Normally at this time of day I’d be rocketing towards work on my bike. I’d be enjoying the scenery of the Swan River as I pedaled along the bike path next to the freeway.
Today is different. In fact every day this week and next week will be different. I’m currently taking two weeks of my annual leave. I’m enjoying my break but it won’t be too much of a strain when I have to return to work. Seeing as no one has offered to pay me for 52 weeks annual leave each year I have to head back to work eventually but thankfully I enjoy my job. I wanted to work in radio from when I was very, very young and so I’m pretty much living the dream.
Unfortunately it’s not the same for everyone. There are millions of people around the world who dislike or even hate their jobs. I understand that in some places people need to settle for anything that puts food on the table for their family but there are many people, especially in developed nations, who could change their workplace yet don’t.
I wonder why.
What do you think? Why do people settle for jobs that don’t really thrill them?
Years ago there was a lot of talk about job satisfaction. Then there were many years of high unemployment and less talk about job satisfaction. People were encouraged to get whatever job they could and that was enough. Over the last couple of years we made our way through the global financial crisis and jobs were harder to find again. Thankfully, in Australia at least, employment opportunities are much better now.
Are you in a job that you enjoy? If you could do anything you wanted for work, what would you be doing? What’s stopping you from moving towards that goal? What did you dream of doing when you were young? Did that dream ever come true?
What do you think stops other people from pursuing a job they love? Let’s get some conversation going. I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments section of this post.
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I think I always wanted to be a nurse or teacher.
I never had the opportunity in Africa to go and study so trying to grab opportunities here in Oz … but … being a mum now, needing an extra income, distance to Uni and time etc etc makes studies quite hard to achieve.
Then I went through a phase to be a police woman but was unsuccesful in applicaitons, meant to be?
I really wish I had money and time to work as a volunteer Aid person in disaster places as a nurse, but the ADF declared me medically unfit to join them too.
At the moment I teach swimming, will start coaching soon but although I enjoy that the hours is not family friendly and arrangement will need to be made for my own kids now.
I suppose once you have a family and are mum especially or the main carer for kids, it’s not always easy to choose to do what you really want and you have no choice than to put up with what works for and around the family, not that I always mind.
I hope your holiday is super fun!!
.-= Flea´s last blog ..Life’s hard again =-.
Well, right now I’m in a job that I feel like I SHOULD be enjoying, but, if I’m honest, I really don’t. I often groan at the thought of getting up and going to work when I feel like I should just be grateful that I have a job at all.
So why don’t I change jobs? Well, there aint much choice out here. If I was in the city, I could change jobs like people change their underwear (presuming they change it), but I’m often wary about doing that. No job will thrill us 100% of the time, and sometimes our level of satisfaction rises and falls depending on what else is going on in our lives, our co-workers, and the nature of the job itself. I believe in giving a job a 6-12 month test (if it’s a permanent position). If you really can’t stand a job after a year, it’s probably time to consider moving on. However, we’re in a privileged position that we actually have more choice of work than our brothers and sisters overseas.
.-= sarah´s last blog ..Camping at Ledge Point =-.
I was working in the IT industry for just short of 5 years, when I decided that I’d had enough of making money for rich people – and decided I’d become a teacher. I applied (and was successful) for the Teach for Australia program. Now I’m working in a disadvantaged school in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne, and wearing myself out – but loving it. It was totally worth trading in a bunch of money for the knowledge that you’re doing something worthwhile with life!
.-= Geoff Matheson´s last blog ..Soul Survivor 2010 – Hope =-.