How can you be productive if your work isn't fun?

[JackWhite]

Sometimes we have to choose a job that doesn't fit our vision of our dream job. You have to work and squeeze the last out of yourself so as not to fly out. Do you think it is possible to work with joy where you never imagined yourself?

[Brigantia]

I can't really relate to this as I'm about 3 decades older than you and my generation was raised with a strong work ethic and longer attention spans, with no expectation of fun.

I went to a state grammar school; a lot of the girls there were daughters of solicitors, doctors and other professionals, and they followed similar professions and earned a lot of money as a result. Their kids mostly seem to want 'fun' jobs too, studying stuff like journalism and music and other soft subjects, but they find that the odds are stacked against them and they end up in 'boring' jobs. I'm presently seconded to a supermarket shop floor working with loads of young people with degrees. I'm productive in my job as that's what I'm being paid to do.

[jc71]

Hi JackWhite,

I'll give you a perspective from a 50 year old. I truly believe you need to find work that you can enjoy otherwise you will consume your energy and lifeforce from within. If you look hard enough, you should be able to find work of that type. It might not be the best paid work, but doing something you love doing is worth so much more than money, and if you really do love doing it, I have found it can pay better than you imagine in the longer term.

I have had my fair share of jobs that I don't particularly enjoy but pay well, but as I have got older, I have prioritised finding work (and people to work with) that I enjoy.

And here is the strange thing. Having now found work that I enjoy doing (I set up my own company to do this after deciding not to be an employee several years ago) and people that I want to work with (I fired the clients I didn't want to work with), I am now finding that actually I am earning more money now than in my previously "well-paid but not what I want to do" jobs.

What sort of thing do you actually enjoy doing that you feel could be turned in to a job? Forget "I know this can't happen" thoughts - allow your mind to open up to the possibilities. What interests you most? Mechanics? Programming? Animals? People? Law? Music?

JC

[Michi]

Hi JackWhite,

I'll give you a perspective from a 50 year old. I truly believe you need to find work that you can enjoy otherwise you will consume your energy and lifeforce from within. If you look hard enough, you should be able to find work of that type. It might not be the best paid work, but doing something you love doing is worth so much more than money, and if you really do love doing it, I have found it can pay better than you imagine in the longer term.

I have had my fair share of jobs that I don't particularly enjoy but pay well, but as I have got older, I have prioritised finding work (and people to work with) that I enjoy.

And here is the strange thing. Having now found work that I enjoy doing (I set up my own company to do this after deciding not to be an employee several years ago) and people that I want to work with (I fired the clients I didn't want to work with), I am now finding that actually I am earning more money now than in my previously "well-paid but not what I want to do" jobs.

What sort of thing do you actually enjoy doing that you feel could be turned in to a job? Forget "I know this can't happen" thoughts - allow your mind to open up to the possibilities. What interests you most? Mechanics? Programming? Animals? People? Law? Music?

JC

I concur with JC as an 59 years old fart. Quite early in my live, I chose a profession which aligned with my interests and lateron, I tested out new things but always pursued that type of work in what I am good at and I have fun with.
A helpful step is to do any type of readily available online surveys to locate ones strengths and purpose in life and keep on defining it. Every one of us is unique and one should enjoy this as often as possible - doing otherwise, one end up as a robot.
It has also do with being at cause and creating ones life.

[palehorse]

Interesting I found myself in the same situation many years ago.
Do what you really love, if you are unhappy in your job find something you like and say goodbye to the old one.

I changed my job, since the job would never change to adapt to my expectations.

[rgray222]

Just another way to look at this issue.

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aogjgyw_700bwp.webp

[Brigantia]

I hope my earlier reply didn't sound too harsh... I've been thinking more on this one.

It depends what you're looking for with 'fun' work, is it...
- the nature of the work is fun, or;
- the work ambience is fun, great colleagues and nice surroundings.

I would say that the latter is more important, because you can be doing work that is really interesting but have nasty colleagues and/or a grim workplace that makes it hell. When you're applying for a job, those aspects are pot luck unless you know someone who works there. That could change though; my work was great a year ago, the colleagues made the shift pass quickly, but then there was a change of management and now the shift I was working with is pretty toxic. Of course, the workplace is now driven by 'targets' drawn up by overpaid consultants and computers, I saw this soul-destroying aspect of the modern workplace creep in during the 1990s. Before then it was all about getting the job done proficiently.

My grandma worked a week of 10 hour shifts in a hosiery factory for 11 years (with only 1 week's paid annual leave back then), repetitive work but she said that it was a great crew of women that she worked with and she made a lot of lifetime friendships. She even volunteered to go back to work there during the war.

Maybe the only way to be guaranteed a harmonious work environment is to work for yourself... I know a balloon pilot who has a nice house, works half the year due to the need for good weather conditions, however he didn't work at all last year as he wasn't allowed to go up with a dozen other people in the balloon basket, which isn't designed for social distancing.

