2010年5月5日 星期三

10 Ways to Bide Your Time When You Hate Your Job

Assess Your Situation


First of all, examine what is wrong with your current situation.
This step should come before all others because it will help determine
what kind of action you need to take. Ask yourself:


  1. Am I in the right career and it’s just this company that is a bad fit for me?
  2. What is my ultimate dream job?

Define Work for Yourself


Someone recently told me, “Well, it’s called work for a reason.” I balked at that statement because I refuse to accept the belief that work is a pejorative. After all, Webster doesn’t
define work as “A tedious, miserable task that humans do out of need to
support themselves financially, usually with hopes of someday being
able to retire and finally enjoy life unless they die of a
stress-induced illness before then. See retirement and myocardial infarction.”


We’ve all done work, paid or not, that required skill but was enjoyable. While involved in work
that suits us, we are immersed in the activity and lose all track of
time. Interrupted from the task, we look forward to resuming it later.
Occasionally, you’ll hear a story of someone who won the lottery and,
when asked whether he’ll quit his job, replies, “No, I’ll probably cut
back my hours, but I’ll still work.” Or consider the examples of people
who had the option to retire but continued to work due to the sheer
enjoyment they received from work. Why should we settle for anything
less?


Find Your Path


If you know that you’re in the right career but your company is
simply a bad fit for you, your task becomes easier. You simply need to
examine where things went wrong to see if you can prevent repeating
this experience. In retrospect, should you have asked for more - both
of the company in terms of pay and benefits, but also of yourself? Did
you settle for a job that didn’t fit you because you didn’t believe
yourself capable of more? In the interview were there signs that this
job wouldn’t be a good match for you, but you decided to overlook them?


If you know you detest your work and will not be happy in a similar
job, it’s time to ask yourself what you truly want to do with your
life. Let your mind run wild with the possibilities. What would you do
if you didn’t place limitations on yourself? What would you do if you
really believed in yourself? Would you like to make a living from the
activity that you now refer to as a hobby?


10 Ways to Bide Your Time


  1. Ramp up your networking. Join LinkedIn and Plaxo, and ask for recommendations from current and past coworkers. Use Twitter
    to update the world on your current projects as well as network with
    other like-minded individuals. Look for local networking groups, and
    start attending them.
  2. Prepare for success. Consider registering a web
    site in your name. You can then create a professional-sounding email
    address that will encourage people to visit your web site. Get a
    professional photograph taken. This is for your web site, your
    advertising, or anything else that you will be doing to promote your
    image as a serious professional. Order your own business cards in your
    name with your web site and business number. Basic business cards can
    be obtained for a very reasonable rate at Vistaprint. If you don’t want your cell phone ringing with business calls at work, consider a SkypeIn number, which will cost you just $60 a year.
  3. Expand your skill set. If you’re in the right
    career, critically examine where you may be lacking in experience or
    qualifications. If you’re weak at giving presentations, now is the time
    to join Toastmasters. This will improve your public speaking ability and eventually add solid achievements to your resume.
    Upgrade your credentials. Is there a certification of some sort that
    you can achieve? Perhaps it is time to consider finishing your MBA.
  4. Start thinking of yourself as who you want to become.
    Rather than being a banker who paints as a hobby, you are an artist who
    supplements your income with your banking job. This inner psychology is
    very important to realizing your dream. If you always think of your
    dream as something you’ll be doing in the future, there’s a good chance
    it will always remain in the future. Claim it as your reality now,
    and that will encourage you to take action. If you’re in the habit of
    thinking it and believing it, doing it becomes much easier.
  5. Do something to earn money outside of your current job.
    Consider consulting or selling your creations. Having an outside income
    helps take the sting out of a miserable work situation. Working in a
    job that is a bad fit can be a demoralizing experience. Earning a
    second income is a consistent reminder that you are able to earn money
    apart from your main source of income. You may eventually find that you
    can turn your secondary income into a full-time business.
  6. Post a visible reminder that this job is only temporary.
    When I once worked in a job I hated, I helped bide my time by hanging a
    reminder on my bulletin board that said, “This is only temporary.
    De-invest.” Now this was a home office, so I had freedom over my
    environment. However, I would suggest you post something at work that
    will symbolize this concept for you. It could be a phrase like this
    abbreviated in a way that only you will understand. For example, if you
    want to become a novelist, post an image of your dream home office or
    the front cover of a book. Make sure this is in a location where you
    will see it frequently; every time those stressful moments at work
    arise, you’ll have this reminder: This is only temporary. I will not be doing this forever.
  7. Get busy in your off-work time. There are two
    halves to achieving a new reality: You must have time to dream, and you
    must take action. Give yourself time for creative visualization daily.
    Note ideas that come, and keep a record of these. Make a rule that you
    spend X amount of time daily taking action on your dreams. Artists
    produce artwork. Writers write. If you are not taking action, you will
    not achieve your dream.
  8. View your current job as paid practice for your future dream job.
    Even in a miserable job, you have a wealth of opportunities to polish
    your skills. Have a boss who’s a hothead? This is your time to get paid
    to practice dealing with difficult people. Read about neurolinguistic programming (NLP),
    and give it a try. Find ways to streamline the processes at work. How
    can you be more efficient in dealing with email and phone messages? How
    can you better manage your time? Build good habits now that you will
    take with you when you leave.
  9. Maintain a satisfactory job performance, but de-invest emotionally.
    This one takes practice, and meditation helps with this. Keep in mind
    that this job is temporary, so it is not worth your losing sleep over.
    Practice not engaging with people who try to push your buttons. Think
    of yourself as working for yourself, not for the company. Do your best
    to stay below the radar by making sure you are performing
    satisfactorily, but as much as possible, reduce work-related activities
    that consume your energy but have little to no return on investment.
  10. Get a life outside of work. This is vital to
    biding your time in a job you hate. When you have an active social life
    outside of the office, it becomes so much easier to tolerate mundane or
    stressful work. A balanced life helps to keep things in perspective.

Employing all of these techniques will help reduce stress while you
wait until the appropriate time to change jobs. By taking these steps
you retain your sense of dignity and worth as well as prepare for
success in your future work

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