Quality of life in UK

[JD™]

Working smart > working hard.

Anyone can work hard, that's why it doesn't always end up in the results they expect. People who can work smart are more likely to get those results. People who do both get something pretty close to a guarantee.

Just my 2p.

[Luke Rainbird]

Werd.

Work efficiently, play hard. It's not a hard one to get right if you've got the drive and the desire to succeed

[hI-OOPS-CAPS]

Britain is narrow-mindedly trying to make 1 rule fits all and people of society must conform to the rules, maybe I can say it's too democratic. For example, when I was on the dole I went to a career day with the job centre half-wits. I found out they can't wear a tie because 1 employee (in London! I'm in Newcastle) was attacked by having their tie yanked. I was told ties are banned now in all jobCentres. Why does some authority feel the need to step in and make that decision for the JobCentre employees? Are they incapable? Im sure in their life they have made bigger choices. The authorities should look at punishment of the attacker instead.

Same about the small argos pens in the JocCentre. They are small so they can be used as less of a weapon. Why do we need that kind of protection?

I lived in Thailand (very few rules, just morals, in the moment decisions and good natured people) and I had a scooter. I knew I was gonna use it for 1 year. A licence, tax and insurance is £12. Being stopped by the police who don't care about any paperwork, £4. This is better for everyone. The policeman gets cash and I just go on my way. So maybe a little corruption is what we need in UK.

[eskimo]

Working smart > working hard.

Anyone can work hard, that's why it doesn't always end up in the results they expect. People who can work smart are more likely to get those results. People who do both get something pretty close to a guarantee.

Just my 2p.

That makes no sense to me, from that i can only think of negatives. Yet i know there's probably more to it?

[tomturd]

Working smart > working hard.

Anyone can work hard, that's why it doesn't always end up in the results they expect. People who can work smart are more likely to get those results. People who do both get something pretty close to a guarantee.

Just my 2p.

Is it just coincidence that I got an email from adobe about 10 mins before you posted this with the subject 'working harder is out - working smarter is in', or did you get it too?

Anyway, I agree. (Smart) Laziness is good.

[Luke Rainbird]

Haha, that's brilliant!

Nick, it's all about how you apply yourself. If you spend loads of time and effort on the minor details that make little difference, you're not using your time and effort in the best way.
Stuff along the lines of the 80:20 rule etc (though in many cases the ratio is even more skewed!)

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

[FamilyBiker]

It sounds you feel like i do, and i bet there's people in your country who would also say "you're talking shit" to yourself.

one of the main problems is our historical stigma of "have been the nazis and lost war" and all that stuff.

nobody dares to go out on the streets to fight the system,cos challenging the social or "christ" democratic system could lead in the same stuff as in1933 in the opinion of politics nowadays.

(no,they have no fear to lose their jobs and all that money,they only want the best for their citizen,definitely :wink2: )

we have 80 million people of wich 50 million could tell the others,who have more money than them,what to do,because everything is so effing democratic today.

in reality there are 10000 people with connections to the industry and other sources of power who tell the rest what to do,and if it doesnt happen the reaction is to lower their life standards to get them doing what they want to satisfy the industrial bosses and lobbymen.same sh*t as a hundred years ago and expecting a different reaction?

all of us are beeing sold out nowadays,i´m not a commi but capitalism doesnt seem to be the answer for a happy life for everybody,but for people who are already rich though.

"talking sh*t" while telling the truth is a phenomenon thats common in our "democracy"

if you say something that sounds dangerous for the politics its "talking sh..." ,and then the word democracy is used for the process of shutting your mouth up in media in advance or else...

every human beeing just wants to live a good live imo.

but i am not keen of the thought someones rich because i have to "row" to stay alive

just my sight

edit:have a nice day,guy from the intelligence service reading this,or federal trojan. :wink2:

Edited February 6, 2013 by FamilyBiker

[JD™]

Is it just coincidence that I got an email from adobe about 10 mins before you posted this with the subject 'working harder is out - working smarter is in', or did you get it too?

