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I Hate Every Job – What Should I Do?

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Most of us spend more time at work than we do sleeping. We see more of our work colleagues than our own family or friends.

There can be few more depressing or frustrating experiences than hating your job, especially when you consider how much of your time you spend there. But is there a solution?

If you’ve hated every job you’ve ever had then what should you do to put things right?  

My Experience With Jobs I Hate

I don’t mind admitting that I’ve wasted many years of my working life at jobs I hated. It would take monumental effort to drag myself out of bed in the morning, knowing what I had to face that day. Accepting that I now had to give everything I had for the next 8 hours, devoted to something I loathed.

The days would drag on, like time had slowed to a crawl. Every meeting, every customer, every email would fill me with dread.

My daydreams became fantasies about quitting my job entirely. About retiring early. Maybe even living like a hobo in the woods, if only I could escape from my job.

I would estimate that I spent some 12 years like that. And when you’ve felt that way for so long you tend to do some deep thinking. Questioning. Researching online and speaking to others.

Now, while I long to run my own business, I don’t hate my current job. In fact, I quite enjoy it. As jobs go, at least. In this article I want to discuss some of the discoveries I made, as well as what others told me over those long years of darkness.

So if you hate your job what should you do?  

Be More Specific With Your Hatred

We humans are complex individuals, with millions of neurons passing messages around our brains. The more you can understand your current situation the more effective any changes to your life can be. After all, how can you solve a problem that you don’t understand?

So while it’s tempting to just tell yourself that you hate “everything” it can be very beneficial to break down your hatred; to dissect and understand it.

Some questions to consider right now…

Do you hate every job you’ve ever had?

You may hate your current job, but have you hated every other job you’ve had over the years? And have you hated everything about all of those jobs? Perhaps the answer is “yes”, but in many cases I would argue that at least one of those wasn’t quite as painful as the others. Or that one specific part of a job was quite acceptable.

If it’s just your current job, then changing employers may make sense. If it’s been a multitude of jobs then getting a better idea of what you’ve enjoyed (and hated) can be a useful roadmap for making meaningful changes.

Do hate the idea of any job?

A few years ago I was in a job that I hated. Compounding this feeling was the fact that I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do instead. I felt boxed into a career I didn’t enjoy and moving elsewhere would just mean more of the same.

Sadly, at the time, even considering a change of career entirely wasn’t doing much for me. It wasn’t so much that I was lazy. It was more like I had lost the ability to feel anything positive about work – any kind of work. And that’s a dark place to be.

Do you feel trapped in your current position?

If you hate your job so much then why haven’t you made a change? One of the most likely reasons is that you feel trapped for some reason.

Perhaps you’re earning so much that no other employer would match your current package. Or maybe you’re a specialist in your field and there aren’t many competing employers. Or perhaps you’re just not very good at interviews, and despite your best efforts nobody seems to offer you the job afterwards.

Are you frustrated about your lack of progression?

Is there a promotion you feel you deserve, but you’re not getting? Have other people been promoted ahead of you? Have you reached a glass ceiling through which you can’t pass?

What – specifically – do you hate about your job?

Grab a pen and paper and make a list of all the things you hate. The length of your work day? The hours you work? Your colleagues? Your manager? Again – be specific. Once you’ve got your list try to “rank” all these elements in order to identify the biggest factors making you hate your job. You then have some issues to focus on.

Hopefully by now you’ve invested some time into deeply considering the most important changes that need to happen. You may have even surprised yourself by appreciating a few smaller things that are actually quite good about your current (or past) jobs. Your destination is clearer. But what can you do to make these goals a reality?

Live More Outside Work

For many of us, work is the single biggest focus in our lives. We spend huge amounts of time there, making our free time all the more precious.

Sadly, our jobs even impinge on weekends and evenings thanks to things like worrying about work, ironing our clothes ready for the next day or bringing some paperwork home with us. If you’re not careful all of a sudden it’s Christmas again, and all you have to show for the last 12 months is a reasonable performance review.

I have personally found that making better use of my free time has made a considerable improvement in my quality of life. And by enjoying my non-work time more it makes work far more bearable – simply because I know that it is a means to an end.

I now do anything I would class as a “chore” during the week – laundry, ironing, grocery shopping, cleaning etc. This means that I have two full days each week with no responsibilities at all. I’m free to sleep in, or go out all day, or head out for dinner on Saturday evening without worry. I engage in hobbies; I go hiking, look after my pets and read more.

Not only is it fun, but I truly go back to work feeling refreshed on Monday morning.  

Sleep Better

Sleep can have a massive impact on our waking time. Certainly working a full day after too little sleep is likely to make everything seem worse than it is.

Once upon a time I didn’t think I had time to sleep, what with a hectic 60 hour week at work before trying to fit everyday life in the few available gaps. What I found was that as soon as I started to make sleep a priority I felt far better in the mornings. I found my job more bearable, and I also had more energy in the evenings to enjoy myself.