It all depends on opportunities too; if you're in or near a city there will be a wide range of jobs. I'm not, and all that we see around here are vacancies for shop work, cleaning and delivery driving. How far are you prepared to travel for a great job, or are you prepared to move?

[JackWhite]

Hi Jc71,

The biggest problem at this point is that I don't know what I really like. I'm good a lot, but not enough everywhere. I was fond of music, painting and dancing. But I could not finish anything. Then the fault was a lack of finance. And now, I just live that unfinished past, blaming myself for the inability to do something as well as I would like, combining it with an unloved job to feed myself.

Thank you very much for your response. This is very important to me.

Jack White

[JackWhite]

I would really like the work as a whole to give me pleasure. So that I would gladly give myself and my resources to this work. So that I do not wait for the end of the week, but enjoy every day (naturally, I understand that in any case there will be days when you get tired and everything makes you angry, but I want them to be in the minority).

[Mike]

I would say that if you're looking to have fun all the time you're going to wind up miserable. Fun, like happiness, is a fickle beast and often departs as quickly and mysteriously as it arrives. Appreciate it and enjoy it when it arrives, but don't place any expectation on it. And don't fret when it departs, but instead have faith that it will return again.

In a relative world you can only experience something by also not experiencing it. Therfore having fun all the time, even in your work, isn't really possible. There has to be times when you're not having fun to make fun possible. Those times don't have to be miserable though!

I would encourage you to chase meaning over fun. It's much more fulfilling ultimately, and more sustainable as well.

How can you be productive if your work isn't fun? Easy, just think about what your life will be like if you get fired and lose your income. That should frighten you into being at least productive enough to keep your job.

Meanwhile, don't let your dreams die. Continue to nurture them and work towards making them happen in your spare time. If you do that then maybe, just maybe one day you can make a living doing what you love.

[Mike]

I can't really relate to this as I'm about 3 decades older than you and my generation was raised with a strong work ethic and longer attention spans, with no expectation of fun.

I went to a state grammar school; a lot of the girls there were daughters of solicitors, doctors and other professionals, and they followed similar professions and earned a lot of money as a result. Their kids mostly seem to want 'fun' jobs too, studying stuff like journalism and music and other soft subjects, but they find that the odds are stacked against them and they end up in 'boring' jobs. I'm presently seconded to a supermarket shop floor working with loads of young people with degrees. I'm productive in my job as that's what I'm being paid to do.

I don't think this was too harsh at all Brigantia. In fact, I found it to be refreshingly honest and real.

That's not to say you shouldn't chase your dreams Jack, or a job you find joyous and fun. But that often requires years of toil and sacrifice first. In this world you often have to earn your fun. In order to achieve future fun you have to invest in not having fun. The actor often has to wait tables for years while he auditions, for example. That type of thing. It would be nice to skip all the degradation and go straight to the top, but it just doesn't work that way

[Brigantia]

From what you've said Jack, you lean strongly towards the arts. Would a support role at an arts venue - a theatre, art gallery, museum or similar - interest you? Have you ever looked into TV and movie extra jobs? They often recruit a load of people to mill about in the background and I gather the pay's good, though work is intermittent.

Have you ever done a psychometric test for jobs that would suit you? One I did once was very accurate, one top job was proofreading and I wish I had got into that years ago as it's very competitive to get into now.

With all the nonsense that is going at the moment, food could possibly be a good employment area to get into. Are there any independent health food stores or cafes near you? Has horticulture ever appealed to you? It's really hard work - my neighbours who are in that line of work are very lean and fighting fit - but it's satisfying to watch plants grow that you've nurtured. No matter what may happen in the future, food will always be a commodity in demand.

What I'd avoid are large companies and the public sector - they all parrot on their websites that they are happy-clappy and value their staff, but the reality is that they treat you like ****.

[waxamillionpehhgasus]

I'm around your age. Looks like you can string together coherent sentences. Send me a message if you want to become a freelance writer. It's extremely easy to get into (you don't need to be exceptionally good at writing) and the pay is way better than any hourly rate you will find at any job. I'll give you a step-by-step list of instructions to follow and you can seriously have a well-established career in a month from now. (This offer is open to anyone who is reading this message. I'm willing to extend this olive branch because we will not be competing for the same clients. I am way more experienced and can get way better clients as a result. Newbies can still easily clear $30 - $50 per hour, though. It's really not difficult.)

