Lately, I’ve been reminded of how much having a job you don’t enjoy sucks. Not that I advocate throwing pity parties regularly, but sometimes you just have to get it out, right? I mean, for those of us in day jobs we don’t like, there’s often a good reason – for me it’s the freedom to work remotely while earning enough money to build my own businesses that one day will be full time, but for now, its a whole lot of ‘sucking it up’ and focusing on my goals.
For anyone else in this situation, I know how tough it can be to grind away in a shitty job day in, day out, so I wanted to share with you some of the ways I cope. (The disclaimer of course being that if you go out and shoot your boss, I cannot be held accountable!) Enjoy!
- Have a ridiculously well thought out plan about how you are going to leave your job – including the time frame and the steps you’ll take to get there. Without this, life can become unbearable, so stick it up in front of your desk and read it every day.
- Watch Horrible Bosses and remind yourself it could be worse…unless of course you have a thing for Jennifer Aniston and bananas.
- Allow yourself 5 minutes of venting time at the end of the day to talk with friends/partner/colleagues. After this time, shut off your thoughts and try to let go of the day and relax. This can be hard, but don’t allow yourself to ruin your evening time by stressing too much about work!
- If you’re building your own business out of your day job that’s great, but make sure you give yourself time to relax and have fun every week – burning yourself out will only make your job feel even more overwhelming, so be strict at allowing yourself some ‘me’ time.
- Print a picture of your bosses face and find a shooting range nearby that allows you to bring your own targets.
- Think of it as character building – what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger, so rise to the challenge and overcome it every day. By the time you eventually quit you’ll be stronger than ever!
- Get enough sleep. This one can be kind of hard considering a crappy job can keep you awake at night, so try to calm yourself in the evenings and maybe even do some intense exercise during the day to tire yourself out. Nothing feels as bad after 8 hours sleep, so don’t burn the candle at both ends!
- Pull a 100% non-guilt inducing sickie and go out and have some fun, Ferris Bueller style. And remember, just like in the movie, your ‘Rooney’ will get what’s coming to him eventually!
- Fantasise about the day you do finally quit, including a Godfather ending, Scooby Doo ending, and any other movie scene of your choice.
- Remember you have a choice. You don’t have to stay in a job you hate, but you choose to because it will allow you to do what you want in the future. Never lose sight of this!
Photo Credit – Thanks to cleferson (sxu license)
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Agree…, all the above are working for me.
I had been surviving for 5 years now….
This is hilarious! Couldn’t agree more. Having that end point already planned out is the only way to keep you sane. The things we have to do to reach the ultimate goal eh?!
Thanks Kiri, tell me about it, it’s damn tough! Thankfully the end goal is worth it though, right?!
Good to hear…and hopefully you are not writing this from a jail cell somewhere ; )
All of this is great advice. I’m sure most of us have been in this situation at some time or another. Some of us – like me – more than once! I agree though that you need to keep that end goal in focus and it is totally worth it in the end. But you are right about making sure you enjoy yourself along the way – it’s so easy to burn out.
As a person who works in Occ Rehab, for people burnt out from their jobs, this is actually very good advise, all jokes aside! Spot in, from a self care mental health perspective!
Hi Cherina, thanks, you’re so right! Hopefully you don’t find yourself in that situation again anytime soon! : )