Live to work or work to live?

By which, I mean, do you/would you rather:

Work at a job you dislike/don’t care about in order to finance what you love to do (be it tiki, drinking mai tais, or whatever)?

Or

Work at a job you love, although it may not be as financially rewarding?

Major complicating factors include: kids, primarily, though in this forum, I bet that expensive but not-very lucrative hobbies are also big. I.E. “I don’t like my job, but my (kids, carving, home bar) provides so much personal fulfillment that I don’t mind”.

Please comment—and please keep in mind, this is not intended to inspire acrimony or impinge anyone’s personal choices; I want to know what’s making people happy/sad/how they feel about the effect their job/career has on their life. I know there has been some discussion about this issue before in other threads, but I'd like to know what people think.

If you’re curious, I’m asking because I’m currently waffling between going to graduate school and changing careers to something I really love (which will pay me diddly, if I can get a job), or going back to banking or something in the for-profit sector, because I’m sick of being broke...

Certainly it depends on how much the lower paying job is. If you can make due with it, than without a doubt take the job you love. I was at a job for years making good money but the stress was unbearable. It had some serious affects on my health that I'm still having to deal with i.e. migraines, chest pains, weight gain etc. If you can make due with the job you love then by all means take it! It could add years to your life.

:drink:

I know nobody wants to hear this, but...I think I have a bit of both.

I work as a visual arts administrator in a city-run arts centre. I feel lucky to be where I am.

Granted, this job will never make me rich, but it does cover the bills. And it allows me to crawl out of the debt I incurred as a student of the arts.
It's not a perfect job, but it keeps me in the world of art and around artists. It can be stressful, but I think all jobs carry that similarity. I wouldn't want to be in a job where I made double the money if it added double the stress. Just my thoughts.

Aloha,
Slacks

An excellent question. You seemingly spend most of your waking life at work, so having a job you love is vey cool. However, Having extra cash is a bit more than a luxury. With Inflation, Retirement, Housing and tax considerations, not bringing home enough cash is problematic. If you can live on $100.00 a day now, Can you do the same at 65 years old. These days it seems presure in the workplace is at an all time high, while respect of the employee is at an all time low. It is difficult to strike a balance.
Mahalo,
Al

Have you considered prostitution?

The pay is great and the work doesn't suck, unless they pay extra of course.

I, too am lucky to have a good-paying job I really love (video game artist), but even that has its drawbacks. The pressure of a job as a creative is more than I ever imagined it could be. Not so much the long hours or insane deadlines, but just the pressure to create - to come up with something new and exciting and do it faster and cheaper each time, and all up to my unreasonably high quality standards. I'm sure there are a few here who can relate.

I love my work, but it taxes my little brain for all it's worth. I'm usually a zombie when I get home from work. Or is that, "I have a Zombie when I get home from work"? Sometimes both. At the end of the day I have no creative energy left to work on my own projects, and that makes me sad. Weekends are just work decompression zones where I try to work up the energy to fix the toilet or paint a chair.

Time not spent at work is spent on plain old living my life: marriage, house, food, etc. Since buying a house my spendy ways are a thing of the past. No more buying whatever goodies strike my fancy. But I'm not complaining. I never imagined having a nice house or such a great job or such an understanding wife :)

So, in conclusion to my ramble, I'd say I had no choice other than to do what I love to do for a living or I couldn't get out of bed in the morning. I feel insanely lucky to have the life I have.

I go for the middle ground. I have a strong background in art and considered it for a career. But I also love science and finally decided not to go into engineering in favor of computer science. I thought computers are used in every job and I'd get something in the middle. Nope. i work in a very technical career. But it affords me the luxury of travel and antiquing and decorating and hosting parties, etc. Now, if i hated my job, it would suck. And the real trick is this: Don't think about the work, but the co-workers. You can be happy in any job, well paying or poor, if you like who you work with and for. Go for the green and in a place you like to work and it's all cake.

I can only speak for my own experience: follow your heart.

If you are happy at your job, you will be successful at it. If you have a passion for what you do, the money will come. You might not get rich, and it certainly won't be easy (it never is, regardless which route you take), but you'll survive and provide.

I dropped out of business school to go to film school. I knew it was a stupid move financially, but that's what I wanted to do. I decided I'd rather be broke and happy than miserable and wealthy. I worked ten years of crap paying jobs (usually 2-3 at the same time) but never gave up on my passion. Now, I support my family doing what I love and getting paid fairly well for it.

Good luck to ya, whatever you choose.

Well, it depends on your age. If your < 30, attempt to make it, and make it big, with what you love to do, if >30, start thinking about workin' for the 'man' in order to secure some sort of future (this is the case if your folks aren't leaving you much of anything, if they are - PARTY ON GARTH!).

Good times when you're young aren't like some sort of bank account you can draw against when you're old and things are lean; run down apartments are full of older folks that once though thought they were...

Live to work or work to live?

Both!

Enjoy it while you got it. Life is too short.

Hmmm...
Hope I don't sound like I'm playin' a violin for myself here, but...
I haven't been able to hold down a real job in years, due to a partial disability. An unrecognized one by gov. standards, though. That's why I was more than elated to find there was some interest in my tiki sculptures. I can work on those at my own pace, for the most part. I REALLY enjoy it. And whenever I sell one, I don't feel like so much of a useless shlub.

