You hate your job. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’re not doing anything about it, it becomes a problem and a rather big one.
Can you believe that there are people who wake up every morning excited about the work they get to do?
They don’t mind putting in extra hours; their work feels like their hobby, they’re proud of what they do, and they have great colleagues.
When you do something you enjoy, that’s what it feels like.
Your job doesn’t have to be something you hate going to.
When you see other people enjoying their work, you have to ask yourself: Are you being picky or are you justified in hating your job?
This isn’t what you really wanted to do
We’re starting with the most obvious one.
Something most people have experienced at some point in their lives.
You don’t like your job because someone else chose it for you.
This isn’t what you really wanted to do.
Either your parents had certain expectations that you had to live up to or you had no idea what you wanted to do so you followed your friends.
And now you hate it. That’s understandable.
Luckily, an experience like this gives you the opportunity to realize what you do like.
When you’re bored at work, mindlessly clicking through things, what kind of work do you imagine yourself doing instead?
Follow that path—your own one—and see where it leads you.
You never made an effort to fit in
You can step into a job you thought you’d hate and grow to like it by making an effort, making friends, and working towards a bigger goal.
But if you are in there with a negative attitude and believe that no amount of effort or work will get you what you want, then that’s exactly where you’ll stay.
We become invested in things that we invest in. We have to start putting in effort to see the value in something.
It doesn’t happen the other way around. If you’re in a job that you hate, before running away from it, actually try to make an effort to do your best work and make friends with your colleagues.
You chose it based on the location
Commuting is one of the worst things about working in an office.
Spending hours of your day moving back and forth feels pointless; it eats into your free time and the journey seems to make you more tired than the rest of your day.
So it makes sense that you would choose a job that’s close to where you live.
You save on travel time, but your mental health might be taking a knock.
Sacrificing eight hours of your day for a job you don’t like to save on an hour or two of travel is a terrible long-term investment.
Go for something you enjoy, even if it’s further away.
Find podcasts you enjoy listening to, and if you’re traveling via public transport, find books you like reading or watch your favorite series while you’re commuting.
Find a way to make your journey your downtime too.
You’ve hit a glass ceiling
Sometimes, no matter how hard you work and no matter how many friends you make, your work destination is determined without your say.
Whether it’s because of nepotism, favoritism, or pushing back against the company culture, you realize that you’re never going to be able to move up.
There’s only one option here. And that’s to leave.
If you know you’re not going to go any further, then you’re going to be in the same place five years from now.
If the thought of this makes you unhappy, then it’s time to update your resume and go job hunting.
You’re bad at it and people are starting to notice
Number four can be quite a bruise to your ego.
You might like your job, but even then, compared to the rest of your team, you don’t like your job because you’re bad at it and people are starting to notice.
Some jobs require a lot of attention to detail and you might be a bigger-picture person. Some jobs require a certain amount of creativity and you’re creative in different ways.
Ask your manager about the gaps in your work, take that feedback on, and make a concerted effort to focus on that.
Ask to shadow the people who are doing well, take a course to brush up on your industry’s advancements, and practice the programs and systems you use every day so that you’ve got them nailed on.
You’re not in the right place or you’re not the right person
A bottle of water can be 50 cents at a supermarket, $2 at the gym, $3 at the movies, and $6 on a plane.
It’s the same water.
The only thing that’s changed is the place where you sell your value.
This perfectly captures number five: you’re either in a bad place or you’re bad at it.
You might not be properly valued at your current company, but you could be worth way more somewhere else.
Knowing your value takes knowing yourself and if you want to change your life, you have to understand the value you bring to yourself and the world.
You’re a jack of all trades and master of none
You don’t like your job because you’re a jack of all trades and a master of none.
In other words, you’re good at a bunch of things instead of really good at one thing.
At work, this means you might be working hard, putting in the hours, but not really standing out or getting recognition.
This is the time to invest in learning more.
Find one thing about your work that you really love and spend time learning more about it. Throw yourself into perfecting this and make yourself an invaluable expert.
Find confidence in this so that everyone comes to you for help and you feel like you belong there.
