February is traditionally the month of love, so we’re talking about love and work, and how we feel about it.
Do you Love your job?
If your answer is yes, congratulations - you’re in the minority. Take some time to think about what specifically you love about your job; the challenge, your clients, colleagues, the actual work or tasks, exposure, benefits, or maybe it’s just the pay. Whatever it is, you should feel good that you have found something fulfilling that hopefully meets your financial needs. That’s a good use of your time.
If, like most people, your answer is no, then the good new is you’re not alone. But is not loving your job a bad thing?
Does your job have to be your ‘purpose’ or passion?
In my opinion, no. But it should be an enabler. By this, I mean, getting up every day and going to work, to do a job that you don’t love, should be moving you closer to or directly enabling you to do what you do love.
For those who don’t love their day jobs, it’s a means to an end, and should support the pursuit of whatever gives you purpose or makes you feel fulfilled. This might mean the money you earn is saved towards a personal project, passion or venture, or it could mean you’re using the skills and experience you’re getting from your job to prepare you for the next thing you have your mind set on. Perhaps your job helps you keep the lights on at home, so that you can work on the book you’ve been writing for a year each day after work. Perhaps you’re saving enough to start your own business. Perhaps you’re the bottom of the food chain, working with the boss from hell, but you know this bad gig will increase your exposure and get you a better one.
What should your job give you?
Your job should give you the time/money/other resources required to work towards fulfilling your ‘purpose’ or passion. Work for most of us is a transaction. That’s what it boils down to; someone pays you for your time, labour and skills in cash and/or benefits.
At the very least, here are a few things you should get from your job:
Money. To live. To pay for housing/accommodation (unless, you don’t need this because, for example, you live at home), food, transportation, etc. Sometimes you just need to make a living. Sometimes a job is just about survival.
Skills, development opportunities, and experience
Both.
If your job isn’t giving you one, two, or ideally 3, it may be time to re-think your current employment situation. Survival is ok as a short-term plan, but most of us want to do more than survive. I know I do.
Should you HATE your job?
The short and long answer to this is no - you shouldn’t hate your job, and if you do, and it’s at all possible for you to leave, then start planning your exit strategy (we can cover this in another blog post). If leaving isn’t an option just yet, then here are some tips:
Find joy: identify specific tasks, activities or interactions you genuinely enjoy, figure out what you like about them, and try to spend more time doing them.
Job-Shadow: observe someone in a position you admire, and see how they approach their work. Make note of what you like, and don’t like, and the behaviours or mindset it might be useful for you to adopt in the workplace.
Learn something new: pick up a task or responsibility that you think might be useful later, e.g. being the minute-taker in a meeting isn’t exactly fun, but it gives you an opportunity to develop and improve your communication and writing skills - it also teaches you to be accountable for something. There are also thousands of online courses you could take to up-skill yourself, making you more competitive for other jobs out there.
Talk to someone: A problem shared really is a problem halved. Find someone you trust and talk to them about work - get their perspective and see if they can share any coping mechanisms they have found helpful with you. If all else fails, talk to us!
Plot your escape: maybe you can’t leave right now, but at some point in the future, that could change, and you need to be ready. Make a list of things you need to do in preparation for your departure, and work your way through that list.
Conclusion
I’ve had roles I’ve loved, and roles I have hated, and the great thing about both, is that they steered me towards the people and things I like. A terrible job makes it easier to identify tasks, activities and work environments that you do not like, and a great job teaches you the opposite. Either way, you are learning, growing, and will become a more intuitive professional if you take the time to reflect on your feelings about your job or business. Even in cases where they might be limited, you do have some choices. You can move, and potentially miss out on something; earn less, or compromise on benefits, job security, proximity to your home, the field or sector, the people you work with, etc. But there’s also the possibility that you could make a career move, and find yourself in a far better position. Experience is a valuable, tradable commodity, as long as you know how to market and sell it. What are you currently doing with yours?
We can’t all love our jobs, unfortunately. Most jobs aren’t lifelong, thankfully. Make a change if you can, if you must, and if you can’t, make a way for yourself that leads you to better working conditions and better quality of life.
You don’t have to love every moment of your career, but you should have a vision of where you want to go, and you should love that!