Purplejade, you are not a shlub. Shlubs don't present fallen comrades with purple heart tikis. Nor do they create secret Halloween contraptions constructed with evil shit.

Repeat after me: I am not a SHLUB. I AM not a shlub. I am NOT a shlub.

Thanks kc...that was nice to hear (read?).

You're right, shlubs don't make secret Halloween contraptions out of evil shit...masochistic eedjits do.

There's a book "Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow". I read half of it, then I started doing.

Sorry to say I'm not a shlub.I'm just a shill...but I'm workin' on it.

-work is the curse of the drinking class

If you love thrift store hunting, Ebay can be a good career. You can make as much money as you are prepeared to put time and effort into it. Direct cause and effect, unlike some jobs where you work more and more but get no raise!

I am lucky to have a job I love, but I do Ebay on the side too, because I can't stop throft store shopping (it's a disease), and because it's a fun way to earn extra cash. But it can easily be a full time gig. My mom is a good example. (phrantique on ebay - if yer looking for some depression glass. However the DG/Tiki interest crossover is extrememly slim I would guess).

I appreciate the responses so far!

Additional details:
I'm 29, and would be entering a 3-year MFA program for dramaturgy, almost certainly. Don't worry if you don't know what it is-- no one outside the field does. I'd probably end up making close to what I make now, and in theory, Tikitronic will, at some point, be making a moderate-to-pretty-decent living.

As I said, all feedback is appreciated! I've always heard that the folks who like thier jobs are the most likely to be happy with thier lives, so it seems a worthwhile consideration-- but I also know my m-i-l will never, ever, be able to afford to retire, and that looks pretty bad from here too.

Dramaturgy, huh? Yeah you don't do that for the bucks. From what I understand, that pretty much means a career in academia, so you have to be prepared to move wherever there's an opening in the dept. My friend has a PhD and is at Baylor. She likes it well enough, I guess. I won't say anymore or my corrosive cynicism towards the theatrical world will show through.

Yeah, it's not a lucrative field, but it hits almost all of the subjects I like. I hope to be able to scratch out a living in a city like Seattle, or San Francisco, working in theaters and theatrical organizations, rather than working in a strictly academic setting (like a college). Plus, college-level jobs pretty much require a PhD.

Kim, If you're fortunate enough to know what kind of work you truly want to do, and you think that you have the means(time & money) to achieve it, then I suggest you go for it. If you don't, odds are that there will come a day when you will have a hard time forgiving yourself for not trying. Simply asking this question shows that you are aware of the distinction between getting a job and choosing your lifes work. This is one of those decisions where rationality needs to take a back seat to things like happiness, self worth, purpose and satisfaction.
That's my hot air. Hope it helps.

[ Edited by: DaneTiki 2009-08-30 19:16 ]

Ahh, kids. Don't have any.

But kids factor in, because I'd be around 33 when I got through with school, which means if we want to grow our own (as opposed to adopt), we would need to get cracking. Of course, we're not sure we want to do that...

And, as Tikitronic (most unfairly :)) pointed out, we'd be better parents if we were both happy with our life choices.

[ Edited by: Kim on 2003-10-28 11:56 ]

Become a ne'er-do-well. The pay sucks but the benefits are great!

I gotta say, I gave up on doing what I love when I realized I just couldn't make a living at it. I went back to 3d graphics because it's what I can make a living doing. I guess my spirit was crushed a little becasue I accepted that I have to do this because of the money I make at it and I figure that if I do for long enough to get the capital to allow me to do something else. then I can go do something where I make less money but enjoy myself more. I think everyone dreams of having their own little tiki establishment around here. I'm just trying to figure out what I have to do to get the capital for that.

I talked to this female pin up artist awhile back and she was telling me about when she gave up her job as a graphic designer and started painting pin up girls on bowling pins. She's actually kind of making a name for herself now but still doesn't make half what she used to make, but she loves what she does so it doesn't matter.

I have total respect and admiration for people who find a way to amke a living doing what they love. For most of us what we love is an escape from what we have to do to get by.

By the way, my DSL is up, I"M BACK!!!

I have a friend who is a semi-successful artist, who travels around the country selling her wares at arts and craft shows. I swear she is the busiest person I know, always trying to create more product to sell, so she doesn't arrive at a show empty-handed.

She told me that when she got together with her artist friends, all they talked about were business related things: what shows to attend, which ones to avoid, how to publicize their work, licensing their work, etc., etc. She said that she enjoyed talking to her clients who had the more stressful, high paying jobs, because they wanted to spend time talking about art theory, the underlying meaning of her art, and other fun stuff like that.

I think any job can end up being a bit frustrating - always seeking funding, always promoting yourself or your company, trying to keep up with the latest trends in a constantly changing world so you don't become obsolete.

I'm a big fan of live theatre, and have season tickets for three theatres, so I can't help but to encourage somebody who wishes to work in that field. I'm competent at my job, but many times I feel the main reason for my job is so I can subsidize my theatre and tiki habits, and in a roundabout way, support those people who choose careers or hobbies in those fields.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev on 2003-10-28 20:51 ]