Young people like college students who are discussing the reasons for their choices of careers are far too likely to cite “I’ll get paid a lot!” as one of the top reasons. Yet fewer people actually in the work force will admit to salary being one of their top motivators. This reason for choosing a career, unless supported by other reasons, is not a good one.
Some typical reasons for choosing a career might be because it’s satisfying or fulfilling, will allow you to get experience in a field you’re interested in, will pay the bills until you can afford to switch careers, or simply because you’ll be paid a lot. The reason why people later in life find themselves unhappy with their careers often stem from poor decisions early in life… in other words, they chose their careers for the wrong reasons.
A good reason for choosing a career will fulfill you and make you feel a sense of happiness or accomplishment with your work, regardless of your pay. A good way to gauge whether you’re being blinded by the dollar signs is to consider whether you’d willingly choose the career if money weren’t an issue. If you won the lottery tomorrow and decided to continue working in a career simply to keep your days busy and get a sense of fulfillment, what would you do? If the career you are considering is among the ones you stated, that’s a good sign. If you’d never consider working in that career if you didn’t absolutely have to, that’s not a good sign!
So, you may be wondering why exactly salary is a bad reason to choose a career. After all, common sense says that if we’re being paid a lot to do something, we’ll enjoy it more than if we weren’t being paid, or were being paid less. In fact, common sense is wrong sometimes! Research has found that being paid to do something will not make us enjoy it more, and you’ll actually enjoy it less.
Consider a career that will pay you enough to survive, rather than one that will pay you enough to spend lavishly. While society probably tells you that you should want a career like doctor, lawyer, IT administrator, or engineer that will pay you a lot, you now know that salary doesn’t affect your happiness once you have the job. If you’re in a high-stress but high-paying job, you’re at severe risk for job burnout.
Burnout is an emotionally, mentally and physically grueling condition to suffer from. Within months of landing that job, you might find yourself dreading going to it, becoming irritable, cynical, and moody, and your personality (even outside of work) changing into one that you and your loved ones don’t like very much.
A much more appealing alternative is to choose a career that pays you enough to live comfortably and without worry, while not suffering through every workday for the sake of the paycheck every two weeks.
Consider carefully your reasons for choosing your career — it’s never too late to find a career that fulfills you and makes you happy to get up for work every day!