, though. We spend a majority of our waking lives working, so I can't just to any ole thing to pay the bills. I have to be interested in what I do, invested in it and able to continuously learn for and from my work.

I had a very lucrative job once that didn't interest me one bit. When I noticed that I didn't want to get out of bed or even learn more about the industry I was working for, I knew it was time to find something else to do. Ended up downgrading hard, but I really care about what I do and take pride in my output.

More money is always a plus for me, but there's a line drawn between working to live and living to work a fulfilling job.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I fall somewhere in the middle in the big or longer range picture.

Short range I am often able to take pay cuts and have demoted myself to broaden longer range opportunities by collecting experience. So I am often willing to take a pay cut if adding an experience to my resume helps with the long range.

If on a 1-10 scale I would say I fall 5. I guess I prefer the idea of comfort and low stress in big long haul.

For example I could make a lot more even now to go work in a factory or be a janitor. There also is not much else to go up with that either.

Essentially I am building my resume so I can work in hospitality, recreation, and health care management. So maybe my friends give me shit now for working low wage for some positions but I will be getting the last laugh when they are still doing boring shit (that is secure and pays well) when I am off not committed to shit like a mortgage, credit cards, and 401K and I am an activity director on a cruise or at a resort etc where a lot is inclusive etc.

Point long range I know I will actually have nice wage because my money will be freed up and I am not married to debt or a dying every day living pushing a mop. I will also actually like what I do. And do overall now.

Sometimes I guess what I am saying is pay cut can go to building a portfolio. Yes I prefer to like what I do long range. My sacrifices now living modest, will mean that I will live nicely both economically and work wise in health.

Freedom is wealth to me. I prefer financial comfort tho
 
#7 ·
I don't need to love my career to be happy in life. To be honest, pretty much all jobs sound pretty lame to me, I don't really want to work at all but I will for the money. I voted for the "who cares" option, though.
 
#8 ·
To me, part of what makes one's passion so appealing to pursue is the opportunity to play by your own rules, with no formalities, boss hovering over your head, fuckdumb corporate "ideals", annoying coworkers, etc, what have you . Without all this, you are left facing your passion in the truest sense, with no layer of draining bullshit.
So to me, work isn't even supposed to be rewarding. It's only supposed to be lucrative and challenging, and my private time is when I indulge in love to whatever I choose to do.
 
#9 ·
I haven't worked yet, but this is definitely something I've been thinking about lately around picking my major. My main reason for question the major I'm getting into now (architecture) is that I'm not sure I love it enough. I'm pretty sure I'm someone who would rather forego the benefits of a normal or corporate-like job for a more fulfilling career, if that's what it took. I'd rather be an author who loves writing and is fulfilled by it but struggles financially than a corporate world worker who's well off enough but is left feeling empty from her job, should it ever come to something like that, lol.
 
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#11 ·
i don't need to love it, as long as it's not going against my morals or making me feel horrible everyday.
 
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#12 ·
I wouldn't go as far as saying I have to love it, but I must like some aspect of it at least. It's more important to me that it's meaningful, even if I dislike doing it sometimes (many things about my current path of career fits that description). I'm not doing it for money, nobody is (because the pay sucks). I do enjoy working with people who struggle the most in life / have fallen outside of society, and notice I can contribute for them, even if they're not currently capable of contributing for themselves. When I worked with computers / machines, I enjoyed it as well, but it was not meaningful to me on a personal level, it was working for companies and customers for commercial gain. Now I work for people whose life is dependent on outside help.
 
#14 ·
I answered I have to like it at least somewhat but mostly the money matters, and I can use that money to do stuff I like and take care of my family with it. Then again, I don't have a calling in life so who knows. What if I did, and that would change my outlook on this. Although I do wonder why we do this to ourselves. We spend so much of our life working, for what? Do we even find it's rewards worth it in the end?
 
#15 ·
I don't need to love what I do, but I feel the need to like it and be good at it. I see it as a way to rid myself of debt and fund projects. Now a business would have to be something I'm passionate about, but a job is a means to an end.
 
