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Help! I hate my job

By Vumile Msweli
15 September 2018   |   3:00 am
“Vumi help, I hate my job,” I have heard this phrase more times then I care to count from my clients and have also wanted to scream it from a roof-top. The reality is many of us spend more of our time at work than anywhere else. On average a working individual will spend 50…

[ FILE PHOTO] Desk job

“Vumi help, I hate my job,” I have heard this phrase more times then I care to count from my clients and have also wanted to scream it from a roof-top.

The reality is many of us spend more of our time at work than anywhere else.

On average a working individual will spend 50 years at work, that is, 600 months equating to 13 500 weeks which is 114 750 days all culminating in a total of 6, 885, 000 minutes.

That is a gargantuan amount of time spent at work.

So it is unsurprising that when work evokes absolute abhorrence in you it is taxing emotionally, psychologically and physically.

How does one begin to deal with this? The first step is to recall why you joined the organisation.

Many people join an organisation for its brand and the chance to be associated with its credibility, the growth prospects within the company as well as the opportunity to acquire a certain skillset.

In auditing your reason why you took the job you can answer for yourself if you have acquired the skill, position you initially sought.

If you have accomplished your desired outcomes what do you want your next challenge to be and where can you find it.

If not, how do you intend to fulfil your initial goals whilst still in the unhappy environment you may find yourself in.

I have long held the belief that what you do not master, masters you. In every situation there is a lesson to be learnt, if you do not learn the lesson it will reappear again in your life for you to learn it.

No place quite like work offers the opportunity to learn leadership of both ourselves as well as others.

I am of the opinion that what we focus on expands so our perspective and focus is critical to how we feel.

The reality is it’s important to shift our perspective.

Marianne Williamson aptly stated, “A miracle is a shift in perception.” Your perception can shift in how you view any situation from negative to positive.

Your frustration with mundane repetitive work can be shifted to how can you automate or make the entire process more efficient to free your time for more strategic work.

Your perception can shift seeing a negative boss to a first-hand, front row leadership class as to how to not lead.

I know this ‘ask to shift your perception’ is no easy task, but what I ask of you is what I had to ask of myself.

I recall having a boss whose unrealistic demands, superhuman expectations, haphazard decision-making patterns would leave me reeling, anxious and on a constant emotional rollercoaster flirting between sanity and fear.

I picked up the habit of keeping a journal writing all the things she taught me not to be as a leader.

I learnt how to give clear instructions, keep my team accountable by getting their buy in, how to create an empowering environment by delegating decision-making, request feedback so I can become a better leader and how to generate an atmosphere that nurtures dynamic opposing views to drive innovation.

By teaching me how not to lead, she helped me sharpen my skills as a leader.

This being said sometimes our detestation for our jobs is caused by something which is much deeper, a fundamental differing in values makes reconciliation between self and organisation near impossible.

When this is the case one suffers a great deal of inner turmoil and I believe the most amicable act is to part ways with the company.

Either than this I hope you are able to meet each circumstance with an open mind to learn and shift your perception.

So when the time comes, when you say “Vumi I love my job!” you are all the better for it.

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