How much does your job factor into your happiness?

I was exchanging emails with a former coworker yesterday, and we have had mutual frustration with my employer. Not that this is rare; I think everyone gets frustrated with their employer at times. Overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, office politics-- something bothers everyone.

But you know, I really don't like my job. It's not just about my employer either, though that certainly factors in. I just don't really like what I do. I never come to work looking forward to it, and often my motivation wanes. Am I miserable? No. I don't dread work every day . . . it doesn't keep me from sleeping, and I don't get terribly stressed out about it. But it is certainly not something that makes me happy. I'm good at it and it pays the bills . . . but for me it's just a means to an end.

Is that bad? Yeah, probably. But how bad is it? How important is job satisfaction to your overall ability to enjoy life? I've wanted, for a long time, to find a job/career that could satisfy me both financially and personally, but it simply isn't happening. Not now, anyway. So I've dealt with it by tossing my energy into other areas of my life that do give me joy: Yardwork and landscaping, and working with my hands in general. My finances and investing. Sports (I'm a big college basketball and football fan). My girlfriend and our puppy. Beer and wine. I devote most of my free time to these endeavors, and it keeps me sane.

In fact, I'd say I'm a pretty happy person, despite the misfortune of being on a career path that does nothing for me except provide a paycheck and some benefits. I am constantly looking for a way to improve that part of my life, but you know-- I can live with it, for as long as I must. At times I haven't felt this way. I've let myself get too worked up about my career, and felt that a career change was a pressing problem that I needed to address. But when I think about things rationally, I realize that things at work aren't so bad, and that the rest of my life is good enough not to fret.

I know that some people feel very strongly about doing what you love and loving what you do. But how important is that, really? If you can pull away from work and at the end of the day do other things that make you happy, doesn't that go a long way toward happiness? For me it does. I won't give up on my goal of self-employment or obtaining a dream job (like being a statistician for a certain athletics program, for example), but in the meantime . . . I'm doing fine.

My current financial situation

A bit about my situation:

Debt: I have a mortgage and an auto loan, and that's all at present. The auto loan should be paid off by the end of the year. The only other "debt" I have is a medical expenditure account with my employer. I set the account up to pay for laser vision correction in January. I have been reimbursed for the surgery and the amount is being deducted from my paychecks through the end of the year. Interest-free loan! I do have credit cards and use them regularly, but I never carry a balance.

Net Worth: I may post specifics in the future, but for now I'll just tell you the progress I've made recently. I started tracking my net worth in mid-February . . . it's positive but I'm nowhere near using the "million" word, even fractionally. I set an aggressive goal for the year . . . 35% growth in net worth. With some frugal spending, aggressive investing, and a fortunate increase in the value of my home, my net worth grew more than 13% over the next two months. I will update again in mid-May, and I expect to be near 50% of my growth goal for the year. The last 50% will be tougher, as I don't expect to see the same kind of bump in home equity to help me along.

Career: I do government research, so the pay is not spectacular, but the benefits are good. I get a lot of vacation and I don't have a stressful work day too often. I try to make the most out of the money I do earn, and now that I am putting it in print I expect to hold myself to a higher standard.

Goals: Like I said, I have set the bar high for the first year. My long term goal is to "retire" at 45. Again, I think this is setting the bar pretty high, and I will have to be smart and careful to get over it, but I think it is doable. I say "retire" because if I manage to find something I love doing (read: something that doesn't have me in an office for 40 hours per week), I may not want to retire at 45. Ideally I can do both; have the money to retire at 45 but continue to do things I enjoy, especially if they pay!