I’m lucky to be a Community Manager. It affords me with a wealth of opportunities to connect with motivated, interesting people. About a month ago it provided me with an opportunity to connect with Shane Mac—driven entrepreneur, unstoppable content creator and all around righteous dude.
It’s hard not to be inspired by someone like Shane because he has a new idea to share with me every time we chat. I really liked his idea for Ask Summit and was happy that he asked me to be a part of it. I’ll let Shane and his partner in crime, Andrew Swenson, explain what Ask Summit actually is, but I wanted to share my interview for the project. I answered the question: What do you say to people who tell you that they hate their job.
What really bugs me about people who say that they hate their job is that they take no accountability for making their situation any better. You gotta take charge of your own destiny to make things happen. I talk about this below with Shane …
What do you say when people tell you that they hate their jobs? Any sympathy for their strife? Let me know what you think …
19 Responses for "Ask Yourself: Why do I hate my job?"
The honor is all mine. Thanks for everything.
Not taking accountability is a big piece of the puzzle. Here's another angle. When people whine about hating their job, they usually have a ready, sympathetic audience. Our "supportive listening" is really an unspoken collusion to keeping everyone stuck. Go find someone who'll listen a bit and then ask a hard questions – "so, how can you make it better"?
If you take no responsibility, then you're just bitching.
I'll echo Shane's response. Thanks Ryan.
When you are doing a job it means that you are taking some serious responsibility and its your character that is at stake.For me, after my family my character is utmost important to me.
This post is fairly complete, covering from general situations (every job has tasks that are not enjoyable) to bad/boring situations that are going stagnant. The video blog makes things really easy too in terms of not reading too many text. For the odd tasks that suck, I think reading some other blogs or books (or even talking to people about it) may help in terms of making those process more enjoyable experiences. In terms of not being able to move out of a mediocre situation with no improvement in sight, I totally agree with you. I have a blog post on a different topic but brings up the same issues/examples about my rant on status quo not going to do anything to improve bad situations. That entry is ready to be published, so do stay tuned for it perhaps to complement each other's entry.
I agree with what you guys said. I'm dislike the victim mentality. Figure out what's not working and make it work…or get out.
Great post. If I look back at why I eventually left my last job, the turning point was when my roommate said "I don't want to hear about the shit at your job until you do something about it." Having someone tell me what this post says was what I needed. So keep it up.
I love this video post- Especially when you hit on the point "If you something enough you are going to get tired of it" It's so true, you need to mix it up and get involved a variety of things and create until you find something you love.
Perfect timing. I've been pondering leaving a job (where my whole job is the part that sucks, and I am actively discouraged from expanding beyond that) for several months. Time to stop whining and do something about it. Thanks for the push.
When I was little, my dad would always say the same thing whenever I would complain about something: I heard you the first time. Have you done anything to change it? No? Don't talk to me about it again until you do.
Is it your job to come to SX and then STOP blogging?
Glad you liked the mac and cheese!
Sorry Philip … I took a major swan dive for awhile. I just posted something new though and I hope you'll go check it out and let me know what you think >> http://bit.ly/bzvbpX
The Mac n' Cheese was fan-freaking-tastic! Anyone reading this post should stop reading about career development and go check out Ninette's food blog instead >> http://bit.ly/9UniWi
It's nice to have someone in your life that doesn't beat around the bush. They mean seem like a complete asshole at the time, but more times than not what they say ends up being important.
One thing that I've learned from my start-up life is that I learn more from doing things that I hate than by doing things that I love.
Sorry for the delayed reply … So it's been 10 weeks … What ended up happening?!
Your dad seems like a righteous dude. I love people that tell you the truth and don't beat around the bush. I was lucky enough to grow up with lots of people like that in my life. Sounds like you did too.
[...] For older generations, this might sound a little pretentious. Most people my age don’t have mortgages to pay or kids to feed, so what’s with all the whining? But I think this stage of life is something that should be taken seriously. The transition into real world, out-of-school, on-my-own adulthood can be incredibly difficult. These critical times define our paths in years to come, and we’re scared to death of failure. But whether you’re a confused college graduate, desperate and unemployed, bored of your love life or unsatisfied with your accomplishments, the best solution is to get off your ass and do something about it. [...]
Leave a reply