Twitter
G+
RSSWhat Do You Want From Your Working Life And Is Starting A Business The Answer?
I recently stumbled across a fascinating article by the Business Insider, in which they revealed the 10 jobs with the happiest workers (as researched and compiled by University of Chicago researchers).
Photo By Tax Credits
I spotted a trend amongst the majority of the job roles – none of them are known for producing huge incomes.
I would hazard a guess that the average salary across all 10 jobs is well under $100,000 p.a. Bankers and high-end corporate workers are conspicuous by their absence.
Related: The Secret To A Healthy Relationship With Money
Now you might reasonably argue that $100,000 p.a. would be rather nice, thank you very much, but in saying that you would be missing my point – in a culture that is utterly focused on money, research tells us that it just isn’t that important.
What is important on the other hand, is what you do with your life. And that’s what I want to discuss today.
What We Can Learn from the Clergy
According to the University of Chicago researchers, the happiest workers in the world are clergymen (or women). Here is what Jay Terbush, who has been in full-time ministry for 25 years, had to say about his work:
I just like to do the various tasks that ministers are engaged in: preaching and teaching, leading worship, caring for people in need, celebrating joyous occasions, being with people in the depths of sorrow, guiding people in their personal search for a life of meaning and purpose, mentoring youth toward faith and personal maturity.
You can put the details of Jay’s work to one side – the key thing to recognize here is his first statement. He likes what he does. He is passionate about it. He finds it rewarding. That in itself is the key.
Why Be in Business?
You may be wondering what this has to do with business and entrepreneurship.
Well, it’s all about happiness. Take me for example. I used to chase money. I was driven by a desire for success and fortune. When I worked in my father’s property company, I was obsessed with doing deals and making money – that was how I got my job satisfaction. But it was a shallow satisfaction, and one that was incredibly susceptible to material influences.
Related: What Type Of Entrepreneur Do You Want To Be?
If you take another look at those happy workers in the Business Insider article, you will see people who are working in roles that are (for the most part) intrinsically rewarding.
Whether you’re a firefighter, a teacher, or a psychologist, you have a chance to make a difference to people’s lives. You have a chance to do the kind of work that can be genuinely and deeply rewarding.
If you have found such a role in life, perhaps you do not need to be in business. But if you struggle to be happy in what you do, you owe it to yourself to find something better.
What Being an Entrepreneur Does
The greatest thing owning a business can do for you is give you freedom. If you are free from the shackles of work, you can turn your life to things that truly reward you.
Moreover, if you can build a business that in itself is truly rewarding, and you have the freedom to work on it as you please, you have truly hit the jackpot.
The average American employee works 1,797 hours per year. Once you take away eight hours of sleep and add a couple of extra hours per day for commuting and the inevitability of overtime, you find yourself dedicating around one third of every working year to your job – including weekends and vacation days.
You need to have a damn good reason to keep sacrificing such a huge proportion of your life in such a way. You need to be one of those 10 happy workers. If not, there has to be a better way.
I may well piss people off by saying this, but I don’t believe that the vast majority of people have any excuse to stay in such a rut. We live in an unprecedented age for entrepreneurs, and we should be taking advantage of that as much as humanly possible.
Are you?
This article was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com
Ready To Get Serious About Starting An Online Business?
If you are really considering starting your own online business and quitting your day job, then you absolutely have to check out my mini course on How To Create A Niche Online Store In 5 Easy Steps.In this 6 day mini course, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn 100 thousand dollars in the span of just a year. Best of all, it's absolutely free!
Stumble!
Reddit!
Digg!
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Get Free Updates Via RSS
Follow Me On Twitter
BizSugar
Similar Posts
- I’ve Been Interviewed At IncomeDiary.com
- The 6th Age Of A Business – Leadership
- What Type Of Entrepreneur Do You Want To Be?
- How Much The Average American Can Save On Taxes By Having A Business
- Friday Roundup: Google Webmasters Tools For Online Stores, Internet Marketing And Business Tips
Have you read these?
- Persistent Shopping Carts – Are You Frustrating Shoppers Because Your Website Is Timing Out?
