The Real Reason We Hate Our Jobs

No matter the role, no matter the responsibility,  no matter the perks or compensation, a lot of us are completely unhappy at work. This is bad news because if we work a modest 40 hours a week and get an average of six hours of sleep per night, we spend about a third of our waking hours at work. Many of us spend more time with our colleagues than we do our families. Including the time we spend commuting, working evenings and weekends, answering emails, and preparing for projects and presentations, we spend more than half our waking hours preoccupied with our occupations. The bottom line is, we should be extremely happy with our jobs since we devote our lives to them.
 
There’s a bunch of reasons why people say they’re unhappy at work including a lack of fulfillment, lack of commitment, being overworked, underpaid, and unrewarded. These reasons are simply topical. The real reason we hate our jobs is because we aren’t growing. It is essential to our happiness that we should continuously advance.
 
One thing that separates us from all other living organisms is that we can grow in whatever direction we choose. We do not know the limits to our growth or that there are limits at all. We see new advances in human ability every day. New world records are set all the time. Advances in technology and healthcare are the direct result of our ability to grow in the direction of our choice. We are formed for growth, and we are under the necessity of growth. Life without progress becomes unendurable and the person who stops growing becomes imbecilic or insane.
 
The greater and more well-rounded our growth, the happier we will be. Good is the enemy of great. One reason I left my previous position is because I knew what to expect, and I wanted to more. I knew that I would get a three percent merit raise each year on average and after three to five years in that role I would get a modest promotion and the cycle would continue until I retired. I had a good job, but I wanted a great job. Too many of us are satisfied with good enough. And before we know it, we become dissatisfied with the things ‘good enough’ brought us. It’s important to our overall happiness that we become well-rounded professionals. We must grow our overall professional skill-set. We must grow in our problem solving, general management, and analytical skills. Although I was gaining a lot of experience and growing in some areas, my growth was neither great nor well-rounded until I took ownership.  
 
Our growth needs to be deliberate. It can’t just happen, we must be intentional about making it happen. I instruct my clients to interview employers as much as the employers are interviewing them. I tell them to ask two questions, 1. What kind of professional development opportunities are in place for people in this role? and 2. How have you (the interviewer) grown as a result of being here (at this company)? Their responses will tell you a lot about opportunities for growth. Too many employers feel as if professional development happens by osmosis. They have the idea that employees will develop professionally just by being around other seasoned employees. There’s a lot to be learned through observation, but if that’s the extent of our growth, we’ll grow discontented with the snail-like pace of our development.
 
Our growth needs to align with our long-term goals. If we are moving forward in a direction other than intended, we won’t be happy for long. After walking-on to Michigan’s football team as a freshman, I made a tough decision and retired two years later. I was moving up the ranks quickly and even saw playing time as a freshmen, which is rare for a walk-on at Michigan. I no longer had goals of going to the NFL, so I decided to pursue my other passion, helping young people reach their fullest potential. I had a similar experience in my career. I thought I would retire as a professional in higher education; and to an extent, I was growing quickly in the field. But it would have made no sense for me to continue on that path if I didn’t have a long-term goal to become an administrator. What good is climbing the corporate ladder when it’s leaning against the wrong building?
 
Our growth needs to be holistic and harmonious. The tools at our disposal and the people around us should contribute to our development, not impede it. I was in an interview once and the interviewer asked me what I would do to improve the employee morale, and I quipped “look around.” Looking back, I shouldn’t have been so snarky, but the 1960’s décor made me slightly sad. How do you expect to grow if you’re looking at drab art work and grey cubicle walls? I told them that we need to give the employees more ownership over their work space. I suggested that the images around them serve as constant reminders of the organization’s mission and goals. Our growth isn’t harmonious if the people around us don’t have the same opportunity we have to advance. There needs to be fairness and equality in our environment in order to grow freely. If the people around you knowingly or unknowingly limit your growth, it’s impossible to mature along your desired path.
 
The purpose of life for man is growth. When we don’t have time to use the things designed to add to our growth we become agitated. We need time to make and appreciate art and literature, and people, and conversation, and stillness. And the more time we spend developing other people or organizations that are not aligned with our growth, this irritation becomes unbearable. Our number one job is to develop ourselves. When we place a priority on developing ourselves, we grow; and when we continuously advance, we find everlasting joy in our environment, particularly in our workplace.