Not enjoying your job anymore? Here’s what you can do.

What to do when you don’t enjoy your job anymore.

First off, it’s not nice to feel this way. As of December 2022, the average time spent on work per week is 36.2 hours. That’s just over 7 hours per day. That is a significant chunk of your time, and if you’re not enjoying the majority of that time, it will inevitably take a toll on your physical and mental health. 

Before becoming a coach, I was a teacher. I loved many aspects of my job, but eventually I found the work-life balance was not sustainable. I had two options, change my work patterns (which at the time didn’t feel possible), or, change jobs. Looking back, had a worked to gain more awareness around what wasn’t working for me and made efforts to change those elements, I might still be a teacher today. But that is another story for a different time. 

So, what can you do?

Below is an exercise, a series of questions to get you reflecting and moving in the right direction.

Step One: Gain Clarity

Ask yourself:

• What will be the impact of things staying the same?

• Where will this lead?

These two questions will help you explore where you are now and what the impact of this could be.

• What drains your energy at work?

• What do you like about your work?

• What would you need to do more of?

• What would need to happen less?

• What is your main concern at work?

These questions will increase awareness around the problems you are facing and what obstacles are currently in your way. You can’t make effective changes if you’re not clear on what needs to be changed.

Step Two: Gain Awareness

• What needs to happen for you to enjoy your work?

• What is within your control?

• What is out of your control?

Here we have a line of questioning that starts to move us forward, and consider what can and can’t be done. Be careful here, challenge yourself with what is and isn’t within your control. E.g. I can’t control my bosses behaviour - but I CAN control my response to that behaviour. 

Quick Story: I worked with a client who had a difficult boss. Let’s call them Bob. Bob had a temper, he had a way of keeping people on edge and feeling like things were always at crisis point. This had a detrimental effect on the team morale. It made it difficult for people to feel able to try new things and risk making mistakes. The outcome: things didn’t move forward, people felt paralysed and the team did not develop. The client felt the only way out was to leave the job - they didn’t feel they could control anything in the situation. Eventually, this client had the realisation that they could change the way they experienced this behaviour. They chose to ask themselves: What is funny about this? What is the advantage of this behaviour? What is Bob’s positive intention for me and the team? This might seem a bit crazy, but what this client managed to to do was reframe their experiences. They were able to put the behaviour in a context where the disadvantage became an advantage. 

E.g. What is Bob’s positive intention for me and the team? Bob is passionate. Bob is useful when you want feedback on the potential pitfalls of a project. Bob wants me and the team to succeed. 

Step Three: Idea Generation

You’ve gained some clarity, you know what’s not working for you and you have some ideas on what is and isn’t in your control.

Now it’s time to start thinking of options. Grab and pen and paper and start listing ideas. Use the following questions to prompt new ideas:

• What would your best friend tell you to do?

• What could you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

• What if you secretly knew the answer - what would it be?

• What advice would your role model give you?

• If a friend came to you with this problem - what advice would you give them?

• If you could start from scratch, what could you do?

These questions provide an opportunity for you to get creative. Capture all the ‘obvious’ ideas and then dig deep and enjoy exploring some wilder ones too.

Step Four: Take Action

Now it’s time to start taking action. Look through your list of ideas. If you haven’t written down at least 8 items, go back and write more. Write down: a crazy idea, a boring idea, and one you would never do in your wildest dreams. 

From this list, review and reflect. 

• What idea could have the most impact?

• What idea will I definitely not do?

• Which is the quickest win?

Now, choose two to three of these ideas that you are willing to take into action. For each one, answer these questions:

• When will you do this?

• How will you do this?

• What support do you need?

• What could stop you from taking these actions?

• What would need to happen for this not to be a problem?
  

This structured approach will ensure you are setting yourself up for success. It will demonstrate why you are taking these actions, how and when they will be done, as well as the outcome they will provide.

Make sure you write down WHEN and WHERE these actions will happen. Be realistic about the time and effort they will take. Do everything in your power to set yourself up for success. 

What’s the bottom line?

We can quit, we can move jobs, we can plan an exit route. This might be the option for you.

However, we need to be mindful of the root causes. For example, if you do not enjoy your job because you’re currently unable to install effective work boundaries, how will this be different in another role? If you struggle with strong or domineering characters in the work space, how will you handle this in another work space?

It might be that the role you are doing is not aligned with your values, maybe you want to have more creativity in your role, or more face-to-face time with clients/colleagues. In this case, if these adaptions cannot be made in your current role you may feel better off side-stepping to another job. But clarity is the key! You need to know what is missing before you can remedy the pain. You wouldn’t reach into the medicine cupboard and grab a cough sweet if you had a headache. It’s not the right intervention. Clarity and awareness is key!!

BONUS TIP:

What else in your life needs attention? Are you neglecting other areas in your life? Work is just one area, so make sure you are not putting too much pressure on this area to fulfil you. Make time for friends and family, interests and hobbies, self-care, volunteering or whatever it is that brings you meaning, passion and purpose. 

Note: Dissatisfaction at work may be linked to burnout. There are three main types of burnout: overload, under-challenge and neglect. Check out this blog on 3 Types of Burnout to see if you might be experiencing one or more of these. 

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