Tuesday 2 February 2016

Why do people stay in boring jobs?

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.  - John F. Kennedy

I'm reading  Mastery (The Robert Greene Collection) by Robert Greene,  a great book on how to become successful in your career.  
The book focuses on getting a purpose, cultivating desire and a doing a job which you are passionate about.
how do we end up in boring jobs?
As children we did things we enjoyed, spent hours on activities we loved doing, never tiring of them.
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Collecting things
  • drawing
  • writing
  • etc
As children progress through school they are funneled into recommended jobs, safe jobs, jobs with careers and job security.  Parents, teachers and friends will offer advice to children on potential careers.
Career advice doesn't take consider the passions or interests of the childand steers them towards a safe career choice,.
The next step is to attend university, narrowing down the choice of jobs to smaller standard selection, the jobs recommended by degree course.
Most job recommendations are office jobs, after a few years they are thinking how did I end up in this job.  They complain to their parents and friends their job is boring , telling them to get enjoyment and excitement outside of work.
They ask themselves these question
  • How did they I end up here?
  • What happened to my passion and purpose?
  • Can I do this until retirement?

Why do people stay in boring jobs?

Most jobs are 8 hours a day, one third of your time is spent at work, half of your waking hours are spent at work.  
Why do people stay in boring jobs, going in day after day, doing something they find boring.
A habit is common repeatable action, which the brain can do on autopilot due to the frequency.  A Boring job is a classic bad habit, it's easier to go to work than to take action and change it.
The brain instinct is to take the easiest path with the lowest potential problems.  Changing jobs could mean doing something difficult which you are not good at, staying with your boring job is the safe choice.
https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2011/08/changing-bad-habits/

What is purpose?

“No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.”
― Robert GreeneMastery 
No one can tell you what will give you purpose or what job you will have passion expect yourself.  Purpose might not come from your job but can be found in your pastime, doing things such as writing, creating music, exercise, creating something original.  convert your pastime into a career.


How do I view purpose

“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.” ― Frank Zappa
You need to active and contributing your thoughts, ideas and energy into a project.  Only when you put effort, mental and physical energy into your work/project will you take something out.
Purpose is to be challenged, to learn, to be involved in a challenging project which push you beyond your comfort zone.  If you aren't pushing yourself, making mistakes, failing then you are going to easy on yourself and not growing.
“We have to create culture, don’t watch TV, don’t read magazines, don’t even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you’re worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you’re giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told ‘no’, we’re unimportant, we’re peripheral. Get a degree, get a job, get a thisget a that.’ And then you’re a player, you don’t want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that’s being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.” ― Terence McKenna

Make a difference

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Are you making a difference at work? are you contributing to the success or failure of company or project?
Don't waste time in a job you don't enjoy, you could be creating amazing things, leading projects.  If you aren't being challenged by your job, you aren't learning and growing.  

Opportunities are everywhere

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”
― Robert GreeneMastery
People prefer complaining to doing, have you heard these comments

  • It's not fair I didn't get new job/promotion
  • I hate my job
  • My job is boring
  • would move jobs but the pay is good
  • I will wait for my pension and then start enjoying life
People with a passive view of life don't have purpose because they feel life happens to them and not they happen to life.  
If you don't like something, what is stopping you from changing it?  If you don't enjoy your job, find a job you will enjoy.
Opportunities are only seen by people actively looking and who are ready to act.  Think of  your dream job and work out how to get there.
  • What skills do you need
  • Who can help you get there
  • what experience will help
  • Build your online brand/portfolio
  • Read about it, write about it
Work hard to get that job, focus your effort on it and every day move towards it.
“Everything you can imagine is real.” Pablo Picasso
The picture was from here

4 comments:

  1. people are afraid of poverty, it's obvious! http://resume-writer.net/blog/top-20-the-most-boring-jobs-of-all-time will tell you about the most boring jobs of all time!

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  2. Why do people stay in boring jobs? Should they leave their jobs because of such a silly argument? I will share one story with you, and it is up to you whether or not to judge these people!

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