“Loving” a Job That You Hate
Hating a job has become a sort of rite of passage in life, and most of us have gone through it at least once or twice (or a few more times) in our lifetime. Some of these scenarios may sound familiar:
Working a job that doesn’t compensate you fairly
Feeling stuck in a job that you’re not passionate about
Working in a toxic work environment
____________________________ (Fill in the blank)
In the midst of experiencing all of those things, it’s difficult to look at anything regarding the job using an optimistic lens. How can we possibly have any sense of positivity when you actually hate your job? Although these things really bring us down, it’s important to give ourselves quick reminders that with a little bit of time (and sometimes luck), we can get out of it, and find something better.
I recently stumbled upon a video of Tom Sachs, a New York based visual artist doing an interview piece called “advice to the young” In this video, Sachs shared his insight regarding his mindset towards a job that he didn’t care for. In his story, he had a job cleaning toilets to make ends meet while he was beginning the journey of building his art studio. Instead of letting the hate of the job consume him, he made a decision to approach it as tool of empowerment. He decided to completely commit to it and became a black belt in cleaning toilets. He got so good that his other colleagues was telling him that his work was making them look bad. Through this commitment of becoming the best toilet cleaner in NYC, he discovered the importance of taking ownership of his time.
“ The time that I spent cleaning the toilet was my time, and I could spend it resenting that I was cleaning a toilet or I could just make that toilet shine and do a really good job of it. ”
- Tom Sachs.
Now, let’s pause for a second…I have to acknowledge that the last thing anybody currently hating their job wants to hear is “well just be positive about it, and it’ll be better” or “why don’t you just choose to love it, instead of resenting it?”. NOBODY wants to hear that. Myself included. Although I could understand someone interpreting Sachs’ advice to come off that way, I do admit that there’s really useful elements that we could take away from this story. There are small nuggets of wisdom that we can implement in our own situations. One of the biggest things I took away from this story is that because of his mindset towards this literal crappy job, people noticed. Even the ones that probably hated the job as much as he did. That is a signal that whatever it is that you’re doing, whether it’s cleaning toilets, or mowing lawns or being a financial analyst, how you handle it is what people remember. Spoiler Alert! in Tom Sachs’ story, because he did such a great job, he was noticed and was promoted as a supervisor, and eventually the company that initially hired him as a janitor wound up hiring him to make art for them, which ultimately brought him closer to his ultimate passion. Incredible.
If you currently hate your job, being treated unfairly or just generally feeling stuck, I’m rooting for you. I hope that you find something better soon, and if the timing of this video, doesn’t make you feel any better about it, it’s okay! I get it. My hope is that whatever it is you can take from this story, that you add it to your own toolbox, so when you’re in good place and time to use it, it can help you keep moving forward. Good Luck.