So start going to bed earlier, sleep for longer, and see what sort of impact it has on you. Even if you don’t feel any better about your job, you’ll hopefully benefit from being able to live more fully on weekends rather than just trying to recover from the week.

Emotionally Disconnect from Work

I vividly remember handing in my notice at one particular job that I hated. The only consolation was that it couldn’t get any worse. And then it did. Repeatedly. Every time I thought we’d reached the bottom it just fell further. I finally cracked and gave my month’s notice.

Suddenly it was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I didn’t care about pointless new policies coming in, because I wouldn’t be here to deal with them. I didn’t worry if I had a bad performance review as I was just about to head out of the door. And I certainly didn’t feel obliged to do overtime when requested.

I was emotionally detached; it felt like I was floating serenely above all the noise and clutter below, observing it from a distance. In truth, while I worked hard to ensure that my output didn’t fall in those few weeks, I felt calmer and more relaxed at any other time there.

Since then I’ve realized you don’t necessarily have to quit to feel this way. The key is consciously deciding that you may control your circumstances, but you do control how it affects you (if at all). So start trying to be more aware of what’s going on at work, and refusing to let it affect you. If you’re like me you’ll find that you’re a lot happier as a result.

Is It Time to Make a Big Change?

I spent over a decade as a retail manager. I hated pretty much every minute of it, no matter how many times I jumped from one company to another. Retail just wasn’t me. So I made a big change and jumped industry. It wasn’t easy, but I made it happen.

Of all the changes that I made, this probably had the single biggest impact on my happiness. If you’re feeling “typecast” in your current role, with no obvious route out, then maybe it’s time to start preparing for a complete change of career.

Can You Afford to Cut Your Hours?

If you asked me to list the things about my current job that still frustrate me then one of the biggest is simply the number of hours that I work.

However just because I work full time now, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever. If you hate your job, ask yourself what the chances of going part-time would be? Also, try to assess whether this would make you happier?

If you dropped from a 5-day week to a 3-day week, meaning you had more “free time” than “work time” would you be able to stomach your job? If so, then it may be time to have a chat to your line manager – assuming you can still make ends meet on your reduced salary.

Have You Considered Health Issues?

An interesting discussion on Reddit involved dozens of people complaining about hating their job. Then one individual chimed in to say that he’d actually felt exactly the same way, until he spoke to his doctor and got diagnosed with depression.

Apparently a key symptom of depression is a reduced feeling of pleasure, and increased negative thoughts. He reported that once he started to receive treatment he actually started to enjoy his job far more; he realized that it was the condition making him hate his job, rather than the job itself.

So, while I’m no doctor, if you really do hate every job you’ve ever had, I would encourage you to seek medical assistance to see if you’re suffering from some kind of undiagnosed condition.

Why Not Start a Small Business?

One final step that helped me to enjoy work more was starting my own small business. I now run a number of blogs. Not only do these allow me to utilize my creativity (something typically lacking in the workplace) but they also earn me a side income too.

Even better, starting my sites while working means that I have been able to live on my salary, and re-invest all my online income. This has meant I could grow my websites much faster than I otherwise could.

Now I’m reaching the point where I can afford to cut down my work week, with my websites more than making up for the lost income.

Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be able to work on them full time and wave goodbye to working as an employee entirely.

Hate your job? If you can't wait to leave your job then here are some steps you can take to get out sooner and make your remaining time less painful.

Richard

Sun-worshipper and obsessive frugality blogger. For loads more money-saving advice come and join us on Facebook.

5 comments

  • Help! I’m stuck. I’d love to know more about how you got out of retail management!

  • “Sun-Worshipper” in your bio made me laugh. I relate!
    Great article, made me feel some hope about the future and my work life. Thank you.

  • The problem for me is that I hate the very concept of having to work. I do not want to spend every day performing tasks that mean nothing to me, and that is what every job is. I don’t care about solving problems or changing the world or any of that stuff. I don’t enjoy responsibility and I derive no sense of fulfilment from a “job well done.” Honestly all I want is to do is life a life of leisure. I know how that sounds but you feel how you feel. (I should point out that I work full-time and have done so for decades; I do what is expected of me, I just hate it!) My dream is to wake up when I want, putter around the house for a while, maybe watch some CNN or Netflix, listen to some music, go to a movie or museum, travel, etc., every day. There is nothing “productive” that holds any interest for me. It’s all just tedium. 🙁

  • angela melville says:

    This piece was really helpful. Thanks so much (London)

  • Nonetheless says:

    I hate the concept of work entirely. I manifest physical symptoms, doctor medicates me, so I can continue working. I cry on breaks, and my blood pressure is 170/115 most of the time. I’m trapped. The job doesn’t matter. I am stuck in one place for whatever duration they decide. It’s completely maddening. I’ve already had a couple heart attacks. If one does me in, I’ll be free! Honestly, what’s the point in grinding your bones until you die, never knowing one moment’s happiness?