Why are You Still on a Job You Hate?
February 1, 2008 Changing your life, Life choices No Comments
We’ve all seen the image of an unhappy worker stuck in a 9 to 5 job watching the clock tick slowly until closing time.
This scene is not just the stuff of fiction, it’s the reality for 50% of working people who reportedly hate their jobs.
If my friends and relations are any indication, the percentage is even higher. The way these unhappy folks describe their jobs it’s amazing how they drag themselves to work each day. As I listen to their sagas of boring work, mean coworkers, inept bosses and substandard working conditions, my own happiness is put at risk.
It’s no fun to watch someone you love suffer, especially since it’s not necessary.
In the early days of my working life I decided I would never stay on a job I hated. I made a promise to myself that I had to have respect and gratification, and for over 40 years I’ve kept this promise.
In college I held many part time jobs to help pay the bills. On one campus job we would get a 10 minute mid morning break. Ten whole minutes! That’s not enough time to get a cup of coffee and begin to sip it, much less make that necessary stop by the restroom.
Most of the other women were full-time and had been there for years. I often wondered why adults would stay on a job where their potty breaks were timed.
My brief stay on that job increased my determination to finish college.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s something to dislike on the best of jobs. Even the self-employed have parts of their job they dislike.
But enduring emotional and psychological stress day after day can’t help but doom you to an unhappy life. What happens at work does not stay at work. You take it everywhere you go.
Unhappy workers are likely to be sick more often, probably make lousy dinner guests, and definitely bring everyone else down with their never-ending tales of woe.
So why are you still on a job you hate?
Fear of change, plain and simple.
Oh, I know the common reasons given for staying on a job you hate are the pay, the health benefits or a poor job market. But it’s not true. Other jobs offer pay and health benefits.
You feel stuck.
Tune in tomorrow to learn how to get unstuck from a job you hate.
