According to a survey of 5,000 households done for the Conference Board, only 47% workers were satisfied at their jobs in 2006, down from 59% in 1995.When deciding between money and job satisfaction, of course you can have the both together but as it is often seen the more money you make the less time you have outside of your work life – the struggle for a balance intensifies and there goes the overall satisfying feeling.
Many of us have this feeling that work and life are best kept separate and even if one is in a lousy job but making good money life can be great. But of course opinions differs either due to upbringing or circumstances and even location. But I feel that personal happiness goals and achievements are closely linked to our work – our passions.
I asked this question (What would satisfy you more – more money at a job or more satisfaction at workplace?) on Yahoo answers and got some very interesting replies, sharing some here:
Ideally, (I would want both) good money and a great work environment. But in life, you don’t get what you want. So if I am given a choice, I would choose the balance between an acceptable salary and work atmosphere.
Too much money with in a miserable work environment makes a person unhappy, and a good environment with very little money is not going to let the person enjoy social life outside of work.”
I have had jobs that paid great but I didn’t enjoy them and in the long run I ended up hating the job and hated going to work, finding reasons to call out… can’t make great money if you aren’t at work.”
It also depends on circumstances, for a single mother working two jobs none of these could be satisfying to her creativity or self, but money becomes a top priority when you have a family that depends on you. Many a times you don’t have the option of the freedom of choice, you are forced to flow with the circumstances of life. And, most of us are “common people”, right? See the saying below on what prompts me to write this:
The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing. – Michael E. Gerber
But yet again we fall in the circle of thought, what if we had a job we truly loved though not making as enough money as you would have in a crummy one? How do you weigh job satisfaction to more dough? It is a personal choice but I do feel that in the long run if you do what you love with practical planning and a roadmap for success, success and money will reach out to you. If you move diligently towards your goals your goals will move towards you at the similar speed.
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.- Woodrow Wilson
