How much do you earn?

They say money doesn't buy happiness. You obviously need enough to get by and pay off the mortgage then have the toys and then the time to play with em. while keeping the mrs happy and get involved with the kids. So many people in my work are driven by dollars but they do it while sacrificing a life. It sucks being surrounded by money hungry people who are competing for coin. It's hard to ignore the rat race though, seeing colleagues earn twice my income(even though I earn enough). Best part of my day is going for a surf before work.

I used to the chase the $... did well for a few years, then at 44yo realised that I no longer enjoyed what I was doing... so found something that I actually like - and although I took a substantial pay cut, I am happier and have less stress (although I am still in a very busy role).

I was once offered double my salary to move to Sydney to do the same job - just a much bigger role. Many of my mates and colleagues were stunned when I knocked it back. But to me, it would have been way to disruptive on the family, and there would have been little to no work life balance - plus it was a one-way ticket.

You only live once people...

I know plenty of blokes in mining who earn a heap more than I do. Funny thing is none of them are any happier with their life than I am. Most are away from their family for half the year - it's not worth it to me.

We are lucky to have 2 words in English for the concept of happiness.
Money may buy you happiness for a while, but it becomes a moving target.
Contentment, on the other hand, is a choice. You may review whether you are still 'content', but you never regret your previous contentment.

If the rat race is used to designate people making an honest living, working 9-5 then going home and enjoying the family, then it can't be that bad. I know very many people that are happy that way.

No one on their deathbed wished they did extra shifts. If u got diagnosed with a terminal illness tomorrow would you say to yourself u had better put some extra hours in at work cos u don't have long left?! Money to a certain point doesn't change that much. If you earn double or even triple in a better job you might drive a better car and have a better house but u still only have 4 weeks a year holiday. U might stay in a better hotel on holiday and fly in a better class. So what. Of course this is just comparing a normal job to another. Its nice if you can be wealthy and dictate your own terms, just harder.

ive worked both in mines and just in large scale civil construction as a **** kicker. i really do think that they DO throw money at you in the mines. the safety is bloody ridiculous you can spend half your work day doing paperwork and waiting around for **** to be signed off before you just get stuck in and do the work. with the large scale civil stuff (airports hotels hospitals shopping centres sewage plants etc etc) your under the pump difference is you get paid about 3/4 - 1/2 as much but you dont get drug tested (usually unless your building jails etc) and you get to knock off and drink till you forgot the day, after work. generally speaking your still being moved from site to site for both of them. the civil jobs tend to run for a year or 2 some blokes will move there family there most will just have to wait till long weekend then fly home and back. i grew up on construction sites and i know first hand what its like from both sides being the family and being the worker. it was common to only see my father every 3-6 months flights werent as cheap back then thats just how the game worked short of moving the kids onsite and having them live in dongas and sometimes if the jobs big enough they would even build little schools for the kids. at least with mining they get a full week with there family every month. i really think the mine workers dont have it anywhere near as tuff as non construction workers think. the office workers probably wouldnt last a week. but not many can. its the adjustment your body does that allows you to do it. ive never seen more unfit people in my life then on job sites. you just have to tuff it out for the first week or 2 then your body will be fine and easy to cope with its new routine. the works hard but the workers are lazy and useually borderline alcoholics. you tend to get the ones who work to drink. the ones who need the money for family/debts. the smart keen ones who are trying to run the show make there own business. and then you get a few pricks like me who are just there for enough $$$ to **** off and go live somewhere cheaper for ahwhile. the work camps are interesting usually filled with blokes who are crying into there beers cause there misses is cheating/divorceing or others angry complaining bout child support and a few who avoid socializing and just want to get there $$$ and get out they tend not to waste there $$$ on drinking etc and stay away from that whole trap.

