Would you rather have a boring job that paid well but was not challenging, or an exciting job that only covered your basic expenses and was stimulating?

Boring job that paid well. If I have money I can entertain myself perfectly well the 16 hours a weekday and 48 hour weekends. I never felt like I had to have a lot of ‘fun’ at work. I worked as a machine operator in a food factory for 20 years. It left me time to think and plan and daydream at work, and basically retire at 50.

Stimulating? Cooking in restaurants was stimulating, low paying, and I largely hated it. I worked with juvenile delinquents for a couple years, and might have eventually become good at it if the facility had not closed. I wasn’t great at it because I was young and idealistic and had too much empathy for the kids. It was low paying, though!

My current job is boring and oppressive and I hate it. I am a creative type and do not enjoy dull routine and working with anal, detail oriented types that obsess over the stupidist little things. I worked in interior design for years and now, that market has been in the toilet with the economy the last 5 years. I thrive in flexible, creatively challenging environments and would rather make less and enjoy what I do.

I used to make good money doing what I loved, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Nothing was more fun than taking an empty space and filling it with beauty and color.
Finding the perfect furniture, art, and creating.
Do what you love and you will never “work” a day in your life.

I went to school to be an accountant, and I was quite good at it, but I found it mind numbingly boring, and had to quit. Instead, I worked outside in manholes putting together telephone cables, which is laborious work, but you aren’t stuck in an office chair all day!

Pretty much the latter. And that’s anything to do with my morbid mind and imagination.

I want a decent job for creative writing!

@Coloma isn’t taking care of geese entertaining?

@Mimishu1995 Yes, I loved taking care of my little micro-farm. I wish being a goode herd payed 100k a year. lol

Having a vocation that fulfills me is the only reason why I accept living paycheck-to-paycheck.

I’d hate a boring job. I’m not wasting that large chunk of my life doing something I don’t like. No way. Teaching should fall perfectly under the second category.

Exciting job.

My challenging dream job working for a non-profit broke my heart when politics tore the organization apart and I walked away from dozens and dozens of animals that I had hand raised, never to see them again.

My challenging job of the last 8 years has left me with a myriad of stress related health issues, a history of working an average of 53 hours a week, and a pair of bosses who took our success for granted when things were going great, and now that they’re not (because of competition that they knew was coming), it’s all my fault.

I’m ready for a well paying, boring job. Please.

Opt for the money! Tolerate the drudgery until you have the resources to do as you choose without the necessity to live out of a shopping cart. The world is now ordered such that if you choose poverty and contentment over lucrative mind numbing tedium, you are all but certain to be punished for it. There are of course exceptions to the rule. There are still monasteries dedicated to a contemplative existence.

I would have to say the boring job that paid well would suit my needs better than an exciting job that barely covered expenses. When I was young, I barely made enough to pay bills with, and it was anxiety producing, trying to juggle money coming in with what bills could get paid and what bills had to wait, plus not being able to really comfortably afford a nice vacation or a decent car or stuff like that. Now that I made a decent living, it would feel like going backwards to barely be able to pay bills.

If I have to support myself, probably the boring job with the money, especially if I can work less than 5 days a week and less than 40 hours a week. I would not work in a job I felt was abusive or extremely anxiety producing though, that to me is different than boring.

There is no reason to settle for either unless you are desperate.

I would take the higher paying job that was boring over the lower paying job that I would like, though this would depend on how much of a pay gap I’d be looking at here. I could live a better quality life by receiving more money, and offset my boredom while away from work. I also don’t want my life to be centered around my job or workplace either.

On a side note, I’d take the lower paying job that I love over a higher paying very stressful or dangerous job. However, again pay gap would still be a consideration for me here too. If I had my way though I’d rather have enough money to not have to work again and get gratification through other means by having the chance to work on some of my invention ideas, including the money and time needed to be devoted to such projects.

I’m not materialistic but on the other hand I want to spend 40 hours a week doing something I love or am passionate about. I want to get a sense of fulfillment and have a focus.

Boring: receptionist, retail, waiting tables.

Dream job: researcher, preferably for something economic, nutrition,pscyhology, philosophy, plants, animals or something like that.

Being an author.

Being a voice for audiobooks, or a talk show host.

Depends on how demanding the boring job is. As others have mentioned, you can dream while doing your day job, and if it pays well that can fund a lot of after-hours fulfillment.