Money or happiness? The great debate, and one that recent college graduates can add to their list of things to ponder, things most likely to make them even more anxious. But why not both?
For decades I’ve been telling people that it’s better to feel fulfilled at work, which then leads to happiness, which often leads to cash. Experts are quantifying this. In a must read from the NYT, Robert Frank says, in relation to really immersing yourself in something you enjoy, ” …. becoming an expert is so challenging that you are unlikely to expend the necessary effort unless the task is one that you love for its own sake. If it is, the process will be rewarding apart from whether it leads to high pay.”
ABSOLUTELY TRUE. BUT READ ON.
“The happiness literature has identified one of the most deeply satisfying human psychological states to be one called ‘flow.’ It occurs when you are so immersed in an activity that you lose track of the passage of time. If you can land a job that enables you to experience substantial periods of flow, you will be among the most fortunate people on the planet. What’s more, as the years pass, you will almost surely develop deep expertise at whatever it is you’ve been doing. At that point, even if few people in any one location place high value on what you do, you may find that your services become extremely valuable economically.”
There you have it.