Stress is a common thing with any job. This is even more true if you hate your job. We all go into a job like a wide-eyed kid ready for the first day of school. We are excited to learn, prove ourselves, and take on the world. Over time of course that excitement and eagerness to tackle any work task slowly get chipped away by things we find to hate at work.
There have been moments with people in any job they have had where they hate the career path they have chosen. We all have those times where we would love to throw our work papers in the air, announce we are quitting, and storm out in a march we have waited to do for months. This is a common 9-5 fantasy many people have had. The joy of severing the ties with your horrid job and starting a new chapter has us with our heads in the clouds while we watch the clock to end our workday.
Unfortunately, we all live in the real world where a job is a necessity. It fuels the way we live, helps us put food on the table, and enables us to live comfortably. With the pandemic being a thing that has hit the world for almost 2 years, jobs are a bit harder to come by these days. Many people have opted to quit their jobs for careers that enable them to be 100% remote and not have to come into an office again. While that may work for some people, many others are regretting giving up their jobs to peruse this.
So you have a job you hate and it feels like there is no escape. You want to quit but there is no way it would be financially worth it to up and leave. You might feel that you are backed into a corner fighting to just keep your sanity. While this can happen to even the best of us, it is best to look outside that dark fog that reflects our hate for our job and try to see the potential for better things within.
Finding the potential in a job you hate is almost like finding a needle in a haystack or winning the lottery. It seems almost impossible at times. There are ways that you can make it easy and something that you can go back to in the days that you have had enough.
A great way to find the potential in a job you hate is remembering what brought you there in the first place. Reminding yourself of the goals you had when you started your first day or maybe a great moment you had as a first accomplishment. Reflecting on these times can be comforting in some ways. You can remind yourself of those goals and if you have yet to accomplish them you can always retool them to be goals that fit your current job title.
One thing you also could do is talk to your team lead or manager about potential opportunities for career growth. Any manager is going to want to have their employees succeed. They want us to grow and leave the nest to something worthwhile, whether that is within our current role or not. Talk to them about your need to have a change in your career and maybe what advice they can give you on how to accomplish that.
Your team lead or manager can also help you create a career path plan so that there is a customized timeline that shows your potential growth opportunities. This could be a new way to have that feeling of starting a new chapter without the risks of having to uproot and quit. We all may want to quit but if we can stay and make the best of it, we may be more equipped to take a job outside of our current work environment if we choose to.
There are always ways to grow in any job you have. Most companies post job postings once a week as a way to entice their employees to sharpen their skills or try something new. These job posts could be an alternative way for you to create that potential and customized career path on your own. Sometimes we don’t feel comfortable going to our team leads or managers, so keeping an eye on job postings will be a way for you to feel out for other opportunities.
Another way you can grasp the potential at your dreaded 9-5 is to talk with your co-workers and see what their goals are. Having someone to talk to who may be experiencing the same thing you are or in the same job as you can be immensely helpful. Hearing their goals or how they feel about their future at the company you work for maybe could spark some inspiration for your own goals.
It is also great to vent to someone who is in the same situation you are in but you don’t want that to be the main focus. Your main focus should be learning from a co-worker and maybe even helping them with possible career goals they may have. Bouncing ideas off of someone and creating ways to build each other up is a great way to even boost your morale while you work.
Again, you may feel trapped and feel that there is no way you can last one more day in that dreaded work environment. The best thing to do is take it one day at a time, not let all that irritation of your job build-up, and find the ways you can thrive there.
We all want to do our best at a job and it can be harder to do that in a job we hate, but if you go in with a positive attitude it will be a shield against the negative things that may come your way. Keep your head held high and power through and remind yourself that you got this.
