Job Satisfaction

July 8, 2011

Interview with Jeffrey Garton, author of the book Career Contentment: Don't Settle for Anything Less!

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Mike Carruthers:
Seeking job satisfaction in your career may be a big waste of time.

Jeffrey Garton:
Job satisfaction is never possible. As we age and our interests evolve we expect more - something new and different. It's in our DNA to complain and even if we're in the most satisfying job, we will find some reason to complain.
 

Jeffrey Garton, author of the book Career Contentment

For some reason we have this love affair with job satisfaction and we've lost sight of the pleasure of going to work simply to do what we love doing. And we go to work now expecting employers to make us satisfied and complaining or quitting if we don't get what we want. And employers, after making us satisfied, expect us to be content and not complain. But Mike, we were never trained how to be content without complaining.

So how do you do that? Well, first says Jeffrey you have to understand the difference between job satisfaction and job contentment.

Contentment is a state of mind. So through reasoning alone, we can choose to be content even if we're not entirely satisfied. Whereas job satisfaction is a condition created by employers using artificial means such as a paycheck and benefits to attract, motivate and retain you. So it's a condition you don't control. Whereas contentment is a state of mind which ONLY you control.