The #1 reason your job sucks and how to fix it
johnplaceonline.com
johnplaceonline.com
People need to understand that when traveling through life--whether by car, aging, networking, degrees, promotions, dating)--it doesn't matter where you actually are. At all. It never has, and it never will. Those photos you took are pointless. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then people are worth a billion photos. A few photos a day just can't capture what you're thinking, the social context, the general mood, your thoughts and feelings, the state of the economy, foreign relations, what you just did 5 minutes prior, what you just ate, what your friends are up to off-camera, if the person next to you smells like they're drunk, the charge on your cell phone, your status with friends and family, etc.
Photos give the illusion of defining you at a point in time, but they are NOT a virtual machine or an environment like Squeak--they're just a screen shot--and not what the person's doing, either, but what what's visible for that split second of time.
The big problem, then, is that people judge themselves by what they would look like if somebody were to take a photo of them, and not by where they're going. In fact, people are doing everything they can to impede where they're going--buying anti-age cremes, spending money so they don't have to take the responsibility of saving it, which might otherwise make them feel older. So, people are always focusing on looking like they have never made any progress in their lives.
However, when traveling through life--whether by car, aging, networking, degrees, promotions, dating)--it doesn't matter where you actually are. At all. It never has, and it never will.
The only two things that matter are the direction and velocity. Therefore, you always have to make the best choices you can for your life, when buying things, socializing, and business. Look at what's stopping you, decide your options, and pick the best overall choice, and if you really can't see a better way, then do the option that is easier. Then move on. Life is better than any video game because you have infinite choices in infinite areas. The key is to hurry up and make a choice, and move on to the other 230 trillion choices you have.
If you know you like a shirt, and the fit and price range is good, but you can't decide between red and blue, pick one randomly and move on. Who cares what it will look like when somebody takes a photo of you?
- Being pessimistic yourself.
- Being surrounded by pessimistic people.
- Working for pessimistic management.
- Dealing with a poor physical work environment.
- Forgetting to aggressively attempt hard problems.
Sometimes, you'll hit a wall. It can't ALL come from within (though some Bhuddists may disagree).
I unloaded trucks in a warehouse for a few months after college, and while it was rewarding to get stronger and satisfying to work very quickly, it was clear that there would be very little change approaching infinity, and I could not do this the rest of my life.
In my last job, I was beginning to notice a similar wall, but more importantly it was fairly clear that management both did not enjoy working with technology, and did not enjoy managing employees within the framework of the company. They did not enjoy dealing with bureaucracy, yet it was forced on them often. This resulted in consistently poor morale. Even when we thought morale was good, it was bad by the standards of the company I work fow now.
It happened so gradually that all of a sudden one day I noticed that the thought of going to work made me sick to me stomach. But I knew it wasn't the work, because just a month or so earlier I'd happily immersed myself in a project and learned a lot, and I'd been making consistent progress.
If you need inspiration, Paul Graham's essays are good, although the one I would recommend first is Fred Brooks "The Tar Pit" (part of The Mythical Man-Month collection). In particular, in the section called "Joys of the Craft" he lists five reasons: The joy of making things, the pleasure of making them for other people, the fascination of the puzzle-like nature of the problems, the joy of always learning, and the delight of working in such a "tractible medium" that nevertheless produces real measurable results.
That's likely because your job is not fun. If you were more invested in it (e.g., it fulfilled your dreams), you might feel differently.
Thinking that work doesn't have to be fun is what leads most people to dissatisfaction, IMO. I think the idea that your job should be a vehicle for fulfillment is a very important one. Time is scarce resource, and it is a shame that many people are willing to trade the bulk of their lives away helping someone else achieve his dreams rather than trying to achieve their own.
It occurs to me that the most liberating and frightening aspect of entrepreneurship is its lack of definition compared to traditional employment. Consider that a traditional employment relationship leaves the average employee little time for introspection, and it's easy to see that he's been trained to dream small and settle for the scraps of time he hasn't traded to his employer for a relatively small amount of money.
Stop and imagine how pretentious such advice will be to those - the majority of the population - who are still trying to achieve level 1 and 2. "Follow your dreams" is great advice for those of us who aren't in immediate danger of starving; the worst that can happen if we fail at achieving our dreams will be that we have to settle for a job we find boring and unfulfilling - not a job that's low-paying or dangerous, and definitely not in danger of ending up on the streets.
Not disagreeing with the article, just a bit of perspective... I personally am grateful that I have the opportunity to aim for the top of the pyramid, but many people don't have the luxury to be picky about how they're putting food on the table.