Practical Professional Solutions to Doing a Job you Hate

Find your passion and make it your profession and you`ll never work again Janice Rockett

All professionals have times when they simply hate their job and yet they keep on doing it. They complain, they become stressed, they become less efficient and so spend even longer at the office and they become morose and unhappy. It usually begins with just a few bad days and then progresses until even the thought of going into work leads to a profound feeling of misery and dread.

What Not to Do!

So what do professionals do? One common solution seems to be to switch off, to do the minimum with no personal cost. This is often called Burn out and although it initially seems to be a solution it is unfulfilling, unrewarding, can be dangerous and is ultimately unprofessional. This negative attitude can only make things worse a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy&ldots;things that we think are awful soon become them!

Why resignation is often not an available option?

So why do professionals not embrace the ultimate solution and simply resign. Professionals are often self-employed; they are capable and competent to make their own decisions however resignation is something they are very reluctant to consider. This might be for complex, muti-factorial and often very compelling reasons. Most professionals have invested a great deal in their current career, studying hard at school and at university, spending a lot of money on university education, setting up or buying into a practice and maintaining standards and professional insurance. As a result they enjoy a certain status in society as a result of their career and this status often extends to spouse and family. It is a lot to give up.

                            

Add to that that most professionals do not normally leave their chosen career except by retirement or illness and an inherent feeling of deep suspicion about anyone who gives up on all these things. Peer recognition and acknowledgment is often very important to professionals.

So if quitting isnt an option what is?

Practical Solutions to ensure Survival

There are a range of possible practical solutions from a simple re-structuring of daily tasks to minimise the irritations to a complete re-focusing of ideas about the nature of the job. Professionals as students had a clear idea of what the job was meant to be however there have been profound and dramatic changes in the way society now operates and these have all had a major impact on what the job has become. Sometimes even a realisation of that shift can help professionals regain their sense of purpose. 

Remember what was attractive about the profession in the first place. Make a list. (It can be as schmaltzy as you like only you will see it!)

Look at this list and identify specific times/instances in your current job when you are achieving these ideals and intentions.

Using this list make an action plan that ensures scheduled time each day for doing some of these rewarding things. Record when you do them.

Make a list of all the things you loathe. Again you can be as descriptive as you like. Categorize them into Irritations/Annoyances/Unbearable.

Look at your list of irritations. These will mostly be minor things however a large number of trivial irritations are very energy draining. List the possible solutions to these irritations or better still just start tackling them a few each day until they are all resolved. Mark them off as they are done or if you prefer to create a positive feeling write them down as a list of achievements.

Now look at the annoyances and the unbearable. Identify any you can either safely stop doing or give away to someone else to do.

If you have to tackle these unbearable tasks yourself set a maximum time each day to spend doing them and then schedule in a reward for yourself when this time is up. It might be a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, a quick walk in the park or a phone call to a friend.

Look to see when these unbearable things happen as it may be that they are rare events. They are however so deeply upsetting that the negative effect lasts a long time. Resolve that in future you will not allow them to have this long lasting effect. 

If it is an angry or abusive client that is causing the upset, reflect on how you responded at the time to their abuse. Analyse your professional response and consider how skilful you have become.

If any unbearable task remains a major pre-occupation write down your feelings as accurately as possible and put this in a secure place. Promise yourself to look at it in one week or one month whichever seems appropriate and that if you still feel as strongly then as before you will take action to prevent ever having to feel like that again.

Share your negative feelings with a colleague but only after you have both agreed that this is not just about complaining but about finding and sharing solutions. Ask them what they would do about the problem. Consider if and or all of their suggestion would work for you and if not brainstorm together for other ideas.

Look at ways of refocusing on your initial invigorating sense of purpose and inspiration. One possible way of doing this is to give talks to groups about your profession or to offer to teach about some aspect of your job. If you do this however you must remember that your principal responsibility is to encourage younger colleagues and students and not use them as a sounding board for your own misery!

And finally if you do all this and still feel miserable about your job set yourself a time limit for things to improve. Promise yourself that if things arent any better by the end of that time you have permission to walk away.

            

All these practical solutions might seem remarkably simple. So simple in fact that each on their own cannot possibly address the pervasive feeling of burn-out. However these solutions taken together can make an enormous difference to the way professionals feel about the job. We all have choices. What we sometimes lack is the courage to make them.

Working with a personal mentor or coach can help make these choices easier.

I never did a days work in my life. It was all fun.   Thomas Edison