Does Happiness at Work Make You Poor?

Quiz time at the Capitalist!!  Pick the statement that best describes your philosophy regarding happiness and work:

1.  Do what makes you happy and the money will follow.
2.  Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do to earn a living.
3.  I've never been happy in my career, and I'm not happy now.  Leave me alone.

The conventional wisdom in all the motivational books says that you should find what you love to do and the money will follow.  However, there's a contrarian view that suggests that contentment with your professional life is the setup for stagnation.

I guess some of us need the drama.  Contrarian view to the happiness mantra from the unique stylings of Trizle:

1. You're super-freakishly happy.
2. You think you're all badass.
3. You end up earning less than Schmo.

Why?

1. Happiness makes you complacent with $$$.
2. Instead of trying to improve yourself, you settle for "This is who I am! I am so proud of myself!"
3. So, you continue doing what you're doing -- never really improving on how you financially live your life.

Boos all over the world to you.

Are you crying?

Good.

You're one step closer to being financially successful.

If you haven't read Trizle, you need to bounce over and take a look.  It's a site developed to help business owners bootstrap.  Great and unique writing style, simple and clean, and thought provoking.  Check it out. 

But what about the concept that happiness make you poorer than you might otherwise be?  In the comments to the post at Trizle, there's a snippet that quotes Earl Nightingale as saying "discontentment is the greatest motivator in the world."  The commenter goes on to say that discontentment is the mark of "great" people, providing Lance Armstrong, Kobe Byrant, and Tiger Woods as professionals who are never content or satisfied with their performance level--which is why they're great.

Which helped me arrive at the following performance mantra - Be happy, but never be content....

Is that possible?

Comments

[HR Minion]

I think you can be happy and not content in your job. I don't like contentment. Contentment is for people who are satisfied with the now and feel they have "arrived". I'm of the opinion that nothing is ever so wonderful that you can't do more. It's not a negative, I'm a person who needs goals. For example, I love my current job and I am very happy. But I'm not content because it's not what I want to do forever because it has no room for growth. I already know that in 2 years I will be in a different job. It is that lack of contentment that drives me to learn more and improve my skills.

[Jo]

Happiness is requisite diversity not a fixed point.

Think of Lorenz's butterfly in 3 D space. When you can be anywhere on the surface of the buttefly's wings and then move to another place (following a 3 D looping trajectory), then you are 'happy'. That means you are sad when life is disappointing and cheerful when life is good.

Discontent, particularly if it is associated with fear, focuses us on getting away from a threat. It is a wise response when we are threatened. But we are focused and when we are focused we do nothing else, again wisely. That is not the time to be sitting around getting creative.

Think of us at exam time. We get into a schedule of study, eat, exercise, shower, sleep and stick to it. It is a time of consolidation which is good because we also know it is meant as a time of consolidation and we will move on - generally to a time of vacation and play. Etc. etc.

Some one who is permanently 'contented' is actually just as unhealthy as someone who is permanently miserable.

And for people scratching their heads about the butterfly - it is all pretty new stuff - Fredericksen & Losada 2004 was it? Broaden-and-build theory of emotion.

Requisite diversity: the butterfly - looping through the 3d trajectory anywhere on the wings.

[Poor and Happy]

I think if you are happy with what you do and dont make as much as you could thats fine. I know plenty of people who make lots of money, work lots of hours b/c the 2 go hand in hand. And they are not that happy. They are actally miserable. More time working means less time for family and yourself.

Biggie was right, MO Money, MO Problems!

I would rather be Happy and not make tons of money and have time for myself than be a rich, overworked and unhappy mess.

Here is the problem with that books citing Kobe and other athletes. They get paid to do what they love! Its not so much a job as it is a passion. There is not a day I wake up and think WOW, what would it be like to get paid to play sports and keep myself in great shape.

Yes, they are not content with their performance and thet work very very hard, but their performance has a direct effect on if they become rich. A regular working man will have very little
opportunity to become a rich CEO. There are alot more factors that go into it.

Screw money, its the root of all evils and we become so cinditioned to think we need to make money to be important. I say F*&K the rich ceo! I will work my 40hrs a week and go home and be happy.

[Michael Haberman, SPHR]

Poor and Happy you are using a misquote. Money is not the root of all evil, LOVE of money is the root of all evil.

Happiness and contentment are subjective. Some people are happy making little money but being excited about their job. Others are ok with the jobs and real happy to be making the money.

Me? I want a job that JAZZES me in the morning. That sounds sexier than happy or contentment. Hopefully I will make good money at it at the same time.

[fiony]

umm, interesting!