Money vs. Happiness IRL

[newschooled]

Which job would you take IRL: The one that you love but will barely pay your bills, and won't allow you to afford pretty much anything else...Or the job that you're not crazy about by any stretch of the imagination, but the pay is boss?

[Lyserg Zeroz]

I'm not really sure. I think I'd take the job I love, but not being in that position, maybe I wouldn't... can Icheat and say I would take the job I don't like to make enough money to afford taking the one I do like ?

[Deleted]

Depends, is the well paying job just boring or is in unbearable? Can you survive on the job you love? Face unexpected situations properly? Do both jobs provide you the time to do what you want to when not working? Are these jobs mentally gratifying (even if not the actual job you want, it can be mentally gratifying, or not).

I am not aware of the situation, so I can't decide. But you need to be sure you can have a good life both inside and outside of work. It's now a matter of deciding if you want to be happier inside or outside work. Furthermore, there might be more alternatives. No matter which one you chose, keep searching for other jobs.

[Ricky]

I would choose happiness for sure

[Insane_Zang]

Depends on how much time off you get

[Andrea]

I wouldn't be so quick to say no to the well-paying job, actually. Not to sound materialistic, but, money is kind of important. As someone who's been through rough financial times; I can attest to the fact that, once you're faced with huge hospital and college bills that you can't pay, you'll be upset -- no matter how much you love your job.

And, even if this dream job was able to provide for our basic necessities and keep us out of THAT level of poverty, we can't deny that we all love our little indulgences and nice things. Can we REALLY say we wouldn't notice the difference between the latest iPhone on an unlimited plan, 105Mbps DL internet, and Starbucks coffee; as opposed to a 250-minutes-a-month prepaid flip phone, dial-up, and Publix coffee? Or that we wouldn't notice the difference between the video function on the Coolpix L22 versus the Canon 60D's video function? (If so, then you wouldn't mind trading for my crappy L22 and giving me your 60D, right? )

My only concerns, before making a decision, would be if this job gives me the income, time and freedom to pursue hobbies. I wouldn't mind if weekdays from 9am-5pm felt like a chore. Not if my weekends and vacations were full of playing around in Photoshop CS5 on a state-of-the-art computer, shooting vids with my 60D, and going to cool places... y'know, stuff the dream job wouldn't ever cover. Being able to finance my hobbies would make my weekends happy, and would surely make up for the boring weekdays at work.

Now, if this well-paying job was something that left absolutely NO free time? Then I would pick the job I love. What good is the money if I have no time to enjoy it? It's just paper until it's spent. If the job doesn't give me the time and freedom to spend said money on the things I like and with the people I love, then it's no use.

[SwimFellow]

Happiness..

GOogle sounds amazing. And Facebook too!

Fun and pays bills..

[Insane_Zang]

Everything Andrea just said. I was just really lazy

[Sean]

I would go for the job that you're not crazy about by any stretch of the imagination, but the pay is boss because you can get money, then move up to a better position.

[Deleted]

May 7, 2011 16:00:25 GMT -5 Sean said:

I would go for the job that you're not crazy about by any stretch of the imagination, but the pay is boss because you can get money, then move up to a better position.

That's not necessarily good, especially if the higher positions are still boring. On the other side, the dream job might have higher positions which are even better and are very well payed. Yet, it might not. Even if the "pay is boss" job has a better positions, you're not guaranteed to get them. No matter how good you are, there is always a possibility you get stuck in the position you are while all your colleagues move up in the corporate ladder.

What I mean to say here is that you should not solely resort to possible (but not guaranteed) future conditions to choose what you want to do. Andrea actually resumed very well all of the most important variables and conditions to have in mind when deciding this.

[Flags_Forever]

I'm not really able to work, but if I weren't disabled, I'd have to take the boring, high-paying job to finance vacations and weekends and such. So, pretty much what Andrea said. On a related note, work sucks.

[Ryan]

Money doesn't buy happiness. However, those who deny that money can contribute to happiness are foolish.

If I chose to live in a society where spending money is a necessity, then in order to be happy, I would have to know that spending that money is never an issue. This would require of me that I had an income that was both secure and sufficient. I may love a job, but if it does not give me this security, then my overall quality of life will be unhappy. The reason for this, is that my job will possibly provide happiness, but my life outside of my job will most likely not.

On the other hand, if my job gave me this security, then my quality of life could be judged, not on how I enjoy my job, but rather how I enjoy my life as a whole. On average, people sleep 56 hours of a week. A normal job would require 45 hours a week (including possible travel time/getting ready time/cooling down time). This leaves 67 hours of my week to me, as personal time. So my week is for the majority sleeping and personal time. So to be happy, I would need those hours of my week to be the most happy, not the work part. Sacrificing 1/4 of my week, so that the other 3/4 are comfortable and happy is a no-brainer.