Enjoying the Job From Hell

I speak from personal experience on this topic.  In the past I have had not 1 but 3 different jobs that were – and this is an understatement – in different ways and for different reasons like having to work in a living Hell. And for various reasons, except for one, I had to endure those times in Hell for a season because I needed the jobs.

Today, I know several folks who are in the same position I have found myself in the past: They hate
their jobs. Interestingly, it’s not the function of the job that they hate but rather the climate, the expectations, the pressure to perform. It’s also because in today’s economic climate, EVERYONE is on guard – so it seems that most employees are in survival mode, just trying to hang on to the job that they do have which creates a dysfunctional, non-creative, tense work atmosphere.  Not good. How would anyone like to have to get up each and every day of the workweek with the realization that NOTHING is going to be pleasant that day and that at the end of the day, you will have been overworked and frustrated, dreading the next day and the next with no end in sight? Really not good.

So, how do you endure and attempt to find something positive about a job you hate? I’m not going to lie and give you a bullet point list of “woo-woo” tips and hints.  They won’t help. The only thing that I can share that honestly kept me going during those times for me was the fact that as long as I showed up with a good attitude and did my best, whomever I worked for kept putting a check in my bank account every 2 weeks, paid all or some of my health benefits, provided some sort of paid-time-off and partially funded my retirement account. Yes, it all came down to the money.  And in today’s economy, for so many folks that’s what it all boils down to as well. That’s o.k.

But what about job satisfaction, personal fulfillment, creativity, etc.?  Well, those may have to be put on hold when considering the practicalities and realities about the current job market.  It’s an employer’s market and if you don’t think that you could be easily replaced – think again. Too many really good, talented folks are looking so employer’s can “cherry pick” from the best and brightest.

Bottom line? Be grateful for the job that you do have – no matter how hellish the circumstances –because it could be worse: You could be in the multitudinous ranks of the best and the brightest who are all looking for a job because they are unemployed.  And if you were to ask any of them, that, my friend, is truly Hell.