1306: [Part 1] 4 Signs You Hate Your Job & 5 Things You Can Do About It by Kristin Wong with Get Rich Slowly

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[00:00:53] This is Optimal Work Daily, Episode 1306. Four signs you hate your

[00:00:59] job and five things you can do about it. Part one by Kristen Wong with

[00:01:03] Get Rich Slowly dot work. And I'm Dan, I'm your host here and welcome to

[00:01:08] another edition of Optimal Work Daily on this Sunday. And as you heard,

[00:01:12] this is part one of two. So we're going to break this post up into a

[00:01:16] couple of pieces because it's a little bit on the longer side. So I'll

[00:01:19] read the first half for you right now. And then the second half in

[00:01:22] the Monday episode tomorrow. So with that, let's get right into part

[00:01:26] one as we optimize your life. Four signs you hate your job and five

[00:01:34] things you can do about it. Part one by Kristen Wong with Get Rich

[00:01:39] Slowly dot work.

[00:01:41] Over the summer, I read a book that likened a miserable job to

[00:01:44] hanging onto the edge of a cliff. I thought it was an

[00:01:47] appropriate analogy. Like most people, I've been there and

[00:01:51] that's totally what it feels like. You know you have to let go

[00:01:54] but letting go is scary. You can land in a better spot or you

[00:01:57] could meet your ruin. The author argued that sometimes letting go

[00:02:01] of that cliff is gradual. But once you do, you usually experience

[00:02:05] success. She had examples, but I imagine there are plenty of

[00:02:08] letting go stories that didn't turn out so well. Still, I'm a

[00:02:12] fan of letting go of things that don't serve you well. I also

[00:02:15] understand that some don't feel this is an option for

[00:02:18] financial reasons or otherwise. I've been thinking about this

[00:02:21] a lot lately. How do you know when you're on the edge

[00:02:23] of a cliff? What can you do about a job you hate? And how

[00:02:26] do your finances fit into the equation? Four signs you're over

[00:02:30] your job. Number one, you feel taken advantage of. In my

[00:02:35] experience, this is the first sign that you're mentally done

[00:02:38] with your job. You feel more than just unappreciated. You feel

[00:02:41] your boss is taking advantage of you. It's one thing to not

[00:02:44] get a pat on the back. It's another to feel like you're

[00:02:47] being manipulated. In my own experience, failing to speak

[00:02:50] up for myself has led to this situation. Some bosses viewed

[00:02:53] me as the good little worker bee who didn't give them

[00:02:55] trouble. Thus, if they had outrageous demands, I was the

[00:02:59] first person they'd go to because I was the easiest. I've

[00:03:02] learned to slowly break myself of this meekness and set a

[00:03:04] boundary between being a pushover and being a hard

[00:03:07] worker. A study from Florida State University backs up my

[00:03:10] experience. It found that when given an unreasonable

[00:03:13] amount or type of work, loyal, dutiful employees became

[00:03:16] jaded. When workers felt they were being taken

[00:03:19] advantage of, researchers found a 50% decline in quote

[00:03:23] helping behavior and a 35% increase in quote unquote

[00:03:27] anger at supervisors. Two, getting fired doesn't sound so

[00:03:32] bad. I was once contracted on a project known throughout

[00:03:36] its company for being completely terrible. Workers were

[00:03:38] expected to put in 50 hours a week for no other reason

[00:03:41] than to showcase their dedication. The project was so

[00:03:44] miserable, even seemingly kind colleagues would throw

[00:03:47] each other under the bus if it meant saving themselves. My

[00:03:50] cube mate, Ron, hated the project. Once I went to pick

[00:03:54] something out from the printer and found Ron's resume in

[00:03:56] the lower tray. I discreetly handed it back to him.

[00:03:59] Slightly embarrassed, he laughed. Wow, that shows you

[00:04:03] how much I care about getting fired. If getting fired

[00:04:06] doesn't sound too bad, it's probably time to let go

[00:04:08] of that cliff. Side note, Ron did let go. Shortly

[00:04:12] after, he found his dream job and moved to Hawaii.

[00:04:14] An extreme but inspirational example. Three, you

[00:04:18] purposely slack off. That Florida state study also

[00:04:22] found that hard workers had a 25% decrease in

[00:04:24] productivity when they felt they were being asked to do

[00:04:27] too much. I hate to admit it, but I've been there.

