The reason your job can't buy your happiness | By Peggy Drexler via CNNOpinion
defined"workism" as"the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one's identity and life's purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work." And"workism," wrote the article's author, Derek Thompson, is making Americans miserable.
What's new, too, among today's generation of workers is that -- miserable though they may be -- they have the luxury of being able to voice dissatisfaction when it arises, and they do. Today's employees, and especially those who attended prestigious schools and landed prestigious positions, have the expectation that satisfaction ought to be part of the package.
Meanwhile, although several studies over the years have demonstrated a correlation between higher incomes and greater happiness -- including afrom Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, which said that the lower a person's annual income falls below $75,000, the unhappier he or she feels -- most people agree, at least in theory, that money does not buy happiness. That same Princeton study reported that income-influenced happiness tops out at about $75,000 -- that is, your $1.
And yet, if Duhigg's sources report feeling trapped by their fancy jobs, it's because in a sense they really are. The stakes are higher for high achievers -- workers who got locked into high paying jobs early on that they, and their families, come to expect. That's not to say they don't enjoy the benefits that come with this. The problem is that, without fulfilling jobs, it can seem that the money, the homes and the cars are all they have.
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