1
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:09,640
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

2
00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

3
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:22,200
Speaker 1: tip is that all jobs have ups and downs, but

4
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,040
Speaker 1: if you find yourself unhappy for a significant proportion of

5
00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,320
Speaker 1: your work week, it might be time to look for

6
00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,480
Speaker 1: something else. Ideally, you spend no more than the equivalent

7
00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,880
Speaker 1: of one day a week on things you really don't

8
00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,519
Speaker 1: want to do. That is, if you like all but

9
00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,720
Speaker 1: twenty percent of your job, you've got a keeper. If

10
00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,920
Speaker 1: you dislike more than twenty percent, you might want to

11
00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,920
Speaker 1: see what else is out there. So I started thinking

12
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,080
Speaker 1: about this topic recently when someone asked a group of

13
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,400
Speaker 1: us what we felt was an acceptable ratio of positive

14
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,480
Speaker 1: to negative feelings about a job. In my younger years,

15
00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,680
Speaker 1: I might have said this ratio should be infinite. That is,

16
00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,600
Speaker 1: you should like absolutely everything about your job and dislike nothing.

17
00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,759
Speaker 1: As I have gotten older, I have realized that disliking

18
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:28,120
Speaker 1: zero is going to be tough to pull off, even

19
00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,520
Speaker 1: in almost ideal situations. We are seldom one hundred percent

20
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 1: happy in life. You can be sitting on a tropical

21
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:42,080
Speaker 1: beach watching a beautiful sunset while sitting next to the

22
00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,280
Speaker 1: love of your life and still be thinking hmm, my

23
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:53,080
Speaker 1: toe itches such as the human condition. You can love

24
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,480
Speaker 1: your job and still find your weekly meeting with Dave

25
00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 1: from Accounting tedious, but isn't quitting and neither are you,

26
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,960
Speaker 1: and so here we are. I'll also note that sometimes

27
00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,080
Speaker 1: we think the problem is with the job, and it

28
00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:16,320
Speaker 1: turns out to be more internal. I have followed some

29
00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,480
Speaker 1: situations where people have quit jobs because they just can't

30
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 1: trust their coworkers and they're always crashing right before deadlines.

31
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,840
Speaker 1: Then they find different jobs, and it turns out that

32
00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: you just can't trust these coworkers either, and they are

33
00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:37,560
Speaker 1: still always crashing right before deadlines. And maybe, just maybe,

34
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 1: these two situations have something very specific and common, namely

35
00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:49,120
Speaker 1: the person experiencing them that said, you have to balance

36
00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:53,960
Speaker 1: the reality that nothing is perfect against the truth that,

37
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,880
Speaker 1: as far as we know, you only get one wild

38
00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:02,880
Speaker 1: and precious life. As the Mary Oliver would put it,

39
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,600
Speaker 1: it would be one thing to be miserable day in

40
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,120
Speaker 1: and day out if you were assigned a job at

41
00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,320
Speaker 1: age twenty and required by law to keep it until retirement.

42
00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,360
Speaker 1: But if you are listening to this podcast, then you

43
00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,680
Speaker 1: don't live in a society like that. There are millions

44
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:27,040
Speaker 1: of jobs out there, many of them are currently open.

45
00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 1: Within any given industry, there are often lots of companies,

46
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 1: some of which have vastly different cultures from others. Within

47
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,120
Speaker 1: any company, some departments are probably a lot better to

48
00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:46,240
Speaker 1: work for than other departments, to say nothing of individual managers.

49
00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,520
Speaker 1: And if you can't find a company or department you like,

50
00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,200
Speaker 1: there are lots of ways to start your own business,

51
00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,600
Speaker 1: many of which don't require a whole lot of capital

52
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:05,640
Speaker 1: to begin. In other words, you are not trapped. I

53
00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 1: know it can be hard to leave. Maybe you earn

54
00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,080
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Sometimes people who earn a lot

55
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 1: of money believe that they have to accept certain things

56
00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:20,120
Speaker 1: about their jobs. But the labor market isn't totally efficient,

57
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,600
Speaker 1: and so most people haven't completely optimized on any dimension.