Anyway, I agree. (Smart) Laziness is good.

Coincidence for sure! I'm not even checking emails today... Lol.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Is it just coincidence that I got an email from adobe about 10 mins before you posted this with the subject 'working harder is out - working smarter is in', or did you get it too?

You're obviously further up the list than me as I didn't get the Adobe email until 12:15!

[FamilyBiker]

big brothers watching us lol

as for the foot in the door thing:

there are definitely people who are born with doors around their feet if you know what i mean

and its not a majority

[shercofray]

Their money??

Seriously? I think you know exactly what I mean; obviously I understand how the banking system works, but yes even though it is technically your money, it is sat as an asset in their accounts which they can then use how they want.

Understand?

[Dave Anscombe]

The corruption is at an all time high

government-corporations-bankers

Are not here to help anyone but them selves.Make the rich richer and the poor poorer

Big bro is watching 24/7-Not everyone is who they claim to be

Shit will hit the fan-history teaches us that - History always repeats its self!

But what do i know im bat-shit crazy

[Dave Anscombe]

one of the main problems is our historical stigma of "have been the nazis and lost war" and all that stuff.

nobody dares to go out on the streets to fight the system,cos challenging the social or "christ" democratic system could lead in the same stuff as in1933 in the opinion of politics nowadays.

(no,they have no fear to lose their jobs and all that money,they only want the best for their citizen,definitely :wink2: )

we have 80 million people of wich 50 million could tell the others,who have more money than them,what to do,because everything is so effing democratic today.

in reality there are 10000 people with connections to the industry and other sources of power who tell the rest what to do,and if it doesnt happen the reaction is to lower their life standards to get them doing what they want to satisfy the industrial bosses and lobbymen.same sh*t as a hundred years ago and expecting a different reaction?

all of us are beeing sold out nowadays,i´m not a commi but capitalism doesnt seem to be the answer for a happy life for everybody,but for people who are already rich though.

"talking sh*t" while telling the truth is a phenomenon thats common in our "democracy"

if you say something that sounds dangerous for the politics its "talking sh..." ,and then the word democracy is used for the process of shutting your mouth up in media in advance or else...

every human beeing just wants to live a good live imo.

but i am not keen of the thought someones rich because i have to "row" to stay alive

just my sight

edit:have a nice day,guy from the intelligence service reading this,or federal trojan. :wink2:

Well said !

[FamilyBiker]

Well said !

thanks!just hoping the police isnt knocking my door now hahaha

[Dave Anscombe]

Do not fear them ! thats exactly what they want people being scared!

Get up stand up -stand up for your right-Dont give up the fight

Happy birthday bob marley !

[Pashley26]

But what do i know im bat-shit crazy

QFT.

[Dave Anscombe]

[Max Quinn]

there are definitely people who are born with doors around their feet if you know what i mean

and its not a majority

That goes without saying, but it's generally the people that get pissed off annd negative about this and just moan all the time that do f**k all to help themselves.

When you need someone to market and sell your practical items, products or services though, you're going to need some of those artfags to make your generic handcrafted product look more enticing for their hard-earned money than the next generic handcrafted product Clearly some degrees are useless shit, but at the same time it's probably worth bearing in mind that a lot of seemingly useless degrees can have a pretty big impact on the way that the world operates.

This. Someone else said that we did well without arty types before, but....

a) That was a different world. In an age where technology can do almost anything (in industries of mass production anyway) that a human can, creativity is potentially the most valuable thing going forward.

Who do you think populated all those advertising agencies etc you watch TV shows about? People didn't have creative degrees back then, doesn't mean there wasn't creative people.

[Matthew62]

You say Edinburgh is smiley, maybe you should start smiling back where they look at you??

Why though? If someone smiles at me i'll smile back but i'm not going to walk down the road with a constant grin on my face.

Okay that was probably bullshit to an extent. It's just i feel when someone has "qualifications" they're suddenly put above people who haven't, yet if it doesn't apply to the role work & life experience mean much more. But i guess it depends on where you're applying and if the interviewer is a moron and doesn't actually know 'what's/ who's best.'

