That Dream Job Ain't Gonna Land Itself

Self-Assessment Quiz – True or False:

• I walk into work with a smile on my face.
• When I describe to others what I do, I have a feeling of joy.
• The work I do each day has some relevance to my life beyond paying bills.
• I believe I can have a job that I love.

Welcome to February, the month of love! I hope you answered all the questions above “TRUE!” If not, I’m sharing with you the mantra that I live by: “Smile at least six of your workday hours. If you aren’t, then you should be working somewhere else.” Love what you do, honey, I implore you! Life is too short not to.

Think about it like this: You wouldn’t stay in a bad, loveless relationship, would you? I know it happens, but you would (should) move heaven and earth to get out of a relationship that just ain’t working. Why? Because you deserve to be in a healthy, loving relationship. Same with the work that you do. You deserve to love it. Or at the very least like it an awful lot. You spend more hours at work than you do anywhere else. Why would you intentionally stay in a situation that subtracts from your joy?

Now, I get it. Depending on the job market, it may not be easy to just quit your job today and find another one tomorrow. But slavery ended a couple hundred years ago, honey. So now, when it comes to work, you always have a CHOICE.

It may take some planning on your part, but you don’t have to stay stuck. And NO, whining about your sucky job doesn’t get you unstuck. It just means you’re too daggone lazy to do anything about it.  (OUCH!)

It’s easier to whine than it is to take action. But I really can’t stand a whiner. Neither can other people. If you are a chronic whiner about your job, people are probably avoiding the heck out of you. Not taking your phone calls. Not inviting you anywhere. Because you’re well, a Debbie Downer. (OUCH! Again.) I say this with love … girl, you gotta really get off your azz and over this “I-can’t-stand-my-job” hump because it’s driving the rest of us cray cray!

If you’ve been with me from the start of the year, you’ve right-coursed your mindset about your career aspirations. You’ve created your ion board based on your SMART goals, and you’ve started thinking about your Pink Elephants, which means you have identified where you want to be, and you’ve visually demonstrated it with encouraging pics. And if you’ve downloaded my free “How to Eat Pink Elephants” guidebook, you’ve already broken all of your Pink Elephants into tiny micro-steps (or small bites as I like to call them). Now all you have to do is move into action.

That dream job ain’t gonna land itself. The resume you need won’t write itself. The promotion you desire isn’t going to pop up on its own. The contacts you need to make clearly aren’t reaching out to you of their own free will. Nope, you have to do the work, honey. I mean for Pete’s sake, who knows what your “Love Jones” job looks like better than YOU?

You can always kill two birds with one stone. Be in action where you are while simultaneously looking elsewhere.  Maybe you hate your job because of the hours.

ASK if they can be changed. Maybe you hate reporting to several people because you feel like your work never ends due to unending requests. ASK if you can report to just one person. Maybe you’re super irritated because you feel like you deserved a raise and were passed over in December. ASK if they will reconsider at the end of the first or second quarter. ASK what action steps you should be taking to expect the raise by the end of second quarter. And if the answers you receive to all of the above are “No, No, No and Nuthin’, Honey” … then wrap your brain around how you can change your attitude to positively exist where you are until you can physically move somewhere else. But whatever you do, don’t just sit there. MOVE toward loving what you do if you’re not already there.