Dealing with an uninspiring job

Enter any typical workplace and you’ll find many people leading an uninspired life. It happens like this; you graduate, you land a job, then you get virtually handcuffed to a desk. Before long, you’re looking forward to the weekends and the annual vacation, you’re tweeting jokes on twitter during your ‘workhour’ and you’re dubsmashing your lunch hour away.

The other day my brother and I coined the term, “pre-resignation syndrome”; the state of hating your job so much that you couldn’t care less if you got fired anymore. Some of the symptoms are:

• You’re always walking into your office late
• The smallest sneeze makes you call in sick
• You actually get excited when the company starts laying off people wondering when will you get your ticket to freedom
• You complain. A lot. All the time.

Whenever people start showing these symptoms, we know a resignation — or termination — is coming soon. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can take control of your career and your own learning.

• You start by listing down the tasks you’ve been given and working hard to become more efficient at getting them done
• Ask questions. Lots of questions. It usually helps to have a mentor in the company.
• Be innovative. When you start at a company, take an aerial view of the workflow. Sometimes processes in old companies have become so obsolete but employees have been doing them for decades, they haven’t figured out there are easier — faster — ways of getting things done.
• Once you’ve hit a glass ceiling, get another job. You don’t have to be stuck in the same place once you realize your learning curve has plunged to zero.

The trick is to be aware and take control. There’s no dearth of sources of information in the web nowadays so make the best use of what you’ve been given. And seek engagement in whatever you do. Seek to love whatever you do.

Between “Follow your Passion” and “Why Follow your Passion is bad advice” ← P R E V I O U S

N E X T → Get enough sleep and wake up refreshed