Yeah I suppose they do but when hundred of people are applying for jobs I imagine employers are looking for something to separate people out when in reality a lot of people feature a similar level of ability. I always say in the UK we're entitled to the same level of education up to and including A-Levels. My girlfriend decided Uni wasn't for her and had a crack at what she wanted to do for a career. She's laboured at it for longer than me (with me having a year at Art Foundation and a 4 year degree) and has done plenty of years at the lower end of the income scale. She now is much further in her career in comparison to me, she earns more than I do and is very well respected at what she does. She also has the benefit of not having the student debt I have, so in every way not having a degree has made her better off than me.

I should also ad she has never got a job via a friend, she has networked (I hate that word) and got her name/work about through doing yet more work, so as she's climbed up it could be construed that possibly new roles have been easier to achieve, but that's all been off her own back so I'm not overly sympathetic to people who complain. In our relationship we've taken a different approach each and have both turned out pretty well so there's no excuses really. I should also ad she left school with fairly bad A level results.

For you it works, but for me i have stuff that needs to be done which eats into the free time, i just see it differently.

It's always work but I guess you prioritise what you want to do most and go from there.

Work politics where i've worked isn't optional, and it isn't for allot of people. It's also not just 'drama' or 'nonsense' either. It's seems to be you've been lucky.

Lucky possibly? It's all gone on everywhere I've worked but if it's of no interest to me I don't include myself in it. It also depends on how you look at office politics.... in my current place of work there's plenty of nonsense which I don't entertain but a few months ago a colleague committed suicide in a fairly horrific way that makes it very difficult to forget based on where we work/how he did it so i'd say that's a relatively big 'drama' but it doesn't have to ruin moral or make the place a bad place to work.

I guess your wages are good enough where you don't have to acknowledge that i said a day's wages.

That's quite an assumption. I drive 25 miles a day for work. So 125 miles a week equates to a fair bit of petrol and my car isn't super economical as I don't have a really new car so of course it has a cost implication. But that's how it is for everyone - it's shite but unless you live at work it's how it goes. Personally I'm going to start riding to work but my little jump bike isn't going to be suitable over that distance so I need to buy something suited which is a catch 22 as the outlay for that would buy me a fair bit of petrol....

Edited February 7, 2013 by Matthew62

[tryallmaster]

University was one of the best times of my life.. The experiences and people I met have added more value to my career than my degree in Economics. I would not even care if my student loan was 1 million pounds.. Worth EVERY penny. You CANT buy the experiences and life skills the uni life can offer at a pretty young age..

[eskimo]

Why though? If someone smiles at me i'll smile back but i'm not going to walk down the road with a constant grin on my face.

That's what i said, if they look at you while smiling, smile back.

Yeah I suppose they do but when hundred of people are applying for jobs I imagine employers are looking for something to separate people out when in reality a lot of people feature a similar level of ability.

They separate people out by choosing who has skills relevant to the role, or at least they should (skills meaning exp, qualifications too). If they don't, they're either too lazy to, or are too dumb to. If it's a case of too many applicants, then it's just going to take more time. If it's physically impossible to take more time, then just read the first 10.

Lucky possibly? It's all gone on everywhere I've worked but if it's of no interest to me I don't include myself in it. It also depends on how you look at office politics.... in my current place of work there's plenty of nonsense which I don't entertain but a few months ago a colleague committed suicide in a fairly horrific way that makes it very difficult to forget based on where we work/how he did it so i'd say that's a relatively big 'drama' but it doesn't have to ruin moral or make the place a bad place to work.

Yeah lucky. You fail to grasp the fact that politics isn't optional everywhere.

If that guy killed himself because of work and people ignore that, then you guys have serious moral issues. If it wasn't work related, shit, but irrelevant.

