Not for me. I work for a minimum wage, and pay the rent, bills and stuff. Sometimes there’s enough left over to put into savings, but just like this last month…we moved house, the computer died (I work from home and NEED a computer), washing machine died, and the car needed urgent repairs, so anything put away was totally gone, and then in the red some.
Just had my tax return done, and most of THAT is gone too for the above…so hobbies, interests, holidays and the like are off the agenda for some time. I work to survive and not much more.
I keep reading all these articles on LinkedIn about what motivates employees, and for me it’s money and nothing else. None of the “low cost or cost free ways to make your employees feel appreciated” do/would make a damn bit of impact on how I feel about my job and employers. You are super appreciative of my efforts? Give me a raise.
I like contributing to society. That probably sounds trite but it’s true nonetheless. I also like the regular routine, it seems to be healthy for me, though waking up to an alarm, and dealing with the public sure isn’t. And it’s great to do something you enjoy.
For most of my life money has never been a motivating factor. As much as being rich would be nice, it doesn’t drive me. However, having been dirt poor most of my life is starting to pall a bit, and some financial security would be a welcome change. I can’t see that ever happening, it’s not the world we live in anymore, careers last five or ten years and then you change through necessity, which is scary, unpredictable, and frankly I think it’s a bad thing for everyone, but that means money will be tight for most of us much of the time.
They say if you love what you do you never work a day in your life. But they also say if you do your hobby for a living then it becomes work and now you need a new hobby. I don’t know which is better, but I at least want to enjoy my job and that means doing something creative.
I work because I can’t imagine not working and it’s better than any alternative I can think of. But it might also be to do with the job. I am a full time writer.
I am retiring age. We own our own home and could live perfectly comfortably on what we have. But I am living my dream: writing and getting published; my new book is selling well. I love researching and writing, and I’d do it for no pay. I did that for years climbing the writing ladder while working as a teacher and then academic.
I get paid - not a huge amount, but it is paid work with deadlines and all that stuff. But it is also the dream. So from the OP, I work because:
Really like what you’re doing
and
Want to achieve a particular lifestyle
I suffered a severe wrist injury that qualifies me for disability. I was told by 13 professionals to get on disability.
However, I absolutely hate, hate, hate what I call “the fucking helpless of the world.” People who go through life with a “poor me, I cannot do anything” attitude.
It took my two years to get another job that I could do after I recovered from the accident.
So, I work to feel worthwhile, to have something to do most days, to associate with other people, and for the cash.
I obviously work so that I can finance my existence. If I didn’t have to work I would still want some sort of social interaction and I am fortunate that I enjoy my work and my co-workers.
So I would like to do the type of work I do anyway, to the extent that I often bring my laptop home on weekends and I can “putter away” at some work stuff just to build up a few hours before the week starts.
I also believe that I must contribute/do my share etc etc.
I also recognize that I am extremely, extremely fortunate to have usually enjoyed my work as I suspect that 90% of the available jobs to do are probably horrible, shit-shoveling types of jobs.
The money is nice, but really I’m there for something to do. When my previous job was eliminated, I took some of my savings and bought a house here in KY and realized I could pretty much live off my savings indefinitely thanks to the low cost of living here (especially once I’m old enough to start collecting my pension). After a couple of years, I started working again and now I figure I will keep working until I die. I’d never have believed I’d get tired of reading books and riding my motorcycles, but it happened. Money coming in again is nice, having health insurance is definitely nice (though I’ve never been sick) and the job’s not horrible (though in my family’s opinion it’s way beneath me :rolleyes:).
The vast majority of my motivation to work comes from the need to pay the bills and have benefits. I’m at a pretty good place where I enjoy the job I have very much, and am compensated fairly, to the point where I would turn down another job that I would dislike even if the compensation were higher (I mean, if the new compensation was like ONE BILLION DOLLARS, then yes, I could live with it, but in terms of realistic compensation in my field).
The other big chunk is that I know myself and I know I do better all around with some sort of daily structure. So if I won one billion dollars in the lottery, I could see myself quitting my job … and then hiring myself for some dippy job that I created, like let’s see, establishing an animal sanctuary for abandoned squirrels. And instead of just bankrolling it, I would treat it like a real commitment (although probably like a part-time job), so that I’d have a planned agenda. “No sorry, I cannot take my private jet to Bali this week, I have a series of meetings to knit little squirrel sweaters. But I could schedule a trip for next weekend, though.”
Look, I didn’t become a management consultant to “do” a bunch of stuff. Mostly I advise other people on what they should do. And I kind of like doing that because I (usually) find business and tech stuff interesting. If I suddenly came into large sums of money, chances are I would continue doing that sort of work in some capacity. Maybe start a small venture capital firm or tech incubator like Erlich on Silicon Valley (but I don’t want those dorks living in my house).
The nice thing about being rich is you can decide what “work” you actually want to do.
A lot of times when I don’t have the answer to that question, I just work from home.
Oh all those articles on LinkedIn are bullshit. Apparently all one needs in this day and age is “passion” and you can become a billionaire.
I jokingly tell people I work so I can support myself in the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed ( for you youngsters, that is an allusion to the usual verbiage in alimony cases) but it is mostly true. I also work to accumulate funds for my golden years so that my kids won’t dump me in the shithole nursing home for financial reasons.
But mainly I still feel like my efforts at work make a difference in people’s lives and that makes all the difference.
It’s something you get asked a lot in interviews, too. Like, you’re supposed to pretend to not be interested in the salary, but really care about the job itself, like I’d just work there if you weren’t paying me.
I work because I have to eat. I work so that I can travel, and do fun things. I like my job on the whole but if I was independently wealthy NFW would I be working. I might volunteer a couple of days a week, but I’d never work.
I don’t not work very well; I get bored quickly and easily. Back when I really needed money and had plans for the future I often worked two or three gigs at the same time - one real job and a couple sidelines. Now I find that if I just try to putter at things (hunt, fish, around the house) I get cranky and restless. Do I need the income from my job? Not really but we do find ways to use it. What I need more is the structure it provides in my life. I’m still young yet (just basically 60) so that may change. But for now its something I just have to have.
