When I started looking for articles on line about loving
your job most of them were somewhat childish. Yet, at the end of the day, the
work day that is it we should remember lessons from our youth. If you didn’t
learn them then, you are never too old. Most of us learned the lessons of youth,
but we just need to be more simplistic in our thinking to appreciate how they
can help us love our jobs.
The Bad News Past and
Present
Most of us have jobs, not careers. Many of us had careers,
but with the downsizing that happened with the recession, now we feel lucky if
we have a job. Many baby boomers at the last two decades of the 20th
century defined themselves by their careers. They were not, “company men “like
many of our grandfathers.
They felt connected and loyal to their employer and the goal
was the gold watch at retirement. Those were the days where a man’s worth to
his family and community was in many ways connected to their work be it their
employer or union. They worked long hours and spent a great deal of their time
at social functions related to work. The concept of loving their job was
foreign to them because they were grateful for work.
The company man was a product of being brought up during the
depression, the assembly line or office was a way to avoid the bread line. A
man’s worth was in his work and his ability to provide for his family.
Baby boomers had a completely different expectation of work.
We were the career generation. Women in this generation were now part of the
game. We had to up our game to prove our worth to the working world. Suddenly,
people were ashamed of not having an important sounding title or a job with
little social meaning. It was about money and meaning.
It was the narcissistic
pursuit of ridiculous amounts of personal wealth, or having a job title of
social importance. If we all could not be doctors, lawyer, and professors, then
we at least needed important title. The trash collector was now a sanitation
engineer and the sales girl at the local department store was a sales associate.
Secretaries were now distractive assistants. No normal self respecting young
girl could find filament in having children or keep house. Your self worth
required you let someone else raise your children, so that you could be a distractive
assistant. The fact of our generation was so desperate to put a great deal of
meaning into economic activities that were well, just jobs is pretty sad.
Now we have a whole generation of demoralized and anxiety
stuck workers. Women are being told to,” lean in” to their careers and make
homemade jam. Yes, there are some who do both with a flair and make to the gym
three times a week and well there are the rest of us. Now, the economic gods
have made all those lovely fulfilling careers of being an administrative
assistant (sectary), allied health professional (girl who codes insurance forms)
a necessity. Men who had good paying skill trade jobs have been reduced to
working in fast food restaurants.
Worst young people
are taking on thousand of dollars of student loan debt, to obtain the skills of
these supposed professions. These are jobs, and while technology may require a
different skill set then in our parent’s day, they do not require a twenty five
thousand dollar associate degree from some for profit career school. There are
still ways to enter these professions without being lured into a great deal of
debt, for jobs that well pay slightly above the minimum wage. They may have
growth potential, but there are ways to obtain the skills you need through
professional organizations as you go from medical assistant to practice
manager. Some people will have the drive and the love of the profession to do this,
but most will not.
Deaths, taxes, and work
Someone said that two things will always exist, death and
taxes. It should be a much longer list, but work is the definite third. We can
choose to be miserable in our work life, which means we will be pretty
miserable because we spend the majority of our adult life at work.
I’m A Big Kid Now
But what if we just decided to toss that mind set? Just toss
it. No not send the flashy guy on the TV at 3am just a 39.95 for DVDs on how to
do it. It is simple go back to your childhood. Remember, when you saw your siblings
or the neighbor kids get on the yellow bus how you envied them? Remember , how
important and how long it seemed till that day your mom dressed up in stiff new
clothes and took your picture? It was wonderful. You were now officially a big
kid. You got to go on the bus or walk to school. Kindergarten was great. There
were better toys then you had at home and you were not just forces to spend
time with the smelly kid who picked his nose because your mom said it was a
play date. You got to pick your friends, take naps, and eat cookies.
Most of us gave into the crowd, by fifth grade school was a
boring chore that no one cool really liked. Secretly, we liked a lot about
school. It gave us something to do and something to succeed at. Maybe that “A”
on a spelling test had no great life altering meaning , but we worked for that
,”A” and it got displayed the refrigerator.
So this is my secret to loving your job. Be that
kindergartner again. Understand you are a real adult now. You have real
obligations that people in your family, community, and yes company that people
are expecting you to meet. Be proud of being a provider even if it is even for you.
Love being a big kid.
Yes, you job may be boring or you may feel your doing
something of little meaning or importance. But how important was finger
painting or making macaroni necklaces?
We thought it was play; it was the adults tricking us into developing
fine motor skill, which is an important skill. Understand you are part of
something bigger and you impact your world. Sure, taking somebody’s blood
pressure and insurance information at the doctor’s office is not very exciting.
But you being a positive person who cares about the people you serve is
important.
You do not know who you will impact. You smile will make all
the difference to a patient in family practice who has been told that need to
see a specialist because they might have cancer.
There is some job it is really hard to find meaning in. Fast
food and a great deal of the whole service industry, but even in these jobs you
can make a difference. Take a shift for a co worker so they can go to their
kids school play. Have a kind word for the lonely old grumpy man that comes in
to nurse his coffee and read his paper. Your job will have as much meaning as
you give it.
In kindergarten we had a greater chance to pick on own friends.
They were not just the friends our mothers arranged for us to play with. The
lesson here is don’t play with the negative people and the office gossips;
don’t join the: I hate my job crowd in the break room. First of all, your
supervisor knows who you spend your lunch break with and they will see you as
an uncooperative malcontent. This is not the best way to get the work you want
to do and show your best work. Intentionally try to get that “A” displayed on
the refrigerator. Don’t talk about work with co workers on break or lunch. Breaks are supposed to be breaks from your
work so use them as that. You will feel less stressed and not always consumed
with the tasks at your job.
We all learned that there was life after high school. It
never seemed that way in High School every little bully or breakup seemed to
consume us. We were kids. We did not have perspective. Now we are adults and we
need to not only have perspective but define and control our perspective. Don’t
take on more than you can handle. Unless, it is part of a career move leave
work at work. Yes, many of us socialize
with our coworkers, but bitching about your boss at the after work hang out is
a buzz kill. If your co workers are your
friends, see them as friends outside of work and not coworkers. There is life
after work and you should focus on enjoying it. Monday comes very quickly.
Some of us are blessed with careers we find interesting and
fun, but most of us have jobs. We can have the same good feeling about work and
be happy at our jobs if we are intentional in our effort. We are big kids now. We
have the adult ability and perspective to define our work as meaningful, positive,
and not all consuming. If we do these things we will love our jobs.
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