Do you enjoy your job?

[tj86430]

i dont mind doing whatever they task me to do

an officer of the army

I think these two go exceptionally well together

[Joaz Banbeck]

I recall a conversation with the owner/manager of a B&B up in Napa, in the Califonia wine country, while we were guests at his place. He and his wife entertained guests and taught cooking classes in their commercial quality kitchen. For me, I'd put a butcher knife in somebody if I did that for very long, but was it what he would have wanted to do even without being paid.

He said that he had not worked a day in the past decade. It was all fun for him.

He was a damn good cook, BTW.

[Chew Terr]

I've heard of a guy who owns a yacht in the Pacific, and makes his living teaching rich kids how to sail in it. The kids pay to sail his boat for him from island to island. Apparently, they buy and sell goods from island to island, and once he's taught the kids what to do, he sits back and enjoys the ride, in addition to the double income (sold goods and 'tuition'). I know it's probably more work than it sounds like, but I'm still jealous.~

[xed_over]

How do you find something that would make you happy, though? Apart from something like moving to the islands and becoming a charter boat captain, to take tourists fishing, I've never really had anything sound appealing.

Does moving to the islands and becoming a charter boat captain sound appealing?

Then go do that. Its really that simple.

Yes, there might be some hurdles along the way. But nothing that can't be dealt with one way or another.

But remember, romanticized dream jobs can have their unpleasant parts too. So if you can't find a way to enjoy your job now, its not likely that you'll enjoy your fantasy either (not always true, but most usually true).

I enjoyed almost every job I ever had. From flipping burgers to operating printing presses to software testing. The only time I didn't enjoy my job was usually when the people I worked with were difficult (which was actually quite rare)

[Chew Terr]

But remember, romanticized dream jobs can have their unpleasant parts too. So if you can't find a way to enjoy your job now, its not likely that you'll enjoy your fantasy either (not always true, but most usually true).

This is kind of what I figure, and part of why I just try to have a job that's as low-stress as I can. Still trying to brainstorm for something realistic that I could do that I might enjoy.

[xed_over]

But remember, romanticized dream jobs can have their unpleasant parts too. So if you can't find a way to enjoy your job now, its not likely that you'll enjoy your fantasy either (not always true, but most usually true).

This is kind of what I figure, and part of why I just try to have a job that's as low-stress as I can. Still trying to brainstorm for something realistic that I could do that I might enjoy.

And yet I can't stress enough, that sometimes you just have to let go and go do what you want.

A number of years ago, there was a job I wanted, but I was being blocked at every turn. When I shared that with an older friend, he suggested that I just buy the plane ticket on my own and show up at the door. I really thought he was crazy, it just can't be that simple. I gave in to my fears and didn't do it, and have regretted it ever since -- if I was 20-30 years younger and know what I know now, it really is just that simple.

Even if the experience turns out worse, you've at least gained some fantastic experiences and life-long stories.

[Kirby]

How do you find something that would make you happy, though? Apart from something like moving to the islands and becoming a charter boat captain, to take tourists fishing, I've never really had anything sound appealing.

Does moving to the islands and becoming a charter boat captain sound appealing?

Then go do that. Its really that simple.

Yes, there might be some hurdles along the way. But nothing that can't be dealt with one way or another.

But remember, romanticized dream jobs can have their unpleasant parts too. So if you can't find a way to enjoy your job now, its not likely that you'll enjoy your fantasy either (not always true, but most usually true).

I enjoyed almost every job I ever had. From flipping burgers to operating printing presses to software testing. The only time I didn't enjoy my job was usually when the people I worked with were difficult (which was actually quite rare)

I've never flipped burgers, but I have to say that sometimes I enjoyed making pizza more than software engineering That could have a lot to do with your other point, though. The main grief I get from my job is due to one individual.

Now, if only they paid pizza makers as much as software engineers...

[GoCat]

Some time ago, I wrote this (elsewhere, in an entirely different context), which says a fair bit about how I feel about my job:

I’ve spent some thirty years now in a technical field – electronics, to be more specific. At various times, I’ve found this career choice to be interesting, fruitful, rewarding, frustrating, and boring. One of the best features has been good pay. (That’s the rewarding part.) But, I cannot honestly list “fulfilling” as one of the adjectives. I think I’m pretty good at what I do (although I know people who could run circles around me in my field), and I’ve usually tried to do a good job at it. At times it has brought personal satisfaction – but not often.

And not lasting satisfaction. After all those years designing high-tech goodies for various applications, nothing I designed a decade ago still exists, and the things I design now will not exist in another decade.. Nor do I “own” anything I’ve designed. Products I’ve designed are owned by the companies I’ve worked for, and none of them are anything I would want to own, anyway. Any satisfaction I get from my work is short-lived; it’s the satisfaction of making something work, of fixing problems in our products, of coming up with a clever design or new solution. But where are those things, now? I cannot point with pride to anything from my professional career and say, “I did that!”

Life is rarely simple. It doesn’t always go as one wants, and challenges are ever present. For me, this lack of professional fulfillment is one of those challenges. The transition I am undertaking is an attempt to address this challenge.

It may prove difficult, for many reasons. I can’t simply give up my career – personal and family economics and responsibilities prohibit that. Finding time to develop a new vocation is difficult – work, kids, and life’s activities and commitments take up a lot of time. New skills must be acquired, investments made. Starting anew will involve making many mistakes, and perseverance requires a certain fortitude – or maybe a certain naive optimism (which doesn’t come easily to me!) And, of course, there’s fear of failure – for all I know, I’ll be a total bust at this new vocation! Maybe I’ll hate it.