As it pertains to the topic of this thread, I am naturally decent at writing, so I enjoy freelance writing. I think we enjoy the things we are naturally good at. I also enjoy tennis because I am naturally good at it, but I hate basketball because I suck at it. As for the writing gigs, not all client work is riveting stuff. My highest-paying client is for health insurance, and writing blog posts about health insurance is not exactly as fun as writing a novel. However, it's still enjoyable because there's a sense of accomplishment with writing something that reads well. I'd imagine graphic designers employed at companies feel similarly. It also helps to be earning a good rate as I write. If I was making $15/hr, I might consider getting a more traditional job because writing does take more creative effort than most other jobs. But I'm making up to 10x that rate at times. 5x bare minimum.

There's a lot of acceptance of illusory limitations going around in the world as it pertains to jobs. Brigantia's posts in this thread are solid and I do not mean to demean you in any way, Brigantia. Just using you to set something up: it's my belief that the whole "you need to work hard to get ahead in life" is a blatant lie that doesn't hold up to even the slightest consideration. It's conditioning from the matrix, through and through. Why? Why do you need to do that? Where do you see hard work equaling success? I see it sometimes, but I mostly see a lot of people working their asses off at low-paying jobs and never getting ahead. Don't you?

Most of the advice you read about money is people just projecting their own beliefs about it, exactly as I'm doing with my post. It's your choice what YOU want to believe regarding money. And whatever you believe will likely come to fruition. (Read the book Reality Transurfing by Vadim Zeland (http://library.lol/main/5AB66EFC3085FA23D571A270854683C1).)

[Ernie Nemeth]

When you are young, life is long.

It seems as though everything is a long time away in the future.

Consider that you will live well into your eighties.

The best possible thing to do then is to get the work part over with. Get on track now. Get your pension, or save for it now. I know it sounds so responsible and boring but think about it...

By 55, if done right, you can retire.

That leaves 30 years to do anything you want to do. And at the best time in life too! Because you will be a little wiser, a little less crazy, and a whole lot more street smart by then. It will be fun to do whatever you want to then. You will still be strong and have more than enough vim and vigour left over to get into all sorts of trouble, er...fun.

Until that time, however, leave the fun for the weekends and time off, and get back to work!

[Ba-ba-Ra]

Is it possible for you to enjoy the people you work with in spite of the work?

If not, could you be the person to bring fun into the work place.

[Brigantia]

Brigantia's posts in this thread are solid and I do not mean to demean you in any way, Brigantia. Just using you to set something up: it's my belief that the whole "you need to work hard to get ahead in life" is a blatant lie that doesn't hold up to even the slightest consideration. It's conditioning from the matrix, through and through. Why? Why do you need to do that? Where do you see hard work equaling success? I see it sometimes, but I mostly see a lot of people working their asses off at low-paying jobs and never getting ahead. Don't you?[/URL].)

"Where do you see hard work equaling success?" - I never said that. What I would say about that though is that it used to be the case that you could do a week's work in a low-paying job such as in a factory, which is hard work but doesn't have the stress of responsibility, and that would bring you a decent lifestyle. Couples could buy a home, raise kids, go on holidays, buy a car and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. I know what life was like in the 1970s, and it was a lot less stressful than nowadays.

However, that's no longer the case in Britain, and possibly also in the US, where there's no way that you could afford a home on a low wage income anymore. Wages have tanked in relation to housing costs and many are stuck in high-priced rented accommodation.

I do work hard in my job, certainly; but I do that as it is what I'm paid to do. However, I choose to work part-time and will refuse overtime if I don't feel like doing it, as I prefer to have a lot more leisure time for my other interests. I don't equate money with 'success', I've learnt over the years to reduce my living costs to the extent that I don't have to grind myself into the ground by working most of the week. I've been in management roles in the past, earning a lot more money than I do now, and I have no desire to do that again as it sucks.

I found the blurb of the book link that you posted to be rather incomprehensible, but generally I don't read any books about manifesting money as the authors are the only ones who do make money from the subject.

[Mike]

I'm around your age. Looks like you can string together coherent sentences. Send me a message if you want to become a freelance writer. It's extremely easy to get into (you don't need to be exceptionally good at writing) and the pay is way better than any hourly rate you will find at any job. I'll give you a step-by-step list of instructions to follow and you can seriously have a well-established career in a month from now. (This offer is open to anyone who is reading this message. I'm willing to extend this olive branch because we will not be competing for the same clients. I am way more experienced and can get way better clients as a result. Newbies can still easily clear $30 - $50 per hour, though. It's really not difficult.)

As it pertains to the topic of this thread, I am naturally decent at writing, so I enjoy freelance writing. I think we enjoy the things we are naturally good at. I also enjoy tennis because I am naturally good at it, but I hate basketball because I suck at it. As for the writing gigs, not all client work is riveting stuff. My highest-paying client is for health insurance, and writing blog posts about health insurance is not exactly as fun as writing a novel. However, it's still enjoyable because there's a sense of accomplishment with writing something that reads well. I'd imagine graphic designers employed at companies feel similarly. It also helps to be earning a good rate as I write. If I was making $15/hr, I might consider getting a more traditional job because writing does take more creative effort than most other jobs. But I'm making up to 10x that rate at times. 5x bare minimum.

