Sacrificing Long-Term Career Goals for Happiness?

LegacyUser

Apologies if this is an odd one.

I have always been fairly ambitious and entrepreneurial and I had a long-term strategic career plan which I'm about 7 years in to....

I should be getting ready to leave my current role especially since I've discovered lately that there is no progression from my current role and very limited/no opportunity to increase my salary (which is probably lower than it should be but it's a great organisation for my CV)

That said, I LOVE MY JOB. I have worked in places that have been stressful and demanding and exhausting working with difficult and challenging people etc.

I come to work every day I enjoy my work, I enjoy my colleagues and it's just lovely.

I probably earn just enough, I can afford everything I need and my mortgage but I struggle when it comes to things like holidays.....almost enough.

It's getting me down as I desperately want to stay but my boss has already told me as much as he'd love to give me more money his hands are tied.

Would you live on less money to be guaranteed a happy stress-free life?

zapper55

I had a similar dilemma. I decided I needed career growth in order for me to be challenged and to keep learning. The increase in salary wasn't my motivation but of course it helps.

.......

careerstall wrote: »

Would you live on less money to be guaranteed a happy stress-free life?

Absolutely, 100% yes. If you had asked me this 10 years ago I would have said no. 2 years redundancy which were the happiest years of my life changed that.

But it depends on what kind of a person you are, what drives you, what makes you thrive.

Its not the same for everyone.

Now I dream of reaching 50 and getting access to my pension fund so that I can throw in the towel at any point from then onwards and actually enjoy my life instead of slaving away to make a grey haired old man richer.

woodchuck

OP I think you should stay in your current role for now. Do you have any idea how rare it is for people to genuinely LOVE their job? And it sounds like you're not struggling financially.

I'm sure over time the lack of career progression and salary will niggle away at you. Once those problems surpass your happiness, THEN you should move. But not because of some plan you put together 10 years ago. Enjoy it while it lasts!

jethrothe2nd

I would also add that it depends on where you are in life. For example, if you are planning on having kids in the future, now might be the time to aggressively pursue your career goals so that you are where you want to be financially and career wise before that happens.
Having said that, I've worked in highly stressful, demanding and exhausting jobs to further my career. I certainly got great experience from them but there was a price paid for it. Missing out on family, poor eating habits and as a result poor health, missing out on family activities etc etc.

    For me now, having a happy stress free working life that enables me to be there for my family and do the things I really enjoy doing is far more important to me than how much I earn. But that's just me.

_Brian

I chose a job that facilitates my family life over career.
My job is grand, the money is mediocre, no career progression.

But it’s enormously flexible, I work from home mostly and set my own schedule.

I drop the kids to school regularly and days off are rarely a problem.

I miss the money a bit sometimes but money isn’t everything.

LegacyUser

Hi op

I recently faced a similar situation.
My job is really boring and I don't enjoy any aspect of the job however everything else is perfect- nice boss , nice staff no bullying, great flexibility with appointments etc, I don't bring work home and no major big stress

I was offered the dream job but turned it down when I got a counter offer from my current employer. I was more living for the now than the long term, this job suits me for now,

di11on

Look at it this way, your strategic career plan is now 7 years old. These kinds of plans are good, but life is very non-linear and things change. You would probably have to say that many elements of your career plan were probably fairly arbitrary to begin with... but I imagine that it provided you with some focus, you made progress and it served its purpose...

But this plan should serve you... you shouldn't be a slave to it. You're happy and content and not motivated right now to make any big changes. So roll with that. Revise your career plan now that you know better how things have panned out and you know more about you and what you want.

Later down the line when you are more motivated to change things, you can revisit things then.

We only get to live this life once. Your use of "sacrifice" in the thread title is actually completely false... because you are judging your current position relative to some other hypothetical, notional and mostly arbitrary goal you set yourself 7 years ago... it's not relevant...

The real sacrifice would be to give up the happiness and contentment that you have now, in my opinion.

TheBlock

I had a career plan, then I had Kids. Now I'm looking into a carer plan.

Happiness can't be bought OP.