Working for Money or for Happiness?

United States
July 3, 2010 8:09am CST
Would you rather make a lot of money at a job you hate? or make barely enough money to pay your bills at a job you love? This is a discussion I have had recently and I am really torn about it. I have a job I don't like so much and it does not pay enough, but it covers the bills. My husband on the other loves his job, but the pay is not so great, which would you rather have? hard decision.
4 people like this
34 responses
• Philippines
3 Jul 10
the main purpose why we work is for our family, coz we love our family, we want to give them a better life, that's why we work. It is not for our self satisfaction, it is for them. If we love our work it means we love our family or love ones.
• Philippines
3 Jul 10
That's what we call "motivation". Before you succeed in any money making endeavor, find out first your "deepest WHY". Like "Why do I have to do this?". I do this for my family, my loved ones. Then your deepest WHY will propel you to achieve extraordinary results!
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Jul 10
The why really is the bigger question here. The WHY right now is definitely what propels me, I think I am just inpatient for the extraordinary results. Of course I love my family and will do anything I can to make them happy, and satisfied.
• Italy
3 Jul 10
I think that I'd rather work at a job I don't like that much which helps me to earn a lot of money (things that I'm currently doing, by the way). With money, you can buy things that will make you happier - you can travel much more, buy gifts and presents, and that would suffice the lack of love for your work. Though, if given the chance, I would like to try to work at a place I love. If the pay won't be that great, I may at least try to look for a second part time job...
• United States
4 Jul 10
I have to agree. I work at a job that pays well, and to some degree because it pays well it does make me happy. I would much rather be doing something that I enjoy,but if It didn't pay the bills how can that be enjoyable? I would love to see the stats on people who both enjoy their work and get paid well for doing it! I guess in this economy, some people would be happy just to have work.
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Jul 10
What you say really makes sense to me also. If right now I was making tons of money, I would be able to deal with a job I really don't like, but since that is not the case anyway, I would rather have a job that I enjoy for the same money.
@millertime (1394)
• United States
5 Jul 10
Wow, that's an interesting conundrum. I guess I would have to weigh how much I hated it against how much money was involved. If it was something I mildly disliked and I got paid a huge amount of money for, I guess I would opt for the money. If it was something I absolutely hated, I don't think any amount of money could keep me doing it for very long. If I was making an adequate amount of money, covering all the bills with a little left over for saving, for doing something I loved and enjoyed, I would much rather do that. How does that saying go? If you truly love what you do, you never have to work another day in your life. If I really loved my work and looked forward to going to it every day, I would be much happier in the long run, even if I never got rich with money. My richness of life would be far more valuable.
• United States
3 Jul 10
I would take the job I enjoy and supplement those earnings. And once you get your bills caught up...then you could just go back to working the job that you enjoy. I am lucky that I work from home and I enjoy it very much. I have followed other discussions by you. I really hope that everything starts to fall into place for you
• United States
4 Jul 10
Workingmom50-Thanks for your response, I am trying to grapple with a lot of things right now as you can tell, and love to hear how other people are doing and keeping it together.
@tomitomi (5429)
• Singapore
3 Jul 10
You can't just work entirely for one or none. Money may just be a means. But it's partly the money we work for that would provide us with some form of happiness. That happiness and fulfillment is what we have been trying hard to achieve or accomplish with the money we earned through working.
• United States
4 Jul 10
You really have a good point and one of the things I have been thinking about and started to make moves toward, is volunteering to fulfill myself up, since my actual job does not do that in anyway.
@devon0 (61)
• China
3 Jul 10
Yes, this is a question which most of us feel difficult to answer.In daily life,someone has to work for money because money can raise the family.For them,no money,no anything.From this point, we can see money is very important.So they work everyday for money.However,others think that working is for happiness because they can find happiness from working,not from money. But to this kind of people, they must have enough money as a base.If they are short of money,that means no happiness. Right? This is a contradicatory question for lots of people. Personally,working is not only for money but also for happiness. They exist at the same time.I find them very funny and interesting and enjoyable. Now although my salary is not too much compared with others',I feel satisfied.So I am happy! By work,I can earn enough money to keep the family and meet our daily requirements,and meanwhile, I get happiness from it. That's good and great for me!!!