[00:04:30] In the past, I've purposely slacked off due to

[00:04:32] resentment. I was angry, frustrated and stressed

[00:04:35] out. And to protest, I passive-aggressively put

[00:04:38] in less effort. Now this is a really dumb thing

[00:04:40] to do because it doesn't really get the point

[00:04:42] across. Instead of being sympathetic to your

[00:04:44] dissatisfaction, your boss is more likely to

[00:04:47] focus on the fact that you've turned into a slacker.

[00:04:50] Also, work ethic is something I mostly cultivate for

[00:04:52] myself. So submitting lazy work is doing myself

[00:04:55] a disservice. And four, you feel stuck. It's a

[00:05:00] terrible feeling, the desire to move forward

[00:05:02] when your current situation is holding you back.

[00:05:05] You feel captive and the more captive you feel,

[00:05:07] the more frustrated you get. To me, this is the

[00:05:10] primary sign it's time to let go. I don't cope

[00:05:13] well with feeling stuck. But letting go means

[00:05:15] different things for different people. My mom, for

[00:05:18] example, has felt stuck at her job and her letting

[00:05:20] go was more of an emotional process. More on that later.

[00:05:24] Five things you can do about it. One, find something

[00:05:28] better. If you feel taken advantage of, you probably

[00:05:31] feel undervalued. If you think you have a lot

[00:05:34] to offer a company, perhaps you can find something

[00:05:36] better. However, you also have to consider what

[00:05:39] exactly would make you feel valued. For some

[00:05:41] people, that's not always money. It might mean

[00:05:43] a better position or more time off, or simply

[00:05:46] more praise. Finding something better might

[00:05:48] mean earning less, so you have to weigh the

[00:05:50] practical factors with the emotional ones.

[00:05:53] Example, when I was a technical writer, I felt

[00:05:55] stuck. I knew the chance of switching careers

[00:05:57] and earning less money was high, so I asked

[00:06:00] myself some questions. What's the likely

[00:06:02] difference in the amount of money I'll be

[00:06:04] earning? How long am I willing to earn less

[00:06:06] before I decide to go back to a

[00:06:08] dissatisfying but more lucrative career?

[00:06:11] What lifestyle comforts am I willing to give

[00:06:13] up? How hard would it be to return to that

[00:06:15] career? How much would I earn upon reentry?

[00:06:18] And finally, is it worth the difference in

[00:06:20] salary to try doing something I love? My

[00:06:22] answers weighed more on the side of

[00:06:24] switching, so I let go.

[00:06:27] Two, hear that on tomorrow's episode. You

[00:06:34] just listened to part one of the post

[00:06:35] titled, Four Signs You Hate Your Job and

[00:06:38] Five Things You Can Do About It by

[00:06:40] Kristen Wong with Get Rich Slowly.org

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[00:09:00] to Kristen for this post which is

[00:09:02] off to a great start so far and of

[00:09:04] course I'll finish it up for you

[00:09:05] tomorrow. Before that though let me

[00:09:07] tell you a little bit more about

[00:09:08] Kristen whose name you may or may

[00:09:09] not know depending on how long you've

[00:09:11] been tuning into some of our other

[00:09:12] shows. Kristen Wong is a freelance

[00:09:14] writer and journalist whose work has

[00:09:16] appeared in the New York Times, El,

[00:09:18] Catapult, The Atlantic, New York

[00:09:20] magazines, The Cut, Life Hacker, NBC

[00:09:23] News, and many more publications. She's

[00:09:26] a winner of the Society of

[00:09:27] Professional Journalists N. W.

[00:09:29] Excellence in Journalism Award and

[00:09:31] she's worked in technical writing as

[00:09:33] she mentioned in the post. She has

[00:09:34] produced online videos and even wrote

[00:09:36] a comedy series for Netflix. You can

[00:09:38] learn more about her at Kristen

[00:09:40] Wong dot com. That's K-R-I-S-T-I-N-W-O-N-G.

[00:09:45] Okay that is going to do it for this

[00:09:47] edition of OWD but it's not the end

[00:09:49] of this post as I mentioned we will

[00:09:51] have the rest for you tomorrow

[00:09:53] where your optimal life awaits.