To think most jobs are boring and do not give people fulfilment ?

[HavefunGomadLivingInTheCity]

Perhaps day 80percent maybe even 90 ?

it’s just a way to get money and pay bills and live and maybe have a few holidays and treats etc Along the way

I just find it fake how younger generations are told they need to find something that going to make them feel so good

I work a job I absolutely adore. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do - day in, day out.

I read once that you should aim for a job you enjoy 60% of the time (so three days out of every week if you’re FT) which I think is realistic. I enjoy a lot of my job, still have some frustrating or boring days though.

Most jobs are a means to an end I think and I do think that younger people are given unrealistic expectations.

It has taken me nearly 40 years of my working life to find something that I adore and find fulfilling.

Likewise. I studied for a long time to do it, and I love it. It has two completely different elements, and it suits me well. I can't imagine ever stopping doing it.

Most people I know do meaningful work. Many of us are from poor WC backgrounds and we saw how our parents and grandparents were ground down physically and mentally by ill-paid manual labour. It gave us the motivation to find work we loved and found meaningful, even if that looks very different from person to person.

What job is that ?

I'm sure this is true for lots of people, and it makes me realise how truly lucky I am to love my job.

I run my own dog walking and pet-sitting business. I also do small animal visits and look after horses and farm animals. I set my own hours, rarely work past 2pm and only do very occasional weekend work.

Yes this is much mode realistic, been talking to my niece who, I love and adore, but thinks she's got to find a job that makes a difference and is really fulfilling

Probably expects when she's married too to be head over heels in love, at all times and fully happy 24/7 for 50plus years

I just think young people are sold some sort of unrealistic dream

Yes that does sound enjoyable but I bet your older, bought a house younger, have some sort of independent wealth or well earning partner?maybe paid off your morgage etc?

This would be alot harder for someone v young, who would have to pay at least what 375k just on a basic house

They are. And also the thinking that you choose what you want to do when you leave school and that is it. The job I adore would not have been possible to train for in the 1980s.

Life is Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes 1651.

Even if you do something you really enjoy, often once you monetize it, it takes the enjoyment away

I can’t see a problem with encouraging people to find a job that they enjoy and provides that fulfilment, and in my own experience its not uncommon.

In my friend & family circle we have a whole range of jobs covering pretty much every sector but we all enjoy the work we do. What is fulfilling to one person won’t be for everyone but that is because we are all different. I love my job, my husband loves his but we wouldn’t like to swap jobs.

Oh I think it’s totally normal that most jobs are boring! I think I grew up being told I’d find something in enjoyed, a passion etc - it’s not the normal life 😂

I work in a job that is secure, pays well and I am good at. I enjoy it some of the time, dislike it at others - but it pays for my lifestyle outside of work which makes it worth it! Not everyone can have a vocation.

Yanbu but every employer these days wants not only "enthusiasm" but also "passion". It's bullshit. Nobody ever had to pretend to be passionate about fucking admin, years ago, and we were all paid better then, comparatively. If work was such a gas they wouldn't have to pay us to do it.

Totally depends where you live. 375k is definitely not the cost of a basic house where we are!

I agree to a point OP, that there is more pressure on younger people to find a ‘meaningful’ job rather than just a way to make money to pay the bills - there was a recent thread on here by someone who was embarrassed to be a cleaner for example.

Of course there are people lucky enough to have a job they love, which also gives them meaning or purpose, but in reality that can’t be everyone in society - the boring, crappy jobs still need to be done by someone.

There’s also the problem that many jobs that are aspirational or creative just aren’t very well paid unless you’re one of the lucky few - there’s often family money or a high earning husband in the background making up the shortfall.

I agree with you. Even the several doctors in my immediate family find work a pain in the bum day to day. Yes, it's very fulfilling etc, but if they won the lottery they'd be delighted to not have to do it!

I think the trick is finding a job you can tolerate, not adore. Same with exercise for me!

And yet, for all that, there is hot coffee on frosty mornings, and cats, and pistachio cream macarons, and thunderstorms after a hot day, and paddling in rivers, and cuddling your loved ones, and libraries, and soft serve ice cream, and Air on a G String, and woodland walks in autumn, and beaches, and dunking custard creams in tea, and crocuses every March.

For me it’s the human connection that’s a) rewarding and b) lacking. In my early days of work, I worked with a group of colleagues that were really fun to be around. It wasn't the work that was fun per se, it was the fun of working together and having an identity in the workplace. Nowadays I’m staring at my laptop screen at home 80% of the time, and the meetings I do have with people are not the same. The work is just not as rewarding or immersive and I find myself clock-watching most days.

Nope.

I'm 37 and live in a very small (mortgaged) terrace in a cheap part of the country that didn't cost anywhere near 375k (try 60k!). No independent wealth and DH earns a similar amount to me (he also runs his own business).

We bought this house 9 years ago. Our deposit was 5k.

I don’t actually agree! Yes, there is always an element of routine or grind in anything worthwhile, but to wish your life away by not maximising your own happiness or satisfaction feels defeated.

what immediately sprung to mind was the Japanese concept of Ikigai https://becomingbetter.org/ikigai/

And also this https://drsunil.com/general/know-life-purpose-just-5-minutes/

you may not be able to make a living through doing the thing you love, but finding purpose, satisfaction, meaning is key - even if only the deep satisfaction of providing a home and food for yourself and your family.

Teaching is many things - tiring, frustrating, funny, lovely - but generally not boring.

i used to clock watch when I worked in an office.

Well that must be a very cheap part of the country to buy a house for 60k that just wouldn't work in most of uk, amd especially if you were young and say 20ish
Your in a different stage of life really and a insane cheap area which is what's making it possible