There's a lot of acceptance of illusory limitations going around in the world as it pertains to jobs. Brigantia's posts in this thread are solid and I do not mean to demean you in any way, Brigantia. Just using you to set something up: it's my belief that the whole "you need to work hard to get ahead in life" is a blatant lie that doesn't hold up to even the slightest consideration. It's conditioning from the matrix, through and through. Why? Why do you need to do that? Where do you see hard work equaling success? I see it sometimes, but I mostly see a lot of people working their asses off at low-paying jobs and never getting ahead. Don't you?

Most of the advice you read about money is people just projecting their own beliefs about it, exactly as I'm doing with my post. It's your choice what YOU want to believe regarding money. And whatever you believe will likely come to fruition. (Read the book Reality Transurfing by Vadim Zeland (http://library.lol/main/5AB66EFC3085FA23D571A270854683C1).)


I think the current mantra of not having to work hard for success or to "get ahead" more accurately represents societal conditioning. I think you've got it backwards. The "life hack" culture we currently live in is mostly a charade. It's a hip excuse for laziness or naivete..or both.

Where do I see hard work equaling success? Everywhere I look, that's where. Anybody who has ever accomplished anything admirable or worthwhile will almost unanimously agree on one thing: There are no shortcuts. You have to work hard to achieve your goals. That hard work isn't always fun. It rarely is. But it is meaningful, and there's a huge difference there.

So many of the things we have to do in life aren't fun. Many are quite miserable. You get thru it by finding the meaning in it, and the result is often a sense of fulfillment..which holds many times the value of fun. You might spend a day building a cabin or fixing a car, and it may be immensely frustrating at times, but when it's done there's a deep sense of satisfaction. Work can be approached in a similar manner. There is a reward for a hard day's work, and that reward reaches far deeper and has a much more lasting effect on our well being than "fun".

Things like "success" and "getting ahead" mean different things to different people. We're all of varying talents and abilities and interests, so one man's success may be another man's failure, and vice versa. Those people out there "busting their asses at low paying jobs" might just be huge success stories relative to their goals, standards, talents, background, and so on. Many people actually like their jobs, even the ones that may appear outwardly sh!tty and unglamorous.

[JackWhite]

Thank you for your feedback! Your opinion is very close to me and made me think again about my life. And I am very impressed with the vacancies that you cited as an example.

[JackWhite]

I completely agree with you. It is sometimes easier to believe that work is an end, not a means to an end. And that you need to live in order to work, and not work in order to live. For some reason, no one is intimidated by the prospect of looking back at your life in years and realizing that the only thing you did was survive and did not even have the opportunity to experience joy while working, because this is already something of a kind of fantasy. People are so accustomed to suffering that the thought that it is fun, interesting and cool can be more than sad and bad, they are put into a stupor.

[JackWhite]

My work is now tied to freelancing, there is minimal contact with people, to my great regret.

[Innocent Warrior]

What a great thread to read. Equally great advice, all different. I like Ernie’s the most. I’d do that but semi-retire at 50 because a lot more jobs are far more tolerable when you only do 15 to 20 hours a week and then I’d have more money for more fun.

[Sue (Ayt)]

I had such a variety of "boj's" over the years, and somehow, I now remember them all fondly. I guess I am just the type that tried to master and be the best at whatever I chose to do, whether it was labeled "work" or not.

I took each job seriously - like if I am choosing to be a tax auditor now, I will be the best I am able at playing that role. And same for when I chose to be a waitress, a counselor, a student, a flooring installer, even a mom. And I somehow was always able to find the FUN in the mastery of what I was doing. When I had my own small biz for awhile, that was great fun too, until it grew too big and became not fun, at which point I sold it and moved back to being a waitress, which was fun at that time.

I would say this way of being served well, actually, probably because without trying, promotions and raises would appear. Even temp jobs, I did to my utmost, and often had pleas to stay on. By knowing my services are valuable, it was easy to move on when conditions became too stressful or intrusive on my free time, and I would kindly give notice with no hard feelings, usually being begged to stay.

Some would call it a jack-of-all trades type of life, as I never pursued a career. But yet, it worked for me. I simply am the type who loves challenges and mastery. Even in my retirement now, I continue with the same, despite no payment in the legal tender. I am certain I could get a paid job tomorrow, as I believe my sincerity is apparent. I never really saw my job as my identity.
:flower:

y1tFQMjc-IE

[Bill Ryan]

This is highly, highly recommended. Trust me. :)

(Just 10 mins, and 18.5 million views.)
:happy dog:

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

[wondering]

Very cool video, Bill. I think this is an underlying motivation that is much more common than we think, we just treat it as an exception when we see it or hear about it and don't realize it may be the rule.