How Do You Deal With a Job You Hate?

The term job dissatisfaction has been a popular topic of many water cooler discussions. How many times have you heard someone complain about their job? A better question is, how many times have you? How do you deal with a job you hate but have to keep in order to pay the bills and feed your family?

Some studies show that job dissatisfaction is one of the main causes of stress and stress is one of the main causes of illness. This article is not about how to find out if you hate your job or not. If you hate your job, you know it. So let’s see what sort of options you have to deal with this without outright cutting off your only source of income.

When you have a job you hate, it’s very draining both mentally and physically. But if you’ve had your job for some time now, you most likely have done what most people do. You’ve found ways to make yourself believe that the job isn’t all that bad. You focus on the good things about the job in order to drown out the bad things.

Although this is a good temporary solution, overtime, it will have an adverse effect on you. You can’t lie to yourself for too long. That fake smile you put on everyday will eventually turn into a frown and your attitude will suffer as well. So what is a better solution?

Figure out exactly what makes you hate your job.
Is it the actual work itself or the environment or working conditions? If you have a job you can care less about, then the obvious solution is to find a way to get into a job that means something to you. If you have a job that is in a field you like but you hate because of the working conditions (pay, co-workers, lousy boss, etc.) then you need to find a way to upgrade your conditions by going to another company or getting a promotion.

Although these solutions may seem obvious, the challenge is that because many people use rationalizations to feel better about their jobs even though deep down they hate it, they will feel comfortable where they’re at. Whenever we’re comfortable, we will stagnate and not do anything to change our situation.

So the way to deal with a job you hate is to really hate it. Don’t deny your emotions, they’re telling you something. Use that energy to create a plan and take action to move yourself towards a job, career, or company you will actually enjoy working for. When you know that there’s a bright future at the end of the tunnel instead of a brick wall, although you’ll still hate your job, you’ll have something to look forward to each day. That will make a huge difference in your level of happiness.

You will spend the majority of your adult life working. You have one life to live and it’s short. If you agree with these two statements then it should make no sense to you to be sticking with a job you hate for the rest of your life.

So the way you deal with a job you hate but can’t just outright quit yet, is to create a plan of escape to eventually be able to leave the job and do something you enjoy even if it takes years to accomplish because if you don’t, you’ll end up hating your life. And when you hate your life, what’s the point?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me