I have spent a lot of time these past few weeks trying to determine a good basis for satisfaction in your life. What makes a person content?
My father has tried very hard most of my life to get me to realize that happiness comes from being happy in your job, then other things, like money and success, come from that happiness. It created an interesting dicotomy in my mind, because I believe that, although money can come from happiness in your job, it is not it's root.
At Moto, I have been doing some light research on demographics of our age group, in comparison to our parents. One of the largest differences between the two is that our parents, "lived to work." It was very normal to find your job and then resign yourself to living and breathing your job. It defined who you were as a person, and also what you would become. People changed jobs, but at almost the same rate as divorces. It was a difficult change, and hard as well.
Compared to our generation, we can best be described as "working to live." There isn't a strong connection to our employer. It is mearly a means to the end of enjoyment and happiness. Our generation is fully content 'zoning out' at work, so that our weekends can be more entertaining.
In it's pertinance to job searching, according to my father (and his generation) the most important thing about a job hunt would be to find a job that you can enjoy. However, with respect to my generation, it might be more important to find a job that allows you more entertaining weekends.
So my origional weight of career path was, "is this job 'right' for me." Now it seems like a balance of three points:
- Job Enjoyment: It is still better to have an enjoyable job, but it is no longer a solitary point.
- Financial Security: I call it security because people can find enjoyment in not having to "worry" about money, but in reality it is your comfort level or happiness of cash. Do you have enough money to sleep easy at night and also live a fruitful life?
- Location: This seems out of place, but it is your proximity to 'fun.' It can be your family, your friends, or perhaps the beach. it isn't as important as a numerical number, but more as, "can you find something fun to do every weekend?"
Of course, each of these points can be broken down even more, (Job Enjoyment -> co-workers, activities, field, growth potential, etc). But I think the shift is real.
When I lay out the points as such, it seems like my decision is almost a 'no brainer sale' as we call it.