Jan-Lukas Else

Thoughts of an IT expert

Do You Enjoy Your Work? - Being successful without being CEO

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⚠️ This entry is already over one year old. It may no longer be up to date. Opinions may have changed. When I wrote this post, I was only 18 years old!

I am currently undergoing an apprenticeship at a company and there has just been a change of trainer. At his farewell, the old trainer mentioned that he thinks it is important to have fun with what you do. This is the only way to ensure that you can stay physically and mentally fit until retirement, without problems such as burnout.

This question has given me food for thought…

Of course, it is important to have fun at work, because that would be really optimal. Go to work with motivation in the morning and then find out in the afternoon that the day has gone by far too fast. Not a bad mood on Sunday, considering that tomorrow is Monday again. If you like to work, you will certainly do a good job.

But unfortunately not everyone can choose what they want to work. Not everyone has the chance to choose from such a wide range of choices as I have. Somehow the food has to come on the table, the bills have to be paid and it has to be made sure that if you can’t work any more, you don’t have to live on the street. If you have to work anything just to earn money, there’s probably not much joy in it.

But if you already have the choice, it is all the more important to take it!

I often hear that people only do jobs to make as much money as possible. I see others in my age that they choose courses of study where there is a good chance that they will also be able to make a career and earn a large income. Because of social pressure.

Society seems to expect us to have to make a career and earn a high salary if we want to be successful. Success is judged by material goods and factors such as happiness are neglected.

But can’t someone also be successful if they are not the CEO of a company and have a six-digit monthly income? Do you have to drive a Porsche or Ferrari to be happy? Does it have to be a villa or is a freehold apartment sufficient?

Think of someone who goes to the office of a software company every day. He is a software developer and is responsible for writing code, testing and creating documentation on a daily basis. He’s been doing this for 20 years. Could it not also be that he calls himself happy and successful, simply because he enjoys it? Because he doesn’t want to earn the big money, but wants to make the world a better place every day?

I think too often it’s all about being better than others. More money, more expensive things, more prestige. More performance. But won’t there always be someone better than us? Why do we let this senseless competition make us unhappy?

Think about it…

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Jan-Lukas Else
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