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#16 ·
No. Although -- it is certainly a start for some; darling. As for myself, I prefer to "love," my career (specifically) to do my career efficiently (as it prevents unnecessary stress) - not to derive happiness per se; or (life fulfillment) from it, which I haven't any interests in specifically, I do not wish to be happy in any form (&) have long ceased striving / wishing for 'happiness' as a life-goal.

Due to [most] of my money simply going toward survival + other necessities, and my "happiness" when gained, that is, where I thrive [rather than simply make-ends], stem from other affairs either career (or) non-career related -- such as relieving bodily waste, and indulging in hobbies, than only applying to my career.
 
#19 ·
I definitely need to like it. Luckily this is the case.
The next question would be, how much time I'd have to work. I guess it would be okay for me to work 20 hours a week in a job I dislike, if the money is right. But then, I'd be willing to work 40 hours a week for the same amount of money in a job I'd "love".
 
#20 ·
You always have more freedom in your free time than in your career. The benefit that a career gives you is that you can be part of something bigger. Unless that is your goal (e.g. being part of a big company), free time will always be more interesting than your job.

For me, commercial things are boring. In work, there are too many constraints for me to fully enjoy it . I can often find a way to be interested in what I'm doing in my work. I enjoy feeling part of something bigger, but because this something is commercial I perceive it as somebody's pursuit of personal interests (money, fame, etc.) rather than something good for the society. Fundamentally it's worse than having free time to do cool stuff.

I answered "I need to like it, but I work to pay bills and do cool stuff.".
 
#21 ·
I don't necessarily need to love it, but I don't want to hate it, either.

I'm mostly aiming towards just having a likable job, something I don't mind getting out of bed and doing each day. As long as I can pay my bills and have enough money to "do cool stuff", then I don't really have high expectations for my future career.
 
#22 ·
I do like my job, but I would absolutely not do it for free. It can be quite stressful! No self-respecting human would put themselves through that kind of stress if there wasn't anything in it for them. People work to survive.
 
#23 ·
I chose the second one; if I don't completely love something but it's not insufferable and it has value to others, to improving society and whatnot.. I probably would grow to hate doing it without any extrinsic reward (i.e. money, or at least it has to be a promising investment for a better-paying job later). Because it starts to seem more like busy work and mental masturbation over my skill set than anything actually meaningful. And I resent doing stuff like that.

I don't think I need to be passionate about a career though - I have yet to experience a job or anything really where the passion hasn't faded over time anyway. Maybe that'll change one day, but sometimes I wonder if people who talk about loving their careers and having a "true passion" really mean what they say, or if they're romanticizing it.

Only if I had to work for free would I REALLY have to be in love with whatever I'm doing, and have no other reason for doing so.
 
#24 ·
I think that people shouldn't define their lives by what they do for a living as much as what they do for free, especially if their work is unfulfilling both financially and emotionally. Sadly though, it's getting harder and harder for people to get free time that they can spend on other pursuits.
 
#25 ·
I didn't vote because a fulfilling job, is only one part of life, you also need to have good interpersonal relationships and intrapersonal relationships, you need to have a good family life, (which may be dependent on boundaries and the amount of distance between you and your family), you need to be good at managing your health as well.
 
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#26 ·
I voted I need to like it, but I work to pay bills and do cool stuff.

I think I also work to fill a need to work and to contribute - I took a semester off after college and I became bored and overwhelmed with feeling down very quickly. Even if I didn't need to work for the money, I think I would still work, even though maybe I would choose less hours, or slightly different conditions. I like the collaborative social environment of a workplace and I like laboring towards a cause bigger than myself. It helps make my life rich and meaningful.

But as for liking versus loving, I've worked most of the working years of my life in jobs that I didn't LOVE, and I've had a lot of happiness anyway. So I think I need to have aspects of my job that I like - enough to make me like the job overall - but I don't think I have to absolutely love it to be happy anyway.
 
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