That's quite an assumption. I drive 25 miles a day for work. So 125 miles a week equates to a fair bit of petrol and my car isn't super economical as I don't have a really new car so of course it has a cost implication. But that's how it is for everyone - it's shite but unless you live at work it's how it goes. Personally I'm going to start riding to work but my little jump bike isn't going to be suitable over that distance so I need to buy something suited which is a catch 22 as the outlay for that would buy me a fair bit of petrol....

A valid assumption seeing as you've admitted only doing 25 miles a day.

I don't think you are grasping the fact that people have been leaving their jobs (they enjoy!) because it costs to much to actually get to work. Not me, but i know people who have, and hell it's even been on the news enough times.

It's cool that you're considering riding such a distance to work, something i sure as hell wouldn't do with not having enough time as it is.

[Luke Rainbird]

Nick, it just sounds like you really need to rethink your current employment situation? If there's nothing in the immediate vicinity, is the option of moving elsewhere to a more job-rich location an option? The point Matthew's trying to make is that if you really want things to be different, then change them. It's not going to be easy, but have a clear plan and work through it and you'll get there in the end. The specifics will change dependent on your situation/desires, but if you're in a situation you could change but decide not to it's nobody's fault but your own.

Work to live, don't live to work.

[Matthew62]

They separate people out by choosing who has skills relevant to the role, or at least they should (skills meaning exp, qualifications too). If they don't, they're either too lazy to, or are too dumb to. If it's a case of too many applicants, then it's just going to take more time. If it's physically impossible to take more time, then just read the first 10.

I'm not sure what you're saying here? What you've described is what employers do (excluding the picking the top 10 off the pile). New employers are never out to do you a favour, they just want the best person for the role available. Quite basically it's a competition. Not overly nice but it's always been that way.

Yeah lucky. You fail to grasp the fact that politics isn't optional everywhere.

If that guy killed himself because of work and people ignore that, then you guys have serious moral issues. If it wasn't work related, shit, but irrelevant.

Work was a minor contributing factor but that's not to say he wasn't supported. He was exceptionally well liked and everyone would have helped him out in any way shape or form. Everyone here is very busy and it often get's on top of people. How people cope is a personal thing. Some people spend time huffing and puffing, some get their heads down and get on with it. Those who need help ask for it. It's down to the individual as much as the employer.

A valid assumption seeing as you've admitted only doing 25 miles a day.

Only 25 miles? Drive over 500 miles a month just go get to and from work costs me enough.

I don't think you are grasping the fact that people have been leaving their jobs (they enjoy!) because it costs to much to actually get to work. Not me, but i know people who have, and hell it's even been on the news enough times.

It's cool that you're considering riding such a distance to work, something i sure as hell wouldn't do with not having enough time as it is.

If people are needing to travel much further than they can afford to then why are they living or working where they are? Move! I mean the next bit without any form of insult at all but I could look at your situation of living at home as fortunate. I've never been able to live at home and work. As soon as I finished Uni I've been self sufficient for pretty much everything. The sort of career I do means I couldn't live in my home town as the jobs aren't there so I moved. In terms of actually starting my career I had to move to one of the most expensive places to live in Europe. It was my choice and once I got sick of paying out of my arse to live in a scruffy relatively unsafe place I made a huge risk to chuck it all in and move to Edinburgh. I should ad that when I moved here last year I had no where to live or work. With the small amount of money I had I rented a temporary flat for 3 weeks which was enough time to find a permanent place to live and find a full time job. Only did that by keeping at it for 12 hours a day for 3 full weeks. No one was there to give me a place to stay, cook me a dinner or offer me support so I might seem completely unsympathetic but if people tried a little harder I think it might pay off.

I had a relatively miserable time a few months ago when I didn't have a job as my original company couldn't afford to keep me. I had no notice. Within a few weeks I'd got some freelance work and by visiting every single design agency in Edinburgh, sending out promo work and once again working my arse off until I found full time employment. I had no money for a while but I've recently got things back on track. This is no 'look at me and how great I am' but I wonder what everyone else does when they whinge about a lack of opportunities (not referring to you here).

