You Can Figure Out What to Do About Not Liking Your Job

Posted on March 09, 2018 by Christine Obee, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

You don’t like your job, but you don’t hate it.

It doesn’t fulfill you, but it pays the bills. It bores you and often stresses you out, but you are able to call yourself a professional, so there’s that. It may not be where you saw yourself as a kid, but you’re holding down a job, a contributing member of society.

It could be worse right?

Sure, it could always be worse.

But could it be better?

You know the answer is yes.

This truth has bubbled up to the surface time and time again. It goes like this: You have a realization that you’re not happy in your job and you need to do something about it. This clarity is quickly drowned in thoughts of It’s not so bad, at least I have a job, It’s too much effort to make a change, My boss would never say yes to a 3 day work week so there’s no point in asking, The organization works this way, there’s no point in trying to do things differently.

After a few days, or maybe hours, of being solid in your decision that you just need to accept your work situation as it is, the realization that you need to change pops up, again. It’s quickly drowned in thoughts about why you can’t, again. You can get out of this loop.

You can change your situation. How?

Let me tell you.

Get to know yourself. I know it sounds cliché, stay with me.

This is the starting point for figuring out your “What’s Next”. Let me tell you why. Once you shine a light on what’s inside you’ll start to see your true self. The part of you that’s been hidden away, buried under society’s idea of success and other people’s expectations. The part that knows you aren’t trapped, that you have way more power than you give yourself credit for, that you can stop being a victim of circumstance and that you can create opportunity.

Without knowing that part of yourself, you allow external sources to set the course. And that can result in disaster.

You may be afraid to look inside, spend time with yourself, get to know yourself for a number of reasons:

-Knowing, means you need to change – If you decide you aren’t in the right job then you’ll need to do something about it.

-Ignorance is bliss – You don’t want a taste, even a little bit, of what it might be like to work in a job you like, let alone love, because the current situation will then seem even more unbearable.

-Doing nothing is better than failing at something that really matters – What if you discover something you should be doing, go after it and don’t get it? The devastation would be crushing.

-It’s scary to look inside – It takes energy to sit with oneself and become aware of what’s there. It’s also uncomfortable (like crawl out of your skin uncomfortable) when you first start. It’s much easier to distract through pleasure seeking behaviours. Chocolate, beer or cake anyone?

With all these reasons not to look inside, is it worth the risk? That’s for you to decide. The other question I would ask you to consider is….

What’s the risk of not looking inside?

The sense of wasting time, discontent and dissatisfaction in addition to the low energy and lack of motivation you experience in a job you don’t like, won’t get better. In fact, the longer you stay in this place without understanding how to got where you are and what other options you have, the worse it’s going to get.

On the flip side is the possibility that you’ll finally be clear on what you need to do to change your career direction in a fundamental way.

To know where you want to head in your career. To feel a sense of fulfillment, confidence and purpose.
If you’re ready to get started hop on over to my post on Knowing and Using Your Natural Talents at Work Matters.