I HATE MY JOB

• Did you know that the phrase, “I Hate My Job,” turns up over 240 million Google results?
• Did you know that about 70% of employees in the U.S. are not engaged at work?
• Did you know that the younger you are, the more disengaged you’re likely to be?

Yeah, I didn’t believe it either.

But according to a recent 2014 Gallup poll that surveyed over 80,000 U.S. employees, only 31.5% of employees are engaged at work. That leaves the whopping majority, either not engaged or actively disengaged.

Talk about a bad case of the Mondays.

If someone you know dreads the daily grind and is ready to make a change, here is one way they can turn their drudgery into delight.

GET A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Several years ago, I began to feel like a piece of charred toast. I was bitter. I was crusty. I was smokin’ hot - and not in the way that we all wish our dates were in junior high. Oh no! This was pure, unadulterated anger, temper, and rage. I felt overworked, undervalued, and jammed between hot coils. The smoke detector was about to go off. Yep. That was me!

I knew I wasn’t myself, but I wasn’t sure how to change. So, after months of heating up my internal furnace, I reluctantly hired a coach to help me douse my flames of fury.

At first my coaching calls were a complete waste of time.

Here I was, at the brink of insanity, because everyone at work was incompetent, inefficient, and ineffective. And my coach wanted me to do all of these self-reflective exercises, discuss my personal values, and dive deep into all this intangible stuff - vision, mission, and passion. Boring!

Where was the assessment that told me how great I was and how everyone else was a flaming idiot? That’s the assessment I wanted to take. After all, I was getting charred, crusty, and burned-out - because of them!

Months passed. I can only imagine how tempted it was for my coach to give up on me, but he remained calm, cool, and collected. My lack of understanding continued until during one coach call, after droning on and on about all of the problems at work, he finally interrupted my moaning monologue and asked a simple question:

“James, at what point are you gonna stop complaining?”

The question stopped me dead in my tracks. I was relaying the facts of the situation to him. I wasn’t complaining. Or was I?

It took weeks for me to wrestle with his question, but gradually it began to dawn on me that part of the reason I was miserable at work was because of what was going on in my head. I had started to believe the story I told myself. I was the victim. My coworkers were the perpetrators. And all I wanted my coach to do was rescue poor, little ole me.

Reality was much different.

While my story isn’t everyone’s story, through this I learned that, if someone is miserable at work, encourage them to ask a trusted friend, mentor, or coach for their perspective on the situation. It could infuse energy and joy into that person’s life and career!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

HOW HAVE YOU OR OTHERS GONE FROM DRUDGERY TO DELIGHT ON THE JOB?