Help, I hate my job! What should I do?

This is an obvious one. The majority of us have monetary responsibilities in life. Mortgage, rent, food bills, gas and electricity, etc..it goes on. 

You’re worried about having financial stability to cover these overheads. However, this reason alone should not be strong enough to tie you to a miserable existence. We’re a firm believer that there’s a feasible solution to 90% of job related issues.

Unlike the reason above, if you fall into this category then you have more wiggle-room in choosing the options available to you. One obvious option may be to re-assess your lifestyle expenses and choose what is more important to you.

Trading your time where you’re unhappy for some escapism during your non-working hours? Some people can manage that trade off as it depends on how unhappy you are and whether you’re able to assess why you hate your job and whether you can address this.

You’d be surprised that there are so many of us that feel like we’re at a dead-end, feeling stuck over knowing what route can be taken. 

In this instance, it really helps to assess a multitude of things, which we’ll cover below. Again, we’re a strong believer that there’s a feasible solution to 90% of all job related issues.

Like the first reason, this could be a real hurdle to moving on from your current job, if that’s what you really want to do. In this instance, aside from posting about your specific scenario in our forum to vent and seek advice from our community in the forum, speaking with a career advisor may be beneficial in your particular area of job specialism.

We completely understand that there may be instances where this may be applicable. Some cultures lend themselves to wanting to please family members or “save face” in not wanting to appear to quit. 

You may even self-impose this pressure in wanting to not give up and persevere as there are certain personality types (particularly those that are Type A, competitive in nature). However, above everything, it’s important to be compassionate with yourself and cut yourself some slack when deciding on your ultimate decision.

If the main reason is reputational whereby you want to portray yourself in a certain way to peers and family members, think about whose happiness is ultimately important – yours. 

Notwithstanding, point 1 – whereby you have responsibilities, prioritise your mental health and happiness where possible. A solution can be achieved.

Four important words: please practice self-compassion. These four words are easier said than done for some but honestly, being kind to yourself is super important. Your health, wellbeing and happiness is incredibly important and these should be factored in when deciding on what to do next. Again, this isn’t a clear-cut rule as there are instances where it might make sense to complete something or see it through. 

For example, you’re doing some professional qualifications and you have one more exam left until you’re fully qualified and this will mean that you no longer have to do exams ever again should you choose not to after the last one. In this instance, it may make sense to proverbially bite your tongue hard and complete it. Alternatively, you may want to defer the last exam and take a break for a while. There isn’t a clear-cut answer. If you’re stuck, post your scenario in the forum for our community to try and help you.

Remember, we ALL face some degree of “failure”. Failure in itself is subjective. Even the most super-duper successful people have encountered and dealt with failure. Resilience is strengthened in times of adversity and there are plenty of lessons to be learnt in career/job paths that that historically haven’t worked out and future cases where they may not work out.