Your skills and potential don’t match the opportunity
You could be the most skilled person in the room, but if your skills don’t fit the job description, then you’re wasting them.
You could have a job that pays great, but if it doesn’t match your skills, you’re always going to feel like you’re outside your comfort zone and running after something that you’ll never catch.
It might feel picky to not grab every opportunity that comes your way and when you’re just starting out, it’s natural to feel like you have to, but as you gain experience, you can curate the opportunities you take.
Be intentional about them and think about how you will feel about the work in the next few years.
Success at work depends on other people and external factors
You don’t like your job because it doesn’t depend on what you can do; it depends on other people and on external factors.
It depends on your manager and whether they’re a component or present at work.
It depends on their relationships with other people on your team.
Even going all the way to upper management. If there are gaps and issues in the company, it makes it hard for you to do your work properly.
You have to know what’s expected of you so that you can meet those expectations.
If you don’t like your work because of other people, you should write down everything they’re doing and address it with someone in charge.
Let them know why you’re struggling with work and show them evidence.
You’re overworked
Most companies go through a phase where the workload increases and everyone has to take on a little more.
This shouldn’t last longer than a few weeks and once that’s done, things should go back to normal. But sometimes it doesn’t.
When you perform well, the catch-22 is that management can rely on you and they might put more pressure on you than everyone else because you’ve done a good job.
This can make you hate a job you used to love.
It’s so important to establish your boundaries early on and to push back the moment you see that relying on you becomes a habit.
You have to stand up for yourself.
Your job doesn’t feel like an adventure. It doesn’t challenge you
You don’t like your job because it bores you to death. Your work should challenge you!
It should make you feel like you’re learning and doing something new every day.
Without that, you’ll get bored and you’ll feel unfulfilled.
Speak to your manager about taking on new challenges.
Have an idea of what you would like to explore going into your meeting and explain why you would like to take on other projects.
This is also a great opportunity to enhance your skills.
Nobody acknowledges your success
Depending on how competent your managers are, they might not notice your success and achievements.
That’s not ideal, but part of your job is to make people notice that.
Be loud about when you’re successful because it’s a reflection on the company and everyone else too.
Unfortunately, even when people do notice, they might not acknowledge it and that can really bring you down.
You need resources and support to be motivated and while you can discuss this with your bosses, if you don’t see an improvement over something that’s easy to change, you should know that you deserve to be somewhere and to be recognized for your work.
Your job is a joke and everyone knows it
It doesn’t matter how much you get paid if your job is a joke and everyone knows it.
You don’t like your job because you feel like you’re foregoing your dignity for a paycheck.
In 2022 and 2023, I heard lots of stories about fake tech workers—people who were just hired to give the company good PR…
It sounds great when you have a lot of employees or when you grow quickly.
However, you will feel as though your presence is in vain if there is insufficient work for the entire staff of new hires and you are merely putting in pencil strokes.
You don’t have any autonomy
It’s so easy to not like your job when you’re being micromanaged.
When you don’t have any autonomy and it feels like people don’t trust you to do your job, why would you feel safe and comfortable there?
Some managers love the power and they’re more focused on being an overbearing manager than being a good manager.
You can speak to your manager all you want, but historically, these types of people don’t take feedback or advice well.
Your best option is to go to someone higher, see if you can transfer departments, or look for jobs somewhere else.
The pay is terrible
Anyone who’s done really fulfilling work as a nurse, teacher, or working for a non-profit organization will tell you that while you feel like making a difference and you feel good about yourself, the stress of the low pay just isn’t worth it.
Fulfillment doesn’t pay the rent. It’s only part of being happy at your job.
Living paycheck to paycheck and doing a job you love will make you resent it.
The thing you enjoyed and loved the most is making you struggle to put food on the table.
That’s not sustainable.
You either need to apply for a raise or find a job that meets your requirements halfway.
Something that partly fulfills you and pays better.
These are the most common reasons people don’t like their jobs. But now you know what to do about it, so start piecing things together, make a plan and level the fuck up!
Until next time!
#alphalife #savage