- Student Shop: The Story Behind SprooShop.com
- The Secrets To Running A Profitable Online Store Revealed – My Course Launches Next Week!
- Entrepreneurial Mistakes: Are You Procrastinating Under The Guise Of Doing Work?
- Powerful Quotes And Why They Resonate With Me
It gets pretty stressful to earn the money high-end bankers make. And most of the things that you can buy that really contribute to happiness can be purchased with much less income than that.
It’s no wonder that most of those jobs are low stress, high reward, and that none of them, with maybe the exception of financial sales person, requires working in a grey cube staring at computer screen all day. Throw in a traditional corporate structure and a maniacal boss or two falling over themselves trying to climb the ladder, and you’ve got the new definition for misery, torture, and oppression.
I totally agree with your sentiments, but I think quite a few of those people on the list would take exception to being told their jobs are low stress
I agree with your points about finding meaning by working in roles that help others (such as clergy, psychologist) and the seeming futility of giving over all of your best hours to an employer.
However, I’d add something another factor to being content regardless of whether you are an employee or if you have your own business. Your lifestyle must conform to your income. Or to put it another way, you must live within your means.
The problem that so many of us confront is that we basically use all our income on our living expenses. If there is any fluctuation that causes an increase in expenses, or a decrease in income, then our level of stress and overall “life satisfaction” suffers greatly.
In order to resolve the perceived problem of not having enough money, we try to make more money, which usually means doing more of what we don’t really want to do. If we make more money, eventually we increase our living expenses as well. It’s an endless cycle. Worse still, the more money you need, the fewer options you have for choosing a different type of work – let alone becoming self-employed.
Needing more money to support a particular lifestyle can result in leaving work that makes us happy, staying in work that we hate, and/or never trying to do something different.
Nice comment David – not a topic I intended to get into in this post, but I totally agree with what you’re saying.
working right trumps finding the right work
[...] Satisfaction guaranteed. If you want to know the real reason why people become entrepreneurs, says Tom Ewer, it may not be the money. In fact, Ewer sites a survey in which it’s argued that the most satisfied workers aren’t the best paid. The question is whether you can build a business that satisfies you and gives your life purpose. This, Ewer believes, is the real point of entrepreneurship. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com [...]
[...] Satisfaction guaranteed. If you want to know the real reason why people become entrepreneurs, says Tom Ewer, it may not be the money. In fact, Ewer sites a survey in which it’s argued that the most satisfied workers aren’t the best paid. The question is whether you can build a business that satisfies you and gives your life purpose. This, Ewer believes, is the real point of entrepreneurship. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com [...]
I must agree with this entire thread.
I was unemployed for a very very long time. I fell from one job to another, never being happy with many things in that working environment. I got desperate and just took on jobs to get my pot boiling. Believe me, each job I took only brought me closer to realising that I don’t belong in either of them at all.
I used to be a people pleaser due to not knowing my “CALL” in life by taking jobs suggested by others which I knew had nothing of what I actually wanted to do with my life.
Yes, I also took numerous other jobs because of what “I thought” that at the time was what I wanted to do with my life only to find out two or three months down the line that I wanted to quit because I got “no” satisfaction out of it and I felt imprisoned by obeying the company rules more than being creative and actually contributing to the big picture or company’s goal/vision. I wasn’t part of “their” picture.
I prayed many many times for God to show me what I was doing on this earth, and what I was supposed to do with this life I was given. Very much indoctrinated by the corporate world believing that I was only a number I then started soul searching and asking myself these two questions every day: What am I doing here, and what am I supposed to do. Being a believer in God and Christ, I was being brought to realization of my gifting, talents, and personality. I must say that after finally realizing my “CALL” in life I now know that I want to be a positive contributor to this world where I live in. Not like before where I was part of the rat race struggling just to survive each day. I now strive to LIVE in abundance and not to survive. Survival is for those who still don’t know what they are supposed to do with their lives, and just like I was falling from job to job. I’d suggest taking “a few”(not just one) online aptitude and personality tests to see where your strengths and weaknesses lie, so you can see more clearly where you fit in and where you can assist everyone else in building this world to be a BETTER place.