Your alarm clock goes off and you cringe. You’re not exhausted or even slightly tired really, but honestly, you can hardly pull yourself up to a sitting position. The idea of reaching for your robe or pulling back the covers makes you want to be taken by a tidal wave, and thrown far out to sea.
If this is you, you’re not alone. A Gallup poll done in 2014 found that not even a third of U. S employees enjoy their jobs, with half of those polled saying they weren’t engaged with their work at all, and almost 20% admitting to being “actively disengaged”.
So, what gives? Why don’t we just, well… change jobs? We spend about 25 to 30 years of our lives, straight, working. Just think of the advances we could make if we were doing something we liked!
Fearing the Unknown
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Jennifer Mueller, a leading American psychologist and author of Creative Change: Why We Resist It… How We Can Embrace It says continuing to do work you abhor comes down to something incredibly simple: fear.
It’s the money factor. We’re afraid that if we quit what we do, we won’t be able to pay the bills. We believe we’re going to starve ourselves and be out on the streets, because some people do and are, and this is enough to stop us.
Related: Do You Work in One of the Most Depressing Jobs?
But it doesn’t have to. The truth is, for most of us, we actually could take the plunge. The thing is, it’s our fear of the unknown combined with the idea that there is a correct answer out there that stops us dead in our tracks.
Mueller says that if we believe our goal is to find the “best possible job”, it can make it very hard for us to embrace any direction at all, because there’s no way to know if any one direction is actually the best. Tough stuff!
How to Change
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So, what can you do to alter course? Fall in love with uncertainty.
“Embrace the fact that there are many jobs that might suit you,” Mueller stated in an email.
“Instead of feeling anxiety and concern about the future, (if) you can approach it with hope and tolerance for the fact that you cannot know what it holds, the payoff can be pretty great!”
Start by learning techniques to help you change your thought processes by combining opposites and being creative.
Related: Could Your Job Be Improving Your Brain Health?
Find a step-by-step process you can follow that can gradually lead you down a path you might have been afraid to consider before.
Tools like Mueller’s book can teach you to self-disrupt your current mindset and recognize creative opportunity, all while overcoming stagnating preferences for the status quo and desires to please others’ expectations.
Finding Happiness
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There are so many negative health consequences to avoid by actually enjoying what you do, that trying to make a change is worth it.
And if you can’t move into a brand new job, finding a fresh perspective where you’re at might be enough to offer you some respite.
It can seem unthinkable but maybe it’s not. Mueller believes that if you begin re-purposing, re-defining, and re-categorizing your ideas, you can expand your definitions and make possible what you once believed impossible, such as liking a boss you currently hate. And other experts agree.
Related: Hating Your Job Can Be Bad For Your Health
Harvard-trained positive psychologist Shawn Achor, who has a TED Talk that’s been viewed more than 15 million times, says that sometimes it’s not reality that shapes our lives.
Sometimes, he says, it’s how our brain perceives the world to be, that shapes our reality.
So, is the glass half-empty or half-full? In addition to finding a career that suits you, finding happiness from within may lead to more satisfaction in your work .
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As Mueller states, “Finding a new job in a bad job market may seem impossible (and it may actually be impossible) but the act of moving forward might lead you down a new path you didn’t expect or anticipate.”
To learn more about Jennifer Mueller and Creative Change: Why We Resist It… How We Can Embrace It visit her website or check out Amazon.com.
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