“Stuck” with a Job You Hate?

Administration, sales, waiting tables, leading a team – it doesn’t matter what it is, only that you hate it and dream of quitting every day. But for whatever reason, you are stuck with it. Sounds familiar?

It’s not as bad as it sounds. Also you can use it to improve yourself. 

I’ve been “stuck” a couple of times and after the initial period of frustration, I decided to put things into my own hands.

The keywords in this situation are: proactivity and finding challenges.

I would say the starting point towards getting control is examining the reasons for doing that particular job in the first place. Most often, the reason will be money, supporting yourself or dependants, though it can also be starting out from zero.

Putting all reasons aside, it comes down to: you need this job at this given time.

So how can you possibly make it better? Why not by taking control of it, instead of being “stuck”?

If you take this perspective, then you may go on and ask yourself: “How should I make full use of this job?” Then you can go through the circumstances and possibilities that the job offers, depending on the case. This varies from job to job, but at least you’re on the right path. One thing is always certain: you’ll definitely find something useful, with the right attitude.

In high school, I worked as a bartender in a local café. It wasn’t absolutely necessary, like later in life, but my parents were unable to provide me with any pocket money and no teenager wants to be stuck at home. So I did it. It wasn’t something I liked. All kinds of people were coming on to me and it wasn’t easy to shake them off, since they were customers. I had to listen to endless drunken stories. I had to wash glasses with cold water. I had to drink along with customers, even when I didn’t feel like it. I had to bear humiliation, insults. I had to work. Nevertheless, I developed very good communication skills, learned a lot about people’s characters and personalities (which I’ve always been interested in) and customer care, made friends and earned the money I needed at that time.

Years later, I’ve got myself in a situation to work an office job that wasn’t appealing at all, boring and completely unchallenging. You may start by whining, then feeling sorry for yourself, then anger might kick in and my least favorite, depression. However, at some point I started exploring all aspects of the job and researching for more. This actually made it very interesting and eventually landed me a different job in the same company.

There’ll always be aspects of your job that you hate, but remember to fully use those that you love. If there are none, make them yourself. Take control; feel good about yourself and somebody will notice. You will be happier.

And if you really can’t help it sometimes to feel angry or bad, hit the gym. Fuel your energy there. It does wonders.

Have you ever done a job you hate? Did you feel “stuck”? What did you do? I’d like to hear from anyone who’s willing to share, because I’m always willing to listen.