But difficult isn’t impossible, and the fear is entirely my own making. And as they say, a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.

[Exologist]

My job is pretty sweet. Just drive around delivering newspapers for a couple hours every night. Yeah it's part-time equivalent, but it beats not making anything. Only thing I don't like about it is Sunday mornings, when I have to pack the car to ceiling and it takes forever. Now if I made the other half (or all of it) trading foreign exchange, that would be crazy. Needless to say I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that "enjoys" a job like that (I did it for about a month plus some). It is very stressful at times and you have to work very hard to keep your head. Anyone that does it only does it for the possible gains or investment, and investment can't be considered a job.

I won't be truly enjoying anything though until I have my own business or go into the scuba industry.

[entropi]

Find a new job? Train yourself in something different? Go back to school? Don't resign yourself to being unhappy?

It may not be easy to make changes like that, but if you're really unhappy in your work, every day you put off trying to change is another day of unhappiness.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Try not to be one of them.

Man, it is not so dramatic I am not really soo unhappy with my job. A job that I would enjoy doing, could for example be as a musician. What I do instead is sitting 8 hours a day in front of a computer and checking whether some stupid technical ideas are inventive enough to deserve a patent. It is not hell, but it is also not something enjoyable.

To be honest, I can hardly imagine anybody really enjoying that job. But the salary is good, benefits are good and it is a relatively secure employment. I don't ask for more from a job, especially after having children. Tommie is a colleague of mine. Tommie, if you read this thread, maybe you would comment on that

[Stable]

I think we're pretty lucky to be able to grouse about our jobs. Once upon a time you worked every hour you could to make sure you didn't starve.

Having said that ( )I've just come out of a massive downer about my PhD (I'm in the lab at least 9 - 5 and usually longer, and they give me money for it. I call it a job.) so ask me again in a month or two and I'll have a bit more perspective.

My dream job would probably be to own a bookshop. New or used, I don't care. How did you get into that business Joaz? Is it really as relaxed and fun as it looks? Preferably my imaginary shop would also have a room in the back I could rent out to capoeira classes. I'd love to teach capoeira on the side sometime in the future as well, my old teacher suggested I start up a class, but I don't think I'm good enough yet, there's too many capoeira groups in Glasgow for the amount of students and I'm a bit busy with the whole PhD thing.

Worst things about working in science:
When the experiments don't work for months (years) on end.
Finding motivation when the above happens.
Feeling guilty if I don't go into the lab at the weekend.
The pressure of having a boss who works much harder than I do!

Best things:
Flexible working (I even enjoy having to work at 2am sometimes. It makes me feel like a real scientist.)
All the cool stuff (liquid nitrogen, dry ice, genetically modfying stuff so it glows green etc.)
When the experiments work.

I used to be 100% that I'd go on in academic research when I'm done here. Now I'm much less sure, but we'll see. I still might.

[flOvermind]

I've heard of a guy who owns a yacht in the Pacific, and makes his living teaching rich kids how to sail in it. The kids pay to sail his boat for him from island to island. Apparently, they buy and sell goods from island to island, and once he's taught the kids what to do, he sits back and enjoys the ride, in addition to the double income (sold goods and 'tuition'). I know it's probably more work than it sounds like, but I'm still jealous.~

I have met a few people like that. From what I could tell, it's really not more work than it sounds like. But it pays a lot less than it sounds like.

Am I jealous of them? Not really. Ok, they live a pretty worry-free life. They practically don't work at all. But in turn, they are missing out on some of the advantages of modern civilization, too.

[Jedo]

I'm a student, so although I guess it doesn't really count I enjoy my "job" now. After I get out in a few years though, who knows...

[azrael]

Man, it is not so dramatic I am not really soo unhappy with my job. A job that I would enjoy doing, could for example be as a musician. What I do instead is sitting 8 hours a day in front of a computer and checking whether some stupid technical ideas are inventive enough to deserve a patent. It is not hell, but it is also not something enjoyable.

To be honest, I can hardly imagine anybody really enjoying that job. But the salary is good, benefits are good and it is a relatively secure employment. I don't ask for more from a job, especially after having children. Tommie is a colleague of mine. Tommie, if you read this thread, maybe you would comment on that

My attitude to my job is similar to entropi's. It pays the bills and allows me to do what I want. It is pretty secure and it is unlikely that I get fired. Sometimes I have good days and others I have bad which is basically the same in every profession.

My dream job is to win enough money in the lottery so I don't have to work full time. Than I can enjoy life more.

[sumiyaka]

I like my job. Mostly its because I have some of the most amazing colleagues in the world. I do dislike that I'm doing things completely out of the realm of what I find interesting. But. That doesn't quite matter to me when I see the team/company succeed at something. I'll do whatever is needed to make that happen, because that, I find very interesting.

That being said, I'm trying to find a way to make part of my way with a camera. I've started, I should be on my way, I'll see how it all works out at the end. Its taken quite a bit of my focus lately, so very little Go, very little pleasure reading, etc. I thought about this for 3 years, and realized I could think about it the rest of my life and be grumpy on my deathbed angry I didn't try-- OR I could stop thinking, put the actual work in, and see what happened