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Jul 10
I think the older I get, the more I realize I want both also. Tired of working at a job I can't stand and also still have bills that I can't pay. So starting to really explore what will make me happy and still afford things we want within reason.
@derek_a (10874)
4 Jul 10
I have always felt that money was meant to enhance our lives and happiness and I have always found this to be the case. I have been near broke and the stress was quite bad because of it. When I started making money again, then that stress has disappeared as I quite worrying about paying the bills etc. However, I don't think that money is the answer to everything as there are times when we can be miserable in comfort! _Derek
@derek_a (10874)
16 Jul 10
Yes, I understand how difficult this can be. I have been there and experienced it s many times and at one time had to sell my house and car because of debts. But things work out, and I found that visualization of us as a family being comfortable every day as often as I could remember, helped a great deal. I can't say that it brought what I wanted because I had to go and work at two jobs for that, but it did help me to have a better outlook on life and I began to stop worrying about things I could do nothing about. I was doing my best in work and took some poorly paid jobs at the time, but throughout it all, I focused what I was doing constantly, doing the best I could. I always went to see my bank manager and other creditors and told them exactly what I was doing. I didn't want to do it because I was embarrassed to have mishandled my finances, but my Dad was a great help to me and told me not to ignore them. I hope that things ease for you soon.. _Derek
• United States
16 Jul 10
I try really hard to look at the big picture about money not being everything. Like you said though it is really stressful when you are close to broke and are having trouble paying the bills. I don't need millions of dollars, but I would like to have a comfort level with money, to make things easier. I have a lot in my life to be thankful for and I would not give up the friends and my family for all the riches in the world, but I just want to be able to lay my head down at night without stressing myself out.
1 person likes this
@ydb777 (36)
• United States
3 Jul 10
I believe their are jobs that you can love and make money from. I mean lets face it, we need money! I think that you should evaluate the things that you are good at and enjoy doing and then research the types of jobs that exist where you can practice the things you are good at and enjoy doing. They do exist. I don't think you should compramise in either area.
• United States
16 Jul 10
I think there are jobs out there doing things I love and could make money at, but I just can't walk in there and get them. I love to read more than anything else, I wish there was a way to get a job reading books, evaluating them and also check for grammatical mistakes, like being an editor. Unfortunately those jobs are very hard to break into. I am going to try to find more ways to enjoy what I do on a daily basis, even trying to do some volunteer work at places I am passionate about.
• Philippines
3 Jul 10
I would prefer to work in a field that will both give me money and happiness.I believe in working for something you are passionate about.if you are not happy with your current work,evaluate it and see if it can help you get to your dream job.in my case,I currently love my purchasing job.I begin to appreciate it because it can help me land a job in food or fashion industry.
• United States
16 Jul 10
This is the year that I have decided to find a job I love and also that gives me enough money to pay my bills. My jobs so far have paid decent enough, but I have never had any passion for them and that is a problem. I feel like I want to get a job that I have passion, something where I feel I am making a difference in the world.
@smartjack (520)
• India
4 Jul 10
i would always want to have a job for which i have a lot of passion. Money should never be the factor in any thing you do in life. You should see whether you are enjoying what you do in life. When you enjoy doing something in life you get great success in it. So always do what your heart says. Don't worry about the money. It will automatically come and you will slowly start earning a lucrative income soon. So do the job you love or to put the other way round, love the Job you do. Once you start liking it, you will start enjoying it. And you will put more efforts in the things you enjoy. So you will also get a lot of success in it.
