Are you satisfied?

I work in an office park just outside of a residential area in Rivonia, Johannesburg. Every morning (or evening, or whenever) when I drive to work I pass a Canoe and Kayak shop. It fascinates me. Nearly every time I drive past the place I think to myself: what a lucky guy, he gets up each day and for work, he does something that he's really passionate about.

Job satisfaction is something that continues to intrigue me. One study says that 75% of people are happy in their chosen careers, while another survey says that only 50% of Americans are content in their jobs, with only 14% classifying themselves as "very satisfied". As many as 25% of folks are simply "showing up to collect a paycheck". Who do you believe? I'd hazard a guess that 50% is probably more accurate, but what alarms me is the 14% statistic. I'm not an American, but I think that probably holds true here also. That means that if you have 13 buddies, about 2 of them really love what they do. The rest, they aren't so happy about what they have to do each day.

I don't hate my job, I get some satisfaction out of manipulating bits and bytes. It appeals to my slightly OCD control freak nature, and I think I'm good at what I do. But am I passionate about it? Hmmm ...

I wanted to be a vet when I was in school. Marks and circumstances vetoed that, but if I Had stuck with it would I make the 14% cut? I'm not sure. We had to call our vet out to a sick horse last night. Anna (the horse) started showing colic symptoms at 6:00 PM. Colic in horses is not as easily fixable as it is in babies, and it can be fatal, so when Anna was looking no better by 7:00 PM we called the vet. She said she'd be round soon, she's just leaving gym. Chatting to her later she confessed that some days she just hates horses. She didn't start out her career as an equine vet that way, but when she's been the vet on call for the past 2 weeks, and has not had a single night or weekend without an emergency visit, her job satisfaction stats are pretty low as well.

So how does one get into that exclusive 14%? You have to start of liking what you do. It has to be something that you have passion for/ It can't be for the money as so often is the case, especially in I.T. Then you need to have a positive outlook. There will be rough moments in most jobs, how you handle them will determine whether they become a big issue or not. Thirdly, I think you just need to be on a roll at the time of the survey. I don't think the 14% is static, it's a different 14% of people each time.

But one thing is certain, if you aren't doing something you are passionate about to start with, and you can't add to that with a positive attitude, that 14% will most likely never be you.