Let me paraphrase a recent conversation in a he-said-she-said format, where he is he and she is me.

He: I’m in the market for another job.
Me: Oh? Don’t you like your current one?
He: No, I do like it, actually. But it doesn’t pay me enough.

Is it a good idea to leave a job you love because the money isn’t great? What if you find the money but lose the love? But then, what other options are there? So few employers these days still give raises when you ask for them. So many employers use up so much of our time that we can’t pursue a second income.

My philosophies on work come from a purpose-driven place. If you do what you love, I tell myself, the money matters less. Sort of like an ‘if you build it, they will come’ outlook. But the money used to matter a whole lot more when I was younger and I had less. Even I, the great purpose-chaser, once took a job for the sake of money.

I was miserable.

Mine is not everyone’s story. But there is a cautionary tale here. Someone who is unhappy, often fails to evaluate decisions objectively. While you might not be unhappy in your job, you’re unhappy every time the salary lands in your bank account and disappears within days (or hours). When this is your mindset, it’s more difficult to choose your next position carefully, because any offer that includes more money, could look like a way out. Perhaps you then tell yourself stories of how well you will cope with the job. But once you’re in it, sitting in a horrible job soon dims the joy of money.

I believe it is possible to have both enough money (a very relative thing indeed, with goalposts as set as mercury) and a job in line with your purpose. But when we compromise on one, decisions can start off a spiral to a place no-one wants to go.

Spending time doing something that feeds your soul and getting paid for it, seems like an unfair exchange; too good to be true. Perhaps because it’s easier to find money than it is to find purpose. Perhaps that’s why the one far outweighs the other in sustainability and joy, while the other, like the drug it is, needs to increase constantly to keep up with demand.