Who’s Living a Happier Life?
It’s a question I often find myself thinking about. Who’s happier, the lawn maintenance guy who cut grass for a living and makes a low income…..or the wealthy business man who spends his days in a high stress, fast paced environment?
We all crave money, right? So the rich dude must be living the happier life. Or is he?
But think about the lawn maintenance person for a minute. Surrounded by nature. Sees results after each job. Very low stress. Plenty of time for walking meditation. Able to spend every minute after work with no work interruptions.
So who’s living the happier life? The rich guy can buy anything he wants. He gets to go away to exciting destinations. He gets to go through life feeling like he’s wealthy. Does that equate to happiness?
Have you ever read the statistics on what factors make people happy at their job? Well, I can tell you that income is typically listed around number 6 or 8. Interesting, huh?
Things like appreciation of your work, relationships with colleagues, and having fun are all consistently found at the top of the list.
So who’s living the happier life? Okay, so let me answer it for you…..it’s the person who gets to spend as much time as they want on a bike. Hahahaha.
It aint about the job (for me anyway) its about the partner. When my wife and I got together while we both came from high level work backgrounds that many would envy, our most common exchange was “grass shacks on a beach baby”. The rest of it all is just stuff.
Exactly. Thanks for sharing your perspective on this, Eric.
I think about this. A lot. In the past few years I’ve received two promotions at work equating to >25% pay increase. These weren’t asked for or looked for promotions – they were surprises. So now I’m more expensive to use on projects if the projects are to make money, but am still expected to bill out the same percentage of my work. That equals stress for me.
Certainly the extra money is welcome and has made life easier. But happier? I’m not so sure. I lose more sleep now due to work stress; have to work from home more; have more responsibilities that I don’t want, etc… So, probably not happier.
I think I need to ride more…
Thanks for jumping in on this one, Paul. It’s interesting to hear your perspective.
If you are making someone else happy with what you do, then I guarantee that person is happier than the other who is only in it for themselves..
Thanks, Cheyrl……..good advice.