Don’t chase money.
This is a rather tough rule to follow. On one level it seems counter-intuitive, but it isn’t. Like I’ve already discussed, money and happiness are not related. If you truly believe that, you won’t chase money. What I’m talking about specifically is people making career decisions based on what will make them the most money.
Why would you ever have a job you didn’t like all that much just because it makes you more money, especially when you already know the money won’t make you any happier. But there is the rub. Deep down, people can never seem to convince themselves that money doesn’t make them happier. And here is another irony: The job you like the most is much more likely to be lucrative in the long run because of your passion. If you like it more, you’ll be better at it. You’ll be more positive. Good things will happen for you.
If you dislike your job or see it as a compromise situation, you’ll always wonder what could have been. Another thing, you work typically between forty to sixty hours a week. Now think about that. If you’re doing something you don’t really like for forty to sixty hours a week, that means you are not very happy for a major portion of your waking time every week you work for most of your life. You’ve sacrificed your happiness for something—money—that won’t give that happiness back. Do you see any logic to this? I don’t, but it is a common pitfall.
Do what you love. Don’t choose your career for money or prestige or any reason other than it floats your boat. Your career is a huge chunk of your life, and if you aren’t happy in what you do, you’ll be struggling to be happy in all other areas of your life.
