When you can’t think of anything other than “I hate my job!” whenever you go to work, you may have to sit down and start making new plans.
In this article:
- When to Know You’re Fed Up With Your Job
- Why You Hate Your Job
- Where to Draw the Line
- Who to Talk to About All This
- How Do You Get Out of a Miserable Job?
- How To Find A Better Job
- How to Find a New Career
“I Hate My Job And Want To Quit” | Your Save-Yourself SOP
When to Know You’re Fed Up With Your Job
Your alarm goes off and you know it’s time to go to work. A feeling of dread washes over you. You have no sense of urgency about getting yourself ready. You barely hear of anyone meeting a new day with unmatched enthusiasm about going to work, but what you’re feeling is different. You don’t feel a sense of purpose.
Once you get to your place of work, the same four words are running through your head. It has become your daily mantra: “I hate my job…” It’s all you think about when you go about your daily tasks, and it’s all that’s running through your mind when you interact with your co-workers.
When your job only demoralizes you and has more risks and fallbacks than benefits, it’s probably time to consider if staying is a good idea. You can keep pushing yourself to work, but you risk burning yourself out.
When you feel like there’s no point in staying where you are, and if there’s no more sense of accomplishment and purpose, then it’s safe to say you’re fed up with your job.
Why You Hate Your Job
Before you make any drastic changes you may regret later on (like rage-quitting, upending tables, and flipping off that boss you hate), take a breather. First, you have to figure out the exact reason why you hate your job.
Start by asking yourself if it’s your job that you hate or your career. Sit down and map out your plans. Is this miserable phase of your life just a temporary step? What exactly do you hate about your current job?
Do you find yourself grumbling “I hate people” after every unnecessary office party, or “I hate my boss?” Is it the actual work that you hate doing? Are the opportunities good enough? Ask yourself if these are truly the reasons why you hate your job.
There could also be a wildcard reason: maybe you’re the problem. It may not always be the answer, but it’s worth thinking about.
Perhaps you need a change in mindset or need to work on your people skills or work ethic. The worst case scenario is you work on improving yourself, which only helps you grow into a better employee or overall human being. And that sounds more like a win in our book.
Where to Draw the Line
There are many reasons why people stay in jobs despite saying “I really hate my job” every time the opportunity presents itself. The job market isn’t always promising, and hopping from job to job doesn’t look too good on a resume. Finding yourself in between jobs is also a terrifying notion, and can threaten your financial stability.
Most people do their best to live with jobs they hate because they consider it a stepping stone in their careers. You may really hate dragging yourself to work every day, but you should find ways to milk all you can from it: training, workshops, new skills, even free medical checkups if possible. That way, when you switch over to a new job you will have more skills than resentment.
When risks outweigh benefits, or when someone—it could be a boss or a colleague—seriously threatens the quality of your work, then it’s time to bring out the chalk and draw a big fat line on the ground.
Knowing where to draw the line with your job is useful when you’re planning a career. Keep in mind that your dedication is to your own development, career, and how it shapes your life in the long run. If your current job jeopardizes that plan, it might be time to think about jumping ship.
RELATED: How to Deal With An Annoying Colleague (Without Punching Them In The Face)
Who to Talk to About All This
In the days of old, all a guy needed to do to vent was to come home and start going on a work tirade to a wife or girlfriend. In these progressive days, however, your wife or girlfriend will most likely have their own vilified jobs and bosses. It may be difficult to find time and energy to rant to each other, and besides, bringing that negative energy home just wrecks its integrity as a safe haven.
Disgruntled employees often vent in bars and go out in groups to let out their frustrations. It’s everywhere in pop—and real-life—culture.
There is already a children’s cartoon where a red panda who works as an accountant heads off to a karaoke bar after work to belt out heavy metal hits to de-stress. Just make sure you can trust whoever you’re venting to.
Others tell their woes on platforms like reddit.com or jobvent.com. Not only does posting anonymously help you get things off your chest, reading about other work horrors may put things in perspective for you.
Not one to rant online? Why not pick up a hobby to help you de-stress?
It’s also helpful to have a solid support system consisting of more than one person you can rely on outside of work and online. That way the burden of your problems can be evenly spread out and dealt with. You can even help out with the problems of others.
How Do You Get Out of a Miserable Job?
Once you’ve taken into consideration why exactly you hate your job, you can start planning your next steps. Often you won’t need to do much beyond simply gritting your teeth and just getting down to business, or working on yourself.
If you have no choice but to quit though, pat yourself on the back. It’s not an easy thing to do. It can also be scary, so you have to be prepared to quit the smart way. Here’s how:
- Put together a plan of your next career step, if you haven’t already. Do you take the next career step? Go back to school? Work from home? Care for kids? Travel? Pursue your passions? It may be time for any of these.
- Secure your finances. Make sure you’re financially protected until you secure your next job. Ideally, there should be enough to last three months at the very least. You should also start slashing your budget to make it last longer.
- Set deadlines. Make sure you know it and make sure your boss does too. Somehow you also work harder and more enthusiastically knowing you’re close to leaving anyway.
How To Find A Better Job
So you’re off to find a new job. Preferably one that doesn’t make you want to punch a hole into a wall. Make sure your next step is what makes the most sense for you.
What should your next job have that your most recent one didn’t? More growth opportunities? A better boss? A better office environment/culture? Take these into serious consideration when applying for jobs and at interviews.
Once you’ve found some jobs you want to apply for, put together a resume nobody can ignore. Some people make different resumes for different organizations to help lead the interviews later on.
How to Find a New Career
Sometimes when you figure out you hate your job, you may end up deciding it’s time to change careers. Keep in mind that the transition takes time, and if you haven’t found your path yet, don’t be too hard on yourself.
If you haven’t decided yet, it’s helpful to take note of what skills you’ve mastered, and what you’ve become excellent at from working in the past. Perhaps some of them can be an asset in an industry you can thrive in.
Should you quit your job if you are unhappy? Learn from Clarity Provoked:
Hating your job is normal for everyone at some point in their careers—even those working on their passions want to smash something in frustration every once in a while. Sometimes it will just be a matter of how much you’re willing to compromise and how far you’re willing to go in taking your next steps.
What do you to deal with a job you hate? Come and vent in the comments section below!
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