When Work Sucks

One of the most common topics of my coaching clients is work. More specifically, it’s that work sucks sometimes. It’s boring, or too busy, or too easy, or too challenging, or just that it’s not free time. The question that arises for my clients is, “If work sucks, should I quit?” It’s a great question, and yet it can be a bit of a dangerous one. If we quit things every time they suck, we’d probably not have many relationships and not have a steady income. Things suck sometimes. Work sucks sometimes.

Maybe the bigger question to ask is, “Does work suck all the time?” If so, is it me or is it the work? Am I dreading work every day and if so, why? Is it my attitude that has me dreading work or is it really the work? If it’s really the work, do you want to live in dread every day? Also, if it’s really the work, is there other work that will be less dreadful? Often, my clients find that it’s not so much the work, but rather their outlook on the work. I’m not suggesting that we don’t switch jobs when things really aren’t working out, but rather that we look to switch jobs once we’ve figured out our own attitude.

Can someone working on an assembly line in a factory find happiness at work? I’m not sure, and yet I am sure that they can find internal happiness regardless of the work. That sounds like some rose colored glasses, turn-that-smile-upside-down type of thinking and yet, what other choice do we have? We are always responsible for our own satisfaction and happiness in life and that is a great responsibility. It doesn’t mean there aren’t crappy jobs or bad things that happen in the world, but rather that we get to decide how we respond to those things.

When work sucks, it's your job to change it. We are always responsible for our own satisfaction and happiness in life and that can be both empowering and terrifying. #work #happiness #attitude #self-improvement Click To Tweet

The greatest gifts my clients get from our coaching work is the awareness of their own power and their own ability to choose how they look at all aspects of their lives. Not all of them want this awareness and who could blame them? It’s far more fun to blame others and to blame situations than to have to figure out how to find our own happiness in life. I know that I struggle with it all the time. Radically accepting what is and then choosing how to think and feel about that “what is,” is powerful and terrifying at the same time.

When work sucks, what can you do to change either the work or your attitude or both? Only you get to decide. Good luck with all of that power.

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC