Work is a four letter word

I think of a job as a tool. It is something that affords someone the opportunity to do things they enjoy.
In my case my job has hours that don’t keep too late in the evening and where I don’t have to work on the weekends. This of course, is when I, like most people, go out and have fun doing whatever it is that I like to do. For most of us, during the week we work, usually at something we don’t like, the trade off is having money and time to do the things we like.

However, I had a conversation with a friend who thinks that a job should be something you enjoy. You should like it and it should be something that fulfills you and that you feel glad to be apart of. I mean, you do spend 40 or 50 years working, why not have a job where you feel that you have actually made a difference? I really like this idea, I mean it sounds great, in theory, but is possible?

The way I see it, the problem with that point of view is two fold. One, not many people know what they would enjoying doing. I like tons of different things, but few, if any, that I would want as a career. I love my bike and riding around. Would I be a messenger, I don’t think so, especially not in Seattle. I like working on cars, but there is NO way I would or could be a mechanic. I love camping, but Im not sure how this would be a job, but even if it was, I don’t think I would want to camp 40 hours a week...right?

Secondly, if I did take a job doing something that was totally awesome and where I felt completely fulfilled, there is a good chance it would pay any where near enough to live on, or at least not at the level that an “unfulfilling job” would pay.

So then of course, the next question is, what is more important: having a job that provides you with a feeling that you have made a difference, or a job that really doesn’t make a difference one way or another but that allows you to do other things that you enjoy. (That was rhetorical, im not gonna even try to answer it!)

BUT, there is another option, a job you love, that pays well, that leaves you feeling accomplished and allows you to have time to spend doing other things out side of work. These jobs are out there... But they must be few and far between. I don’t think I know anyone, at least off hand, that loves their job and everything that comes with it.

Now Im not trying to compalin about the job I have, I have done that before! My whole point is that what if we are missing out on an awesome opportuinity to actually enjoy our jobs because we asume (as I do) that great jobs aren't out there. I just wonder if we are we selling ourselves short. Maybe that job is out there waiting for us, the one job we always wanted. Or maybe the dollar is always greener on the other side.