Do you want to complain or play at work?

Posted on December 05, 2016 by Hans Schumann, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

If you do not enjoy your job, you have to make a decision:

Option 1: Do you want to leave?

Option 2: Do you want to suffer and complain?

Option 3: Do you want to make the best out of the situation?

If you decide against Option 1, then I strongly suggest that you go for Option 3. Option 2, suffering and complaining, is unresourceful and will lead you along a downward spiral towards resentment, frustration or even depression and burnout.

If you decide to stay in your current job or business, you can just as well play by the rules of the game and make the best out of it. Just imagine you are at a party and everybody plays a game that you think is stupid. You can stand on the side and complain about how pointless the game and how boring the party is. How much fun would that be?

Now imagine that you pull yourself together and join the game. Could this be more entertaining? Would you feel a stronger connection to the other players? Would time pass more quickly? Maybe you could even find yourself enjoying the game?

When I worked in financial services, I did not really care about the products that my company sold. It was a retail bank and there is only so much excitement to be had about products that compete mainly through differences in interest rates. It was just money and figures to me, and this did not capture my passion or imagination. But I was firm in my resolve that for as long as I was in the game, I wanted to play it well; and I did. As a result I earned recognition and financial rewards, learned a wide range of skills and connected to extraordinary people. I could clearly see the benefits of engaging rather than complaining.

There are, of course, valid reasons for making complaints; for example if you are subjected to bullying or if your working conditions are unsafe. What I am referring to here is the sort of nagging that only drags you down and those around you without actually helping to address or resolve a genuine issue.

So if you do not want to engage with your current job, what’s your Plan B? It is time to change career?

If you are not sure how to answer these questions, you will find plenty of inspiration and guidance in my book “Falling in love with your career” which is available for purchase on Amazon.