It probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear this, but we spend nearly one-third of our lives at our jobs. Having a satisfying career is one of the most important moves you can make for a happy and fulfilling life. The more important thing to acknowledge about careers is that there are several factors that will decide whether you enjoy a particular career or not.
The main determinant about careers and their satisfaction levels might surprise you. It isn’t money, which is an important consideration, but not the ultimate factor. In fact, the greatest factor to career satisfaction is the relationship between effort and reward. This is not to say that career satisfaction is about a fixed level of effort, but rather the correlation between effort and reward. Virtually everyone wants a job that correlates effort and reward together: the harder one works, the more one is rewarded. This means that extra effort is rewarded – we have a feeling of fairness to this as employees or freelance workers. We should be rewarded for working harder. This is a much more important factor for people when talking about careers and satisfaction levels, because, while rewards are nice, they feel better when they are earned.
Rewards aren’t necessarily money. Many people when talking about careers mention that, in addition to monetary compensation, having different benefits for high job performances is key as well. For many people, the simple recognition of a well-done job goes a long way into enjoying your career.
Their are other smaller effects about careers that you might expect. Most people neglect commute time and, obviously, time spent at the work place. Some people don’t mind jobs that require 12 or 15 hours of day of work. Others shudder at the thought of 8. It depends a lot on personal preference.
Finally, there is an old saying that if you choose a career you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. While the sentiment behind is true, it’s a misleading axiom. Even if you love your job, you will have bad days. It will happen. The real key to knowing about careers and whether you enjoy them or not, is if the good days sufficiently outnumber the bad. Spend plenty of time learning about careers and the different pluses and minuses and that third of your life dedicated to earning a pay check will not be considered a loss. A good career is an integral part of a happy life.
