Is it Possible to Find Work and a Career that You Enjoy and Are Happy With?
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Annie Dillard
For many of us, work fills a large part of our lives; the average person spends a quarter of their adult life at work; it's reckoned that we will spend 3,507 days at work over a lifetime.
In her book How to have a Happy Hustle Bec Evans writes: ‘At school when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I replied that I wanted to be happy. Not a helpful response for my teacher who was trying to organise my Year 10 work placement.’
Is it realistic to think that you can find work and a career that you enjoy and are happy with? To answer this, it helps to understand what makes for happiness and fulfilment. Over 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle identified two types of happiness: hedonic happiness and eudaimonic happiness. Hedonic happiness is the small pleasures and eudaimonic happiness refers to happiness that comes from having meaning, purpose, and fulfilment in our lives.
Aristotle suggested that because, as human beings, we have a unique ability think, to rationalize and reason, to make judgements, and come to conclusions, we should – indeed we must – use this ability to work out for ourselves ways to live our lives so that we have a sense of purpose and meaning and that we experience a general, stable sense of well‐being, feel fulfilled and believe that, overall, life is good.
Aristotle acknowledged that, of course, happiness can be affected by external issues – our environment, our health, the actions of other people, etc. – but, he said, by using our ability to think and reason, we are able to create a life for ourselves that enables us to bear the ups and downs with balance and perspective and maintain a general sense of well‐being.
Fast forward 2,000 years and, like Aristotle, today's psychologists and researchers are also interested in what makes for happiness and a good life. Positive Psychology Professor, Martin Seligman, for example, in his book Flourish, also suggests that in order to be happy, as well as small pleasures, connecting with others, and feeling that we belong, we need to have one or more things in our life that mean something and make sense to us, that interest and absorb us, that we want to be involved in and allow us to feel good when we achieve what we set out to do.
Of course, what is meaningful, engaging, and gives a sense of purpose is different for everyone. But for so many of us, because work is such a key part of our lives, it's our work that can provide meaning, engagement, and a sense of purpose. Or, to look at it another way; it's because much of our time is spent at work that it needs to be meaningful, engage us, and provide a sense of purpose.
What's Getting in the Way?
So, if a job, work, or career can provide meaning and purpose and can help us feel fulfilled, why don't we all just go get ourselves a brilliant, meaningful, purpose‐filled job, work, or career?
There are a range of reasons. Does one or more of these reasons sound like you?
I have no idea what I want to do. (But I feel that I should!)
There's nothing that really interests, inspires, or enthuses me.
I have a job or a career, but it's going nowhere. I feel there are few, if any, options.
There's more than one option. I can't decide; I'm going round in circles.
I have something in mind but I'm worried I might pursue it then not like it.
I know what I want to do but it will take years of study before I'd qualify and be able to earn a living.
I have a passion I want to turn into a career but I don't know how to go about it.
I know what I want to do but don't know how to get an ‘in’.
I know what I'd like to do but I'm not clever enough/I'm too old, it's too late/it won't pay enough/I'd have to move/I have physical or mental health difficulties/I have caring responsibilities for family members/there may not be opportunities for career progress.
I can't see the bigger picture; what might the future hold? What might I need to think about re future opportunities or problems – technology, world events, etc?
I feel pressured and confused by family, friends, or colleagues who are telling me to follow a particular job or career: ‘Choose this career; it pays well and/or will give you status.’ ‘Choose the safe path.’ ‘A job is just a job. Work isn't meant to be fulfilling.’ ‘So‐and‐so loves her job, you should do that too.’ Or, ‘So‐and‐so hates his job, don't ever do what he's doing.’
Not knowing what to do or how to go about it, or whether it will be the right choice, whether you'll be good enough, how you can do it with the commitments and responsibilities you have, etc. are all valid concerns.
But, the good news is that those concerns all come with solutions. And they're all in this book!
You don't have to know what you want to do and have one vocation for the rest of your working life. You might not have an idea of exactly what your career path looks like and that's OK. Yes, it's helpful to think where you'd like to be in two three, five, or 10 years' time, but also know that things can change; even if you did know what you wanted to do, you'd still probably change because of world events, technology etc. Your future job might not even exist yet! Whatever you do next or plan to do in the near future, you might change your mind after five, 10, 20, or even 30 years; it's likely you'll have several different paths or one path that will go off in different directions.
Instead of long‐term career plans, think along the lines of short‐term career plans: two to five years. Think in terms of a range of possibilities and opportunities that could come up at some point down the line. Think in terms of developing your knowledge, skills, and experience.
Perhaps you feel that there's nothing that interests or enthuses you enough to make a career out of. You don't need to start with a brilliant idea or burning passion; you just need to make a start with something and move forward from there. There's a wealth of ideas and information about a huge range of jobs and careers out there.
Perhaps you do have a passion: a burning interest that you want to turn into a career but you don't know how to go about it or you know what you want to do but don't know how to get an ‘in’. No problem! There's plenty of advice and information out there; you just have to do some research. Chapter 5 explains this.
Maybe, though, you're interested in more than one line of work or one specific career; there's more than one option, you can't decide, you're going round in circles. Not to worry; it's not so difficult to narrow it down – knowing your values, skills, and abilities can help; the next two chapters explain how. It's also possible that you won't have to make a choice – it's possible to follow more than one interest in an area of work/profession; to have a portfolio career. Chapter 7 explains how you can do this.
It could be that you have something in mind but you're concerned that you might pursue it then realize you don't like it. That's OK – there's no need to commit to something before you're absolutely sure; there are a number of ways you can find out about a potential line of work, profession, or career before you commit to it. And even if at some point you change your mind, it's not as difficult as you might think, to change direction. You simply need to take a path that feels right