• United States
16 Jul 10
I think for me, I still don't know how to make the things I am passionate about, earn me any money at all, but I am going to try to make changes this year to figure out if there is a way to make things work better for me. Life is too short to not have enough passion for it.
@llbo1981 (1237)
• China
4 Jul 10
So interesting the topic is.At first,we should working for money.And then we can use the money to have a happiness life.So we can say like this,working for money and happiness.Do you think so?
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Jul 10
That's s tough decision, as for me I worked at a job for 21 years and this year lost my job, it was a very difficult thing as I have never been unemployed in my life. This situation was strictly out of all of our control as none of us received unemployment or any type of warning. I loved my job and it paid well, however now that I have completely unempluyed with no income for 7 months I have to say I have given a lot of thought to my future earnings. Although I desperately need an income, I am affording myself a lot of time to decided how I want to handle any future earnings. It is unfortunate how thing came together with my job but it taught me something. Nothing last for ever and nothing is actually what it seems. So I will return to work at a job that does not suck the life out of me and then drop me like crap. I will work even if it means for less but I must enjoy it. I must work at a job that each day I will be looking forward to go to and leave it when I am ready to do so. So regarding your question, I would have to say prepare ahead of time, meaning remain at the job that does not pay well but yes do something to supplement the income, learn all the ins and outs of the entire job and when monetarily you are able to take a step do so right away. Nothing last forever, but one thing is for sure, memories, hurt and pain never get forgotten, so be happy at whatever you do and make sure it is for the good of you and your family.
1 person likes this
3 Jul 10
I would rather have less money at a job that I love. Because I would last longer in such a job, knowing that I enjoy it. you can't be happy with just money. Maybe I'll just find a sideline like what I'm doing right now.
3 Jul 10
In hard times like these, If I were in your situation, I would prefer to work that pays higher even though I hate the work. Let's face it, money is very much needed in our daily lives. If I work in a job that doesn't pay much but one I like, you will be happy at first. But once all your bills pile up , you wouldn't be happy too. For me, being in a job that pays well but won't make you happy will surely motivate me to work harder so I can save till I get out and find a new job that will make me happy.
1 person likes this
@udnisak (609)
• Australia
1 Sep 10
u better have a job that you love.. it is good for health dont you think ? but life is not so kind to us.. some of us are bless with wonderful jobs where you can enjoy while doing it.. and some cant enjoy the job but can enjoy the salary.. whatver the job is you can make it enjoyable if you know what to do.. happy mylotting..
@toms65 (84)
• United States
11 Sep 10
I'd rather have the job I love. Even if it's just enough to pay the bills, I won't have that worry and I won't have the stress of a job I hate. I've had too many of those jobs and some were pretty good pay but I was very unhappy and it was way too stressful.
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
15 Jul 10
I've had jobs that were decent paying, not great, but I earned much more than I do now, but I wasn't happy. Now I do what I like for a living and I am ecstatically happy. I am a pet sitter and get to be with animals all day long. Nothing could be better. Life is to short to be unhappy.
• Philippines
14 Jul 10
Well' I guess I'd rather have a job I hate that pays the bills because I'd hate myself more if I worry about bills all of my waking hours while enjoying my job. Wait..I guess I'd not enjoy my fabulous job because I'd be very worried about money. A good job would be a job that pays the bills, though it does not promise you trips or vacations but you enjoy.
@durgabala (1360)
• India
3 Jul 10
WEll it is very tough to answer this question. I would vote for happiness. but sometimes we do have to sacrifice happiness for money. Another option is once you save enough money to pay monthly bills then you can settle in your happy job.
• United States
4 Jul 10
I think that is my goal right now, pay off the debt, than really decide what I want to do that will make me happier.
• United States
3 Jul 10
I would take the lower paying job, like above statements say, and find other ways to make extra income, part time job, donating plasma, just anything I could think of. You are making a decent step in the right direction posting here ^_^ I say if you have the time to try to earn online, go for it!