If you don’t like your job, you’ve got three choices. You can live, lobby, or leave.
As a professional speaker, I speak to thousands of people every year. But I also listen to thousands of people every year. People approach me before, during, and after my programs to talk about their jobs.
Most of the time, people talk about the negative aspects of their jobs. They may have a boss that is difficult, a schedule that is horrendous, or a job that is meaningless.
Unfortunately most of those people feel stuck. They think there’s nothing they can do, and there’s no where to go.
That’s not true. No matter how bad things are, no matter how awful your job or your life may be, you always have three choices. You can LIVE with it; you can LOBBY to change it, or you can LEAVE. And just knowing you have a choice makes all the difference in the world.
Let’s say you don’t like your job. Your first choice is to LIVE with it. In other words, accept it as it is; quit your griping, and make the best of it.
That’s what the young Vietnamese man does who works at my local gas station. He works long hours for very little money, yet he’s always friendly and offers excellent customer service. I know a lot of people wouldn’t like his job, so I asked him how he felt about his job. With a smile he said, “I am proud to have a job in America. This is a good country. I am lucky.”
If you don’t like your job, your second option is to LOBBY. You can take some action or make some effort to change your job. Perhaps you talk to your boss, learn some new skills for getting along with a coworker, or find a way to streamline your tasks. The key is you “do” something. You lobby for change.
If you can’t LIVE with your job, and if you won’t LOBBY to make it better, you still have a choice. You can LEAVE. Of course, that may not be easy, and it may be painful. But it is a choice you have. You are not stuck in your job unless you choose to stay stuck in your job.
There are few things more stressful than spending your life in a job you don’t enjoy. If you decide you can’t LOBBY, and if you decide you don’t want to LEAVE, then I implore you to change your attitude toward your job so you can contentedly LIVE with it.
Action: Pick one part of your job that you don’t enjoy, that you might even dread or complain about. Now consciously change your attitude toward that part of your job by finding something good in that dreaded task. With a little repetition and a little practice, you will indeed change your attitude.