Yeah I am considering riding 25 miles a day as it'll eventually save money and increase my fitness. The cycle vs driving time is only about 10-15 minutes more to ride so that can easily be added in to a day. If anything it cuts the need to do exercise after work so in effect i'll be saving time and saving money. It's all how you look at things.

[eskimo]

Nick, it just sounds like you really need to rethink your current employment situation? If there's nothing in the immediate vicinity, is the option of moving elsewhere to a more job-rich location an option? The point Matthew's trying to make is that if you really want things to be different, then change them. It's not going to be easy, but have a clear plan and work through it and you'll get there in the end. The specifics will change dependent on your situation/desires, but if you're in a situation you could change but decide not to it's nobody's fault but your own.

Work to live, don't live to work.

I did, i'm not there anymore

In fact the majority of the time i was there, i was always thinking about my next move. I've now exhausted the local territory, others plans/ goals didn't work out, or i changed my mind. I also have a fairly decent (i hope) backup plan as well. I should also probably say, i also thought allot about quitting riding, while it isn't a big deal, for me it was.

Only 25 miles? Drive over 500 miles a month just go get to and from work costs me enough.

My point was something todo with 25 miles not being that much. Though i can't be bothered to keep jumping back for double quotes on all the other points too.

If people are needing to travel much further than they can afford to then why are they living or working where they are? Move! I mean the next bit without any form of insult at all but I could look at your situation of living at home as fortunate. I've never been able to live at home and work. As soon as I finished Uni I've been self sufficient for pretty much everything. The sort of career I do means I couldn't live in my home town as the jobs aren't there so I moved. In terms of actually starting my career I had to move to one of the most expensive places to live in Europe. It was my choice and once I got sick of paying out of my arse to live in a scruffy relatively unsafe place I made a huge risk to chuck it all in and move to Edinburgh. I should ad that when I moved here last year I had no where to live or work. With the small amount of money I had I rented a temporary flat for 3 weeks which was enough time to find a permanent place to live and find a full time job. Only did that by keeping at it for 12 hours a day for 3 full weeks. No one was there to give me a place to stay, cook me a dinner or offer me support so I might seem completely unsympathetic but if people tried a little harder I think it might pay off.

I had a relatively miserable time a few months ago when I didn't have a job as my original company couldn't afford to keep me. I had no notice. Within a few weeks I'd got some freelance work and by visiting every single design agency in Edinburgh, sending out promo work and once again working my arse off until I found full time employment. I had no money for a while but I've recently got things back on track. This is no 'look at me and how great I am' but I wonder what everyone else does when they whinge about a lack of opportunities (not referring to you here).

Yeah I am considering riding 25 miles a day as it'll eventually save money and increase my fitness. The cycle vs driving time is only about 10-15 minutes more to ride so that can easily be added in to a day. If anything it cuts the need to do exercise after work so in effect i'll be saving time and saving money. It's all how you look at things.

I can appreciate your effort, i have a friend who went down a similar route, and it seems as he struck gold with his gambles/ effort too.

But one big difference, is some people know what they're chasing, others haven't got clue. I'm one of the ones who doesn't have a clue, that's why every time i do work, i work hard. It always works out no better, but my money saving has allowed me slack. I'll be travelling for a few months and still have money here when i come back. Travelling was a plan to help me get on track which i didn't use 2 years ago, but this time i'm gonna use it and hopefully make some other rash choices when i come back. Otherwise i'll be using my backup plan which i'd prefer not todo, but it's something i'd like to mid life as a 'career change'.

Edited February 8, 2013 by eskimo

[Mr Curve]

I would say quality of life here is ok for what it is, i mean it is not exactly the best or the worst. If i had the opportunity to emigrate i would do it tomorrow.

I am grateful that i have a supporting family who i still live at home with whilst on my final year at university whilst at the same time i am saving for a deposit for a house for a few years to come baring in mind i have been saving for the past 5 years so the money is coming along nicely and steadily.

The economy here is quite messed up since everything has had a massive increase.