I have to admit, I used to be a big fan of the idea of of “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I said it to hundreds of students, I included it in presentations for job interviews and I sincerely believed it was true. For some people, it might be.
But for a lot of people, work is the opposite of fun.
I would never, ever advocate working long-term a job you despise. That’s the path to serious physical and mental health issues. But the reality is, many of people work in at least one job they don’t love. And that’s OK. At least part of doing a job is to get the paycheque. We all have bills to pay and dreams to fund.
Some tips to keep in mind if you are currently in a job that just doesn’t fit you:
- Grow your professional network and connect with people who do interesting work
- Get involved in your community to meet new people and open doors to new opportunities
- Make an exit plan – give yourself a deadline for when you wish to leave and set smaller goals to help move you in that direction
- Look at online learning options to upskill
- Talk to a career coach (OK, that’s a plug for me. But it’s also good advice.)
I wrote an article on this a couple of years back for the folks over at CareerWise. And check out my video on reframing this conversation.