WEBVTT - Craft a job you love 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.400 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:13.480 Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.080 Today is Labor Day in the United States, and so 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.680 this week we're going to be talking about work and 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.239 how we feel about it. Today's tip is about how 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.680 to become happier in a job that feels like just 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.560 a paycheck. I decided to do an episode on this 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.120 topic after getting a note from a listener who is 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.120 in just such a position. She noted that the things 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.840 she cared about, volunteering at church, spending time with loved ones, 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.360 consuming stories, traveling had nothing to do with her job, 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.120 or really with most normal jobs. She wrote that her 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.760 job was good as these things went, but during her 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.400 work hours, I feel like I am in an adult 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.040 form of time out. I sit in my office chair 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.240 and think about my life choices, will values are on hold? 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:04.360 How can I make this time count for more than 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:08.240 just to paycheck. I followed up because I wanted to 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:10.960 know why this listener had taken a job that made 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.000 her feel like she was an adult time out in 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.760 the first place. I learned as I suspected that there 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.520 were a lot of upsides to this job. The sort 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.440 that make it hard to quit. She was paid well. 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.880 Her official schedule required working four nine hour days, so 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.480 she was off every single Friday, a perk that certainly 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.360 had its benefits for family and community involvement. She got 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.160 benefits like tuition reimbursement, free access to a fitness center, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.520 and other discounts. When she came in late. Sometimes no 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.760 one complained, no one tried to micromanager. She liked her colleagues. 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:51.320 She was just well board. And while spending thirty six 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.280 hours per week in a boring job is better than 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.960 spending fifty hours a week in a boring job, I 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.640 know I'd rather work fifty exciting, challenging hours than thirty 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.320 six worring ones. I would not be able to report 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.559 to a job day after day where I felt bored, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.480 and I don't want that for anyone else either. So 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.000 the question was what our listeners should do about it first, 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.639 before anyone gets worried, My first advice is not to quit. 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.880 That is an option and might be necessary at some point, 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.360 But if daily life is tolerable, then the wisest first 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:26.120 step may to be to try to improve the current situation. Fortunately, 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.320 there are all kinds of ways to turn the job 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.200 you have into a job you'd love. I suggested spending 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.120 the next six to twelve months truly focused on improving 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:38.760 the situation and crafting her position into something she found 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:43.000 more interesting. First, she should seek out more challenging work. 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.040 A few job descriptions are carved in stone. People are 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.959 happiest when they are making progress on difficult but doable things. Now, 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.520 I don't recommend going to your manager and saying I'm bored. 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.720 I suspect most managers would react to that in the 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.040 same way I do when my kids knock on my 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:05.200 door and announce this. Instead, anyone in this situation should 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.000 come up with their own ideas for using their time better. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.480 Look around the organization and see what's working and what's not. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.640 Could you use your particular skills to improve what's not working? 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.760 Are there departments or teams who seem to be doing 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.280 cool stuff? Could you try helping out on projects there? 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.760 Talk to lots of people, lunches, coffees, walking meetings. Figure 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.079 out what work you'd find more interesting, and figure out 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.000 how you can get involved. Maybe it's an internal move, 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.360 but it could also just be reallocating time. Our listener 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.000 who sent in this question had some available time during 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.200 slower periods. She could get involved in new areas during 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.880 this time, even if it wasn't officially part of her 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.240 job description. Of course, it's possible she wouldn't have all 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.640 the right skills for certain other projects, and that's where 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.920 some of the organization's benefits came into play. She had 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.120 a good tuition reimbursement policy, so she should definitely be 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.160 using that. Now. There may be some gray area here, 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.560 but in my mind, if the courses she chose were 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.560 plausibly related to her job, she could use some of 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.480 her job downtime to study in complete assignments. This would 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.640 definitely remove the sense of being an adult time out. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:16.640 She could also look for ways to be involved in 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:21.400 her organization's community. Joining our starting employee affiliation groups is 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.560 always good, and sometimes larger organizations have service projects or 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.080 conferences or community days that always need volunteers. While this 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.320 might not feel quite as meaningful to her as her 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.279 church volunteering, it would have some of the same upsides. Indeed, 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.840 she could try to spearhead programs to do service events 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.520 for some of the same causes that her church supported. 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.840 Whether you're reading at an after school program on behalf 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.920 of your house of worship or your employer. It's all 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.920 good now. Of course, this might not work. I do 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.040 believe that six to twelve months of solid effort can 0:04:55.080 --> 0:05:00.200 improve just about anything, whether that's a relationship or a hub. 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.560 That said, if she still felt an adult time out 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.280 after a year, she would have a few options. One 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.799 is to consciously decouple her sense of self from her job. 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.200 Our listener was actually toying around with this concept already, 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.200 as she told me, we roughly sleep and work for 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.000 the same amount of time each day. However, I don't 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.880 consider myself a sleeper as my primary identity. It's just 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.320 the thing I have to do. It isn't the whole 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.960 of who I am or the most valuable thing I do. 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.640 This is a valid point. It might help to really 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.440 keep work in context. If our listener worked thirty six 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.120 hours per week and slept eight hours per night, this 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.159 leaves seventy six hours for other things, and this is 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.280 a lot of time. She could consciously think about how 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.640 to maximize her enjoyment of these other hours, taking on 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:53.400 serious volunteer rules, indulging in longer and more exotic vacations, 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.400 and planning in adventures with friends and family on the 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.600 long weekends that she had every weekend. She could also 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.880 decide to ride things out for a while, but ramp 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.719 up savings and perhaps start a side hustle with the 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.840 goal of achieving financial independence long before the normal retirement age. 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.200 Knowing that in say eight years, she can completely control 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:17.599 her time might make the intervening years feel better. Or 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.839 and this is perhaps the best option, she could find 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:25.280 another job. People are often fearful of the unknown, especially 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.120 if the known is comfortable and has upsides that are 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.160 hard to replicate. But if working a four day week 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.960 was critical to our listener, I absolutely believe she could 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.880 find another job that might allow for that. I absolutely 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.760 believe that she could find more exciting work. I believe 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.360 she could even find more flexible and more interesting work 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.920 that paid more to We often tuck ourselves into silly 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:49.839 traps like, oh, if I get paid more, I'll just 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.479 have to do stuff I like less. But few people 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:56.760 have totally optimized their jobs. We take jobs because they're 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.000 hiring when we're looking, or because we know someone there 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.800 because it's an employer that we're familiar with. Broadening the search, 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:08.680 especially over a twelve month time frame could open up 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:13.040 all sorts of other possibilities for great gigs. And ultimately, 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.120 that's what I want for everyone listening to this to 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:21.400 absolutely love what you do. I want you to wake 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.120 up excited to go to work. I want you to 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.560 feel like you're making a difference in the world as 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.400 you work with people you respect and who inspire you 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.840 to be your best self. I also believe that with 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.160 concerted effort over a year or two, you could get there. 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.800 This labor day, Let's get to a place where labor 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.400 is a meaningful, wonderful part of life, not the equivalent 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.840 of adult time out in the meantime. This is Laura. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.200 Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of 0:07:52.200 --> 0:08:01.440 our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.320 You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.680 Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:13.560 Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.040 Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.800 email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.800 com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.480 Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.400 Before Breakfast is a production of i heart Radio. For 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.560 more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.000 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:42.720 favorite shows.