“I hate My Job”! 7 Ways To Cope When All You Want To Do Is Quit

“I hate my job.”

“I hate my boss.”.

“I hate my life.”

“I hate my company.”

I don’t really know how to sugarcoat it – but you really do hate your job. With the setting sun, your heart seems to sink every Sunday evening. Come Monday, you drag your feet through the office doors like you’re trudging through cement. All that pent-up aggression and hostility makes you wish for a sledgehammer to give your alarm clock what it deserves each weekday morning. If somebody makes you read one more article on Monday motivation, you might throw up.

If those “I hate my job” days are becoming all too frequent, you are not alone. If you are proactively trying to remedy the situation, you must be getting bombarded with plenty of advice about what to do when your career is constantly getting you down in the dumps. I can safely venture to say that much of that advice is telling you to make a career switch and leave your job.

While this only seems prudent, you might need to continue in your current job, since maybe you want to cut down some of that mountainous student loan debt, or you are still trying to cultivate the skills you need to move up the career ladder, or because your spouse is still in school and you are the only breadwinner. You will, eventually, be able to move on, but for now, you are stuck!

Your career takes up a major part of your life and when it starts messing with your mind and leaves you discontent and restless, it can have severe repercussions on your overall attitude and life. It’s not always an option to leave that exasperation at your desk when you punch out every evening. However, when life gives you lemons, you must make lemonade. The only viable strategy is to figure out how to deal with your job, instead of giving up. If you don’t want to wake up every day and swear “I hate my job” all the way to work, try these coping strategies to make things a tad better:

Assess Your Situation

While this one is a no-brainer, this step is highly underrated. We tend to dwell in self-pity and misery, to the point that we fail to get at the root cause of all that unhappiness. So, instead of saying “I hate my job” relentlessly, why don’t you ask some hard questions about your current situation. Is it your employer that you despise? Is it the nature of your work? Are you discontent with the role you are given? Is it your pittance of a paycheck? Is there something about your workplace culture that puts a sour taste in your mouth? Not many people think of this self-analysis as important since it isn’t “super actionable”. But remember that it is the perfect foundation for you to attack the next steps with a clear head.

Have The Tough Talks

Once you have got to the root of your distaste for the position, it is time to tackle those issues and voice your concern to your superiors.

 Is your workload too overwhelming? Is a teammate not pulling their weight? Are you not fairly compensated for your troubles – further adding to your exasperation? Sort it out with your supervisor so that some adjustments can be made.

This is how a usual employee life cycle looks like: You are hired and settle into your new job. Since you keep your lips sealed, your manager automatically assumes that things are going great for you. Eventually, you resign out of the blue, explaining how miserable you had been the entire time, leaving your manager scratching their heads.

Yes, your manager should encourage, supervise, and support you, but in no way, is it their job to read your mind! So, if something is making you think “I hate my job” every waking moment, it’s up to you to take initiative. Most employers will do anything to retain great employees. Who knows, your manager might be willing to work things out with you and address your problems. If you don’t do the talk, you will never know what could have been!

Reconfigure Your Job

You have more control over what you do at work than you seem to think so. After all, no two people work the same way. While you are assessing your situation, you can also analyze how your job can be rewritten, streamlined to be more efficient or stretched to take on a different function. You could take on external business development responsibilities for a change or spend a day each month cross-training in another department to grow as a professional. You could ask for funds to take on research work in an area of interest. This will stop things from getting stagnant and help you look at your job with fresh eyes.

 Don’t Broadcast Your “I hate my job” Thoughts  

Even if you have a less-than-ideal job, make sure only a selected few know this. Period.

It’s good to share your woes with someone and get the load off your shoulders, but it doesn’t mean that you need to broadcast your “I hate my job” agenda on social media. The more people you confide in, the more likely it is that the wrong person gets the wind and share it with your supervisors, co-workers, or heaven forbids, your top company executives.

What if your employers are active on social networking sites as well. In a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers admitted to using social media to seek out potential employees. You may think your personal life is secure on social media, but it will never be safe from prying eyes. For instance, Tweets show up in Google search or someone might stumble upon a public post on your Facebook feed.  You can potentially lose your job by exuding a negative attitude. It makes more sense to silently plan your escape from the company.

Do Something You Love When Outside Work

Do you see yourself on the same job after 5 years, or is it just a temporary solution? Your passions and dreams may lie elsewhere, which is why most of us feel disconnected from our jobs that aren’t doing anything to support our future plans.

Which is exactly why you need to fuel your interests on the side. It can be anything from an activity, a sport, a hobby, or anything that brings you a step closer to your long-term goals. Once you feel like you are slowly working towards your goals, you will start feeling content. Who knows? This could be a steppingstone to starting your own business.

Know Your Why

Regardless of your circumstances, there must be a reason you are at your current job.

Perhaps you need to support a family member or maybe you need to save up for a house before the baby arrives.  Whatever your reason, find beauty in it. Remind yourself that while you’re at work, you’re contributing to the well-being of others. Your aim to make good on those financial goals, buy a bigger house for your growing family, enable medical care for that family member or take care of your kids, is vital to the lives of those you care about.

You don’t exactly go to work excited every day, but that doesn’t mean there’s no higher purpose in what you’re doing. So, next time you think you find yourself muttering “I hate my job”, jot down all the reasons why you work. Every time you feel like saying “I hate my job”, reflect on your deeper purpose for being there, and your situation will seem less drab.

Do Your Best Work

When you are not happy with what you are doing, it’s easy to fall into the trap of not giving your best. While it’s only natural to not feel like putting your all into something when you don’t even like, know that mediocrity will only exacerbate your current discontentment. So, even when the going gets tough, try to turn in high-quality work. Even if you don’t enjoy working at your current job, doing quality work or tackling complex situations will give you the confidence boost you need. At least you can go home each night feeling good about the work you put in that day. It counts for more than you think.