anyways rabbiting on a bit basicly its pretty ****ing easy ****. ive seen people getting paid $60 an hour to hold shovels spotting diggers and even some on $70+ pushing brooms and moving cyclone fencing. that being said ive seen poor kids down holes by themselves in life threatening situations doing dumb **** for 20$ an hour id say average is 40$ (with holiday pay etc etc) for civil $70 (with holiday pay etc )for mine work and the mine works generally easier, and in some cases you get to see your family more often.

now i allso did work 12 storeys up in an office before all this with a suit and tie. the sheer office politics bull**** was so ****ing unbearable i chucked in my entire career and threw away all the years studying to get me there. i simply refuse to ever work in a ****ing office ever again. the job is bloody 30% work 70% greasing palms and patting backs and bitching behind them in same breath. half the ****ing ****heads in there spend all day trying to push there work load on others and then when it doesnt go there way they start rumours and make up bull**** there these obese disgusting creatures and within the small space of a year i nearly became one of them. working 14 hours a day trying to get all this work done for what? 25$ an hour at start? honestly working for large corporations is some the most sad sad **** i have ever come across i would never wish it apon anyone. there was guys in there who were TEMPS for 15 years!! same ****ing DESK!! and it would be PERFECT if you didnt have all these ****ing people trying to delegate all there work to everyone else. you have team leaders who have 0 experience in the actual tasks at hand. could you even imagine a foreman on a job who didnt know how the trade worked?!?! what a ****ing joke so there whole roll is to babysit everyone make sure ****s getting done. so ofcourse there the one the fat ****s who dont want to do any work make sure there best friends with and try to trick and keep in there pocket so they can get away without working. im talking people who hadnt done anywork in a week then claim they have to work from home cause there ill or mentally unstable then there next point of course is to try push it all on the other workers. but theres SO MANY people who do this it seams like every single floor had at least 3 of these people who just couldnt get fired cause they had HR by the balls because of some wierd **** so then its upto everyone else to pick up there slack ?!?! what the **** is this?!?! this isnt just from my experiences nearly everyone ive ever met who has worked in a large corporations office has same storeys and then you get some people who just cant be fired??!? so they just hire more people to fix the problem? it seems like they just want more and more and more staff lets just hire as many people as we can, how the hell is that a solution to anything? i understand it takes a little while to train a new person up to replace an old **** person but bloody REPLACE the **** staff dont let them sit there feeding off everyone else. if it was a small company the boss would hear about it sack the prick and get a new one, the sheer size of these company's the boss never even knows why he suddenly has 100 new staff this week and no one gives a personal **** what so ever aslong as there's more the merrier because there less likely to loose there jobs 2 years later when the situation gets rectified. the whole purpose of the large scale corporations offices even work is just to keep as many people under you as possible. all the HR **** everything i mean seriously i can not believe that that is what it is all about.


so in construction mine workers dont work as hard as you think. working civil doesnt necesarily let you spend time with the family and working for large corporations is the most horrible working environment for humans by a bloody LOOOOOOOONNNNG WAY (i honestly believe large corporations could halve there office workforce if everyone just did there job you could get rid of management hr and the other useless gits)

My boss is a pr!ck and doesn't pay me near enough... then again I'm self employed so only myself to blame.

I prob should go back to work now (3.30pm here)... but I left my windsurfing gear on the ute and the cardboard box I live in is shaking from the wind.

Any one who says you cannot buy happiness has never really tried ;)

So I've never believed in $$. But I grew up believing in doing something that you believe in - a career that is fulfilling and makes you happy. I also believed in love, soul mates, and two people striving to make each other happy. And family - that family members stand by each other. I've come to accept that all these things are a heap of crap. But how do you stop your heart aching for those things and feeling empty without them? In a world where the bulk of the population are flat out being safe and fed with a roof over their head, how selfish and ungrateful am I for feeling empty and wanting for anything? First world problems? How can I kill the ache for some great fulfilment and just be grateful to be alive?

If you watch Wolf On Wall Street that will give you some idea.

Life isn't a dress rehearsal.