Daily Dharma

“Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.” – Garrison Keillor

Photo by Daquella Manera.

So many of my friends come to me from time to time and say, “I’m just so unhappy at work.” I understand. I sympathize with them, because at times I have been very unhappy with my job, too. But in order to lead a happy life, an unavoidable step is to put your soul into the work you do — even if it means learning to love an unlovable job.

Today, Do the Best Job You Can

I used to commiserate with them, tell them I disliked my work too, discussed the possibility we had not found our callings, and fantasized with them about quitting.

It’s Called Work for a Reason

Not so long ago, I was having an awful time at work. Sales were down. Our CEO was stressed out, and that made my boss stressed out, and that made me stressed out. I was convinced I went into the wrong line of work. I’m a writer and a thinker and an introvert, I would tell myself. Certainly, I’m not a dealmaker!

At the time, the stress from work was seeping into other areas of my life. I was eating poorly, skipping exercise, and not getting enough sleep. All of those bad habits just exacerbated the stress, which I then blamed entirely on my job. When I did, I only hated work more.

I was caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of stress and despair, stress and despair. Sooner or later it might end, but I knew how it would end: I would grow more stressed and less healthy, and I would give less and less effort to doing my job. Eventually, I would be fired.

While at the time, being fired didn’t seem like the worst thing that could happen: (at least I would be free of the job that was causing me all this suffering), it is not something anybody really wants to have happen to them. Suddenly you are without an income, and have no way to support yourself. Plus, you have the added challenge of finding a new job and needing to explain why you need a new job!

And then, one day, my entire attitude about work changed, just because I overheard somebody say one simple phrase: “It’s called work for a reason.”

Change Your Attitude About Work

The next day, I approached my job in an entirely different light. Instead of trying to make my job tolerable by avoiding doing my job at all costs, I poured my energy into simply doing my job with care and attention. The work still wasn’t my passion in life, but I completed it as if it were. Amazingly, I found the hours flew by, I was less stressed, and less unhappy. And after a few weeks, my performance improved, and my boss and CEO were both happier, too.

It’s true I am not born to do my current job, but I have found that by doing my job well, it really doesn’t matter. The average worker will spend half of their forty hours goofing off: surfing the internet, making phone calls, taking breaks, or just spacing out. Imagine if you spent just half of that time, or 10 hours a week, actually doing your job well. How much more would you get done? How would that make you feel?

You might think that it is working making you unhappy. Consider, just for today, that it might be not working that is making you unhappy.

Today’s Challenge

• Be accountable to yourself at work.
• Work a full eight hours, but no more.
• Put your heart into your work.