58
00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:29,520
Speaker 1: That means that even if you earn a lot now,

59
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,520
Speaker 1: it is always possible that you will be able to

60
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,920
Speaker 1: find a job you like more that pays more. Too.

61
00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:39,719
Speaker 1: You might be able to find a job you like

62
00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,880
Speaker 1: more that is more flexible as well. You might be

63
00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,799
Speaker 1: able to find a job that pays more and features

64
00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:54,159
Speaker 1: nicer colleagues. You just don't know until you look to

65
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,240
Speaker 1: strike a balance between the truth that nothing is perfect

66
00:04:57,920 --> 00:04:59,960
Speaker 1: and the truth that no one deserves to be miser

67
00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:06,000
Speaker 1: I will put twenty percent out there as a target

68
00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,880
Speaker 1: to aim for. You want to like all but the

69
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,640
Speaker 1: equivalent of one day a week at your job, as

70
00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,520
Speaker 1: few people actually shunt all the work they don't like

71
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,800
Speaker 1: to one day. In practice, it will be more like

72
00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,200
Speaker 1: an hour or two a day of stuff you generally

73
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,640
Speaker 1: prefer not to be doing. You might try keeping track

74
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,719
Speaker 1: of your time and seeing where the percentage lies currently.

75
00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,080
Speaker 1: If it is over twenty percent, that doesn't mean you

76
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,400
Speaker 1: need to quit Jerry Maguire's style. The first thing you

77
00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,039
Speaker 1: should do is see if you can craft your job

78
00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:49,640
Speaker 1: to spend less time on the things you really don't like.

79
00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,599
Speaker 1: Do they actually have to be done, Maybe they don't,

80
00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,920
Speaker 1: or maybe they can be done with less fanfare than

81
00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 1: they are currently getting. Maybe the load can be shared

82
00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,719
Speaker 1: or delegated. Maybe things can be done more quickly or

83
00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:12,360
Speaker 1: more efficiently. You meet with Dave from Accounting for thirty

84
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:18,279
Speaker 1: minutes rather than sixty. You can also try doing more

85
00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,880
Speaker 1: of the stuff you really do like, which at least

86
00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,880
Speaker 1: pushes the proportion down. I am not suggesting extending your

87
00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,839
Speaker 1: hours but if you do have a lot going on,

88
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,880
Speaker 1: you become less available for tasks that wouldn't be your

89
00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:39,679
Speaker 1: first choice. People start asking you less, or you find

90
00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:44,520
Speaker 1: ways to spend less time on these things. Time is

91
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:49,000
Speaker 1: elastic that way, but if the proportion is quite a

92
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,680
Speaker 1: bit over twenty percent, then it is time to really

93
00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,360
Speaker 1: look at life and figure out what you can do.

94
00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:59,520
Speaker 1: There is no harm in reaching out to old contacts

95
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,320
Speaker 1: and set up some coffees. Indeed, people should be doing

96
00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:08,080
Speaker 1: that regularly, even if they love their jobs, but it

97
00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:13,480
Speaker 1: might flush out some new opportunities somewhere better. Work doesn't

98
00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,720
Speaker 1: have to be a negative thing in life. It can

99
00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,840
Speaker 1: be a source of joy at least eighty percent of

100
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:27,880
Speaker 1: the time. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

101
00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:39,360
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

102
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:41,640
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

103
00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,320
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

104
00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,760
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

105
00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:55,720
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four then breakfast Pod. You

106
00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,240
Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts

107
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,880
Speaker 1: at Iheartme. That before Breakfast is spelled out with all

108
00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:05,440
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much should I look forward to

109
00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:14,760
Speaker 1: staying in touch? Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.

110
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,440
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

111
00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:27,040
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.