In the corporate employee world, there are no words more suggestive of an undesirable life situation than “I hate my job.” Indeed, impassioned quotes about having no love for one’s job abound on social media, reinforcing the ubiquitous albeit emotionally exhausting notion that “you’re not tired, you’re uninspired.”
And I happen to agree.
Here’s what to do about a job that makes you feel icky feelings.
Why might you not be a fan of your work?
Before I go on, let me give a disclaimer in order to avoid any potential misunderstandings:
You will never love your job 100% of the time.
I mean never. No matter how much you feel ‘on your calling’ or ‘doing what you’re meant to be doing,’ there will always be those days that fail to make sense. That’s just life.
Thus disclaimed, there’s still a disparity between ‘feeling off at work’ on an odd day and between feeling your stomach turn at the thought of setting foot in the workplace. And since you’re probably smack-dab in the middle of the latter, now is the time to stop and to seriously start questioning your aversion.
Ask yourself: who or what is making you feel this way?
Start getting really concrete here. Trust me, you do not want to jump ship only to find (to your utter dismay) that you’re in the exact same situation albeit with a different captain (or crew, if you like). For help, ponder these questions. Don’t skim through them. Really contemplate each and every one. For the sake of your career (and the quality of your life).
Staying at the wrong job is career suicide
It is a vastly different life when you’re paid to do something you love, as opposed to doing something that outright sucks. Any dreary routine is a shortcut to a very personal and very intimate hell on earth.
To internalize this, here are some consequences you’re likely to incur by staying at a job you hate:
Why you might want to consider a career change
Most people would benefit from changing their job or making a few changes in how they deal with certain work-related issues, but some would definitely benefit from going in a completely new direction altogether.
Note: While I can give you guidelines to help you with this (in another post at another time), nothing will top self-awareness and discernment in making the right decision for you.
Perhaps you’re just plain tired from the nature of your job. Maybe you’re jaded by all the predictability that’s been festering in your professional life and would like to introduce some challenges. Could be that your values or beliefs have changed over the years and are no longer aligned with your line of work. You’d like more time to follow your passion and devote yourself to other, non-work-related stuff. Maybe you’re simply unhappy with whatever your current life situation is, and the root is located at the workplace.
The gist: if you’re seeing any signs that your well-being in your current job is at stake, then you better get to work on making that change.
Kill the monster while it’s little
Never ignore any persistent negative thoughts or icky feelings toward your job. They’re all indicators to let you know that change needs to happen. The type of change will depend on a wide variety of things, but you don’t need to look far to figure out what. Just identify what is particularly causing you to feel that way, and find out how to shift it into its desired state.
(Because that sounds too vague (which is deliberately done, to some degree), let me give you a few examples to make this as simple as possible for you:
That’s the basic idea of it. Find whatever you dislike and figure out a way to turn it into its opposite.
Besides, with the baffling amount of hours you’ll be spending working your whole life, you might as well allocate that time to something that really engages you on all levels. You really want to set high standards here. Anything that doesn’t feel energizing is a no-go, in my opinion. You might feel inclined to be less strict with your standards, but that’s up to you really.
Never let your efforts fall to the wayside
This is your life we’re talking about here. It’s a serious matter, and you shouldn’t let the chips fall where they may when you absolutely have control over its direction. Take action. Make a change – and feel that fear as you do it. Never put yourself in a position of regret because you were too reluctant to put your own needs above all else.
For more career growth advice, check out other career growth advice-focused blog posts here.
