Look, we have all been there at some point. We know the feeling of waking up every day with the knowledge that half of your waking hours will be spent in a place you hate. Maybe it’s the work or perhaps it’s just the people. However, what remains true is that you hate it all the same and it’s time for you to leave. Now there is nothing wrong with this. People seeking to better themselves is what makes the world go around and there is no reason you can’t be happy with your role in it. So with the limited time you have left in this job, let’s talk about what you need to start embracing now before your future without precedent comes to be.
- The Suck
Military people have a phrase that is often not heard in the civilian world. That phrase is “Embrace the Suck.” People in the military have a uniquely refined ability to make the best of miserable circumstances be it war or peacetime. So I am here to suggest that there is a certain amount of joy to be gained if you can do the same in this job you so hate.Learning to embrace the suck teaches you that you don’t have to wait before finding the little joys in life. There are indeed miserable aspects of your current job and that’s why you hate it. However, if a Marine can focus on the cold bottle of water he is drinking rather than the hot desert sun under which he is drinking it, then you can find some joy at your job while admitting some aspects of the job are less than pleasant. The truth is, your next job is likely to have a little “suck” to it as well. So you might as well learn to embrace it now for greater happiness down the road. - The Experience
It is not often true that someone decides they hate their job on one day and finds a new one the next. It is typically a process that can drag on for months if not years. After all, people have bills to pay, and if they have families it’s often true that their kids have gotten used to eating every day and not just some.So what do you do while this miserable job experience drags on? I suggest you become a hungry connoisseur for every experience you can get. You see, maybe your boss knows your time there is limited. However, you definitely know. You know that there is a new opportunity just on the horizon, so it’s time to get ready. When you start embracing experiences for the sake of building more competence, then you makes these last days of the job work for you instead of you working for them. Embrace the experience as a path to freedom. - The People
Now this is sometimes a catch 22 as it is entirely possible that the reason you hate your job is in fact the people with whom you work. I have come to believe that people can endure a lot if they enjoy the people with whom they endure it. However, life is almost always a relational event and learning to embrace the most difficult of people can give you an unprecedented resilience in life.Your new dream job will likely be as infested with imperfect people as the one you now hate. So when you start learning to embrace these imperfect people, your building your skillset to enjoy your future dream job at the same time you are making this current one more bearable. Moreover, you never know when a key relationship will help you down the road. We get to interact with a very precious few of the 7 billion people in this world during our lifetime. It’s best to make a rule of thumb to make each interaction count.
So there you have it. 3 things to start embracing now before you quit the job you hate. Embrace these now to prepare yourself for a future without precedent. It’s just around the corner after all.
