What if my purposeful job sucks?

In a previous post I took issue with an article that suggested your career does not need a purpose. I disagree. A lot.

I shared and rebutted some myths that constantly pop up in the discussion about careers and purpose. One of those myths was: Purpose means your job will be fun and enjoyable. My response was…

“Sometimes work sucks. Some roles suck. Some bosses suck. Some companies suck. If you hate your job, do something about it. But don’t blame it on purpose. Your job doesn’t suck because you made a choice to have a positive impact on the world.”

In this post I share what I consider your top options if you want to, as I said, do something about it.

Stick with the job as is and be angry.

Blame it on your boss. Blame it on the recruiter who promised you the world. Blame it on your teachers. Blame it on your parents. Blame it on society. Heck, blame it on me. Why not?

Choosing this option will ruin your life and I don’t recommend it. But it is an option. One that far too many people choose without realizing they’ve made a choice, and without awareness that there are better choices available. I think it helps to recognize this as a choice. It’s quite empowering.

Adopt a longer-term perspective.

Maybe you think your job sucks because you’re still learning the basics while yearning for more glamorous work.

I don’t believe in the old-school mindset that people need to “pay their dues”. But I do believe you need to develop some mastery of the basic tasks before moving onto the sexier work.

If that’s where you are in your career, have an honest conversation with yourself and a mentor or two who will tell you the truth. Because moving on to another role, another boss, another company is not going to solve this for you. If the profession, industry, and role feel like a good match for your purpose but you don’t like the work, ask yourself if it’s because you’re still learning the basics. Then throw yourself into that work and develop your skills so you can be trusted with the work you really want to do.

Remember what Picasso said: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Change your mindset.

Purpose is about the ‘why’, not the ‘what’ or the ‘how’. The what and how can sometimes suck. That doesn’t mean it is not in service of an important why.

If you really care about your purpose then it might be worth enduring some work that is unpleasant. As Nietzsche said “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” This should never be an excuse for leaders to tolerate needlessly shitty work experiences. But pursuing meaningful impact (a purpose) is not easy. Remind yourself of why you’re doing this work and see if you still hate it.

If, for whatever reason, you have to do tasks you find unpleasant, remember that you can often choose who you do them for. For example, maybe you have to proofread lots of documents and you hate proofreading. Let’s assume for now that you truly do have to spend a lot of time proofreading. Still, you could proofread documents for a private equity fund so they can buy a company or you could proofread grant applications for a foundation so they can try and save the planet. Would that matter to you? If it would, it might not be the tasks you hate, it might be where and why you’re doing them.

Change the way you work.

In my corporate experience, I have seen an insane amount of energy spent on work that didn’t matter or methods of work that wasted time and increased pain. So much of the way work is done is nothing more than a hangover from years past — and a lot of it from the industrial revolution.

There is no good reason to work in ways that don’t lead to better outcomes and that make you miserable. Never assume that the way you see work being done around you is the way it has to be. Odds are that if you find something stupid and painful that many of your coworkers do as well.

Always ask yourself two questions when assigned a task:

1. Does it need to be done at all? Does it really contribute to the company’s desired outcomes? If you don’t think so, challenge it. Respectfully. Any time you free up by avoiding useless work can be spent doing work that can help you fulfill your purpose and that might be more enjoyable.
2. Does it need to be done this way? You will often have ideas on better, faster, more enjoyable ways to get something done. Don’t let them just bounce around in your head. Try them. Share them. As always, don’t be aggressive or disrespectful. Sometimes the way it’s done actually has a reason that you don’t see.

Try and find a better job.

If all else fails, look for a place where you can pursue your purpose and also enjoy the work. This can be a new assignment on your current team; a new role in your current company; or a totally new organization, industry, or profession.

So there it is my friends. Five strategies you can take to pursue meaningful work that doesn’t suck. I’d love to hear your thoughts and any other approaches you’ve found successful to make purposeful work better.

But before you leave, I’d like to offer one more thought—especially to anyone reading this who is young or early in their career.

Pursuing a life that’s meaningful to you and that you can be proud of is a lifelong journey. It requires commitment, dedication, perseverance, and resolve.

I share this now because your work experience unfolds over a totally different time horizon. Your experience is happening now. And it can be difficult to navigate simultaneously across the lifelong journey of purpose and also the here-and-now of your work experience.

Work will have its ups and downs. When you’ve accumulated enough experience you’ll start to see the patterns and recognize that sometimes when work feels shitty it’s just a moment that will pass.

One virtue that is under-appreciated today is patience (it was appreciated too much by my generation and the ones that came before). Sometimes a little patience is required. Patience with your job; patience with your boss; patience with your company; and patience with yourself. You have to run a marathon very differently from how you run a sprint. If you try and sprint your way through a marathon, you will quickly run out of energy and lose the race. (Or so my athletic friends tell me. I try to never run when a walk, crawl, or shuffle will do the trick.)

So please don’t let your beautiful aspiration to make the world better turn from a passion into a problem by experiencing all of the bad moments as failures to live your purpose. Sometimes they’re just bad moments.

I hate the thought of ending an article with the phrase “bad moments” so…

Note: These are not gluten free.