When Unhappy at Work

There’s a difficult time between where you are now and where you want to be that requires extra focus when you are unhappy at work or when you plan to change jobs or careers. If you are unhappy at work you have a few options.

• Quit right now with no notice, telling them to take the job and shove it as you walk out the door. Feel a few moments of joy and freedom until you take yourself to your next opportunity and, most likely, recreate the same unhappiness you had before.
• Stay with a bad attitude. Tell the story every day of how you hate your job, the people you work with, and how you are underpaid, under-appreciated, and have no options. The more you practice this outlook the easier it becomes.
• Stay and tell a different story. Talk about what you appreciate about your job or career. Practice looking at the bright side and you will see more bright side. Heck, your co-workers and boss might even start treating you differently.
• Stay and tell a different story while defining what you want in your next career move. Be on the lookout for the next opportunity all the while appreciating your current position and building more skills and contacts.

One thing that helps is to focus more on what you want next rather than what you don’t like about where you are currently because that makes the current day-to-day very difficult and keeps a negative vibe going. So during times of change, it’s important to focus on the excitement for what is coming but with an ability to be appreciative of where you are now and how far you’ve come. Instead of leaving your current position in anger or hastily, think in terms of going to the next step in your career out of excitement and interest and let that guide your actions.