What's your attitude to work? Does it mean the world to you?

Technocentral

tastyt wrote: »

Reminds me of a bit of advice I once got

“ no one ever lies on their deathbed wishing they had spent more quality time in the office “

I think some people on here do though!

leggo

Cyrus wrote: »

Having a good career and caring about it isnt a recipe for depression or gloom as some of you seem to think.

I think that’s just something people tell themselves. You can see it quite a lot in this thread alone, people cling to the idea that you can’t be happy in your job and in your life away from work. And anyone who likes their job is this ridiculous stereotypical workaholic who’s spending every spare second in the office because they’ve such an empty life waiting for them.

It has to be a choice for these people because the flip side is they’re spending half their lives unhappy in their job for no good reason.

tastyt

leggo wrote: »

I think that’s just something people tell themselves. You can see it quite a lot in this thread alone, people cling to the idea that you can’t be happy in your job and in your life away from work. And anyone who likes their job is this ridiculous stereotypical workaholic who’s spending every spare second in the office because they’ve such an empty life waiting for them.

It has to be a choice for these people because the flip side is they’re spending half their lives unhappy in their job for no good reason.

Can you not be happy in your job, go in and do it well but leave it behind you and know there’s more to life no ?

Dylan94

Personally I love my job and it does mean a lot to me. For the most part I actually enjoy working, because I don't feel like I am there just to get paid. Its not an office or shift work job though, I can see why they would be different.

I go in early to get a head start on the day and to chat to people and I also don't jump up and leave the moment that I am allowed. I am doing stuff that I want to be doing.

I still have a normal and fun life outside of work, but because I like what I do, I always just feel like I'm doing what I want.

leggo

tastyt wrote: »

Can you not be happy in your job, go in and do it well but leave it behind you and know there’s more to life no ?

That’s something you’re putting on people though, nobody is actually arguing with you that that’s not the case. That’s a notion that has been introduced here by people who dislike their job as a stick to beat people who get satisfaction from work with. All of the examples of this in this thread are people describing others’ lives...which, in truth, they actually know nothing about. That’s just something they imagined and told themselves was true because they obviously needed to do that to convince themselves that they were actually happy. It’s total waffle.

Also, where even is this imaginary line? Is someone who has a great social life with their job a ‘loser’ because they made friends at work, but because those friends are from work they ‘can’t leave the office behind’? Or is that fine because drinking pints in a pub is cool but playing pool in the office isn’t? Does location of where they are satisfied with life matter and, if so, to what degree? Is someone coming on boards.ie giving accounts based entirely on what they imagined their co-workers’ lives to be like not a way bigger sign of them not being able to leave the office? All of this is totally arbitrary.

Nothing on this side of the discussion is conducive with how real people live their lives. It’s all lies people tell themselves to feel better so they don’t have to feel responsible for their misery, like an ugly or generally unpleasant lad tells himself he’s ‘too nice’ and girls only go for dickheads.

OMM 0000

tastyt wrote: »

Reminds me of a bit of advice I once got

“ no one ever lies on their deathbed wishing they had spent more quality time in the office “

A nurse I know told me a lot of people lie on their deathbed **** just before they die.

I know, wtf.

Jim2007

Cyrus wrote: »

Having a good career and caring about it isnt a recipe for depression or gloom as some of you seem to think.

And what about the other members of your family - the kids. Are you always there for them? Do you always make it to all their events - sports events, drama, whatever they are involved in and so on.

You see, I think in some societies it is possible to have a good career and that it won't impact your family life, but I'm not at all sure that Ireland is one of those places.

When I moved to Switzerland 30+ years ago, I was surprised at one question I was being asked at interviews: How much do you want to work? It turned that many people don't want to work 100% in Switzerland, in fact 80% is often the answer. It is not seen as a positive or negative, it's just a fact of life that not everyone wants to commit fully to the job and that there are other things that people want to do.

Cyrus

Jim2007 wrote: »

And what about the other members of your family - the kids. Are you always there for them? Do you always make it to all their events - sports events, drama, whatever they are involved in and so on.

You see, I think in some societies it is possible to have a good career and that it won't impact your family life, but I'm not at all sure that Ireland is one of those places.

When I moved to Switzerland 30+ years ago, I was surprised at one question I was being asked at interviews: How much do you want to work? It turned that many people don't want to work 100% in Switzerland, in fact 80% is often the answer. It is not seen as a positive or negative, it's just a fact of life that not everyone wants to commit fully to the job and that there are other things that people want to do.

No but my wife can be and I get to some things where and when I can, I don’t ever remember my dad at any of my events or at least not all of them and it wasn’t an issue for me.

Better than us both working and neither of us getting to anything and I earn enough that we can make that possible