I’ve struggled with my job over the past couple of years and I know many of you probably struggle with your job as well. I came up with a plan to enjoy my job and tested it out for the past 30 days. The plan was simple – my job is now my hobby and my full time job is to enjoy my life.

In order to change my mindset and accept my job as my hobby, I was going to have to rewire some of my old thought patterns. I had to break down exactly what I thought my job was. Dictionary.com says it’s: a piece of work, esp. a specific task done as part of the routine of one’s occupation or for an agreed price.

I put in 8 hours a day at my job and they give me an hourly amount in return. This gives me the stability to be able to pay my mortgage, expenses and a night out with my wife. I also get the added benefit of having health care. I give 40 hours a week to get these compensations in return. My work time equates to a stable existence with a reasonable standard of living. This old model wasn’t making me happy, so I knew that I either had to find a new job or a new perspective. I’ve never been happy at any of my jobs (retail, telemarketing, mushroom monger [this was my best one to date, but it was too exhausting climbing up and down hills all day long hunting for mushrooms], marketing coordinator for a valve and pump company, teacher, Cyber Café manager, Photoshop designer, Yoga studio receptionist, handyman, electrician, and now my present job of marketing assistant), so I knew changing jobs probably wasn’t going to solve my problem.

As all these thoughts were swirling around my brain, a co-worker told me that he was sick and tired of being angry and decided he was going to be happy. He was the typical moody guy with a chip on his shoulder. There would be some days that you couldn’t even approach him for fear of getting sucked into his dark complaining cloud. As I have watched him go through his mental experiment he seems to be doing a lot better. He laughs more, complains less and I actually enjoy talking to him now. He made the conscious choice to find the good stuff in his day instead of falling into his old habits of complaining and fussing about what aggravated him. The sour puss turned into a delightful human being.

Andy Kaufman, a well-known comedian from the seventies, had a sweet job as an actor on the show “Taxi.” It was paying the bills; way more than he ever thought was possible, but his conscience was feeling awful. So he got a job as a dishwasher at a local diner to help him relax and do something normal. Many people do what they do, not because of the money, but because they want to, almost like a leisure pursuit.

How was I going to create this job outlook? A challenge worthy of all my skills.

I knew that I had to put less importance on what reward I was getting from my employer and more importance on what made me happy. Now that I had my solution I had to figure out how to apply it. What if I looked at my time as something more than just a way to get money back in return? I could look at my time as a chance to become a smarter, healthier, and wiser person. I could learn to value the opportunity to study what the situation was putting me through, instead of wanting more money or making myself feel like I was stuck doing something I didn’t want to do. Highly developed people such as Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi knew that happiness came from within. If Jesus could be happy in prison, the Buddha underneath a tree with no material possessions, and Gandhi fasting to the brink of death, trying to save his nation from civil war – I could be happy working at a corporate job if I found the right viewpoint.

I had to break down my job to its simplest form – energy. When I am at home practicing yoga or meditation I am happy because it’s my choice. My energy is being used the way I want it to be. When I am at work it’s harder to make it feel like it’s my choice to call a contact or write a report. I sometimes feel like my energy is being wasted on other people’s goals.

What usually brings my mood down is that I am not making enough money. Of course most of us, including the rich, always want to make more money. I asked Nikki, who is a middle school theater teacher, for some advice and she told me that if she broke down how much money the middle school paid her to put on a musical she would make around $2.00 an hour. Only $2.00 an hour! I would be outraged and try to work the system so I didn’t have to do something for such little money. But it is part of her job and she loves to do it. She doesn’t complain and she actually feels lucky. “I get paid for a hobby that I love,” were her exact words. That’s exactly when the light inside my head blasted me. A hobby. That’s the key – think of my job as a hobby.

First I had to look for the improvements that I wanted to see in myself. Then work from those points. I wanted to improve my speaking skills because I knew it would help me be a better communicator. One of my goals is to become a professional speaker in the near future. I tried to volunteer for any dialogue-based opportunities that my company would allow – meetings, company outings, and anything that would force me to be in front of people. It’s a whole different atmosphere speaking in front of your co-workers or a group of teenagers than at a Toastmaster meeting, because it challenges you to be effective in a real life situation.

My phone skills were also seriously lacking. I usually stumbled on the phone, making it harder for people to understand what I was trying to say. My biggest mistake was starting in the middle of a thought instead of at the beginning. I wasn’t organized and the person on the other end would get all confused and frustrated with my attempt at communication. I’ve learned not to fly by the seat of my pants. Now when I make a phone call I write a short list of what I want to say to the person on the other end of the line. I prepare myself in order to improve my phone skills, making my life easier as well as the people I contact.

Tedious tasks were my own worst enemy. I thought myself too important and too smart to do such work, so I rebelled against how they made me feel. My own negative viewpoint of work was the problem. It was up to me to decide how I could approach the mundane jobs; instead of worrying about how long they would take – I needed a fresh perspective. I did a little research and found an article about Roger Goodall, the new NFL Commissioner.
An old boss told the reporter that he never cared how big or small the task was because he always did an excellent job. It made me think of the quote, “There are no small parts. Only small actors.” Goodall understood that each job was important and necessary, so you may as well do it the best you can. I liked my job, but it wasn’t my passion. I needed to create a new passion. I had to look at each task as a way to learn, so I decided to make each tedious assignment a meditation – a chance to train myself to stay in the moment. Instead of writing a report because my boss told me to, I decided that I was going to write the report to make it sing. I was going to let myself dive into the work for all it was. The reports were a pain in the butt, but I tried my best to stay focused on feeling the thoughts and sensations that were created by the task, and staying aware of how a negative or positive thought felt. After stuffing 2,000 marketing bags with 3,000 more to go, I would lose interest, but that is when the true learning began. I constantly reminded myself to focus on the simple joy of the task and not to revert back to my old negative self. This fresh outlook helped me to transform my mental suffering into an opportunity to make myself more like the wise people that I admire.

My stress level has been significantly reduced because I see every task as a way to find some little element that I’ve never noticed before. Sometimes it’s something internal, such as improving my breath; sometimes it’s as external as noticing the beauty in a shadow from a desk light, or relaxing in a moment that might have made the old me mad. This has allowed me to relax without rebelling against how I think life should really be.

I also feel a lot lighter, not physically, but emotionally. I walk into a room full of people and say hello, trying to express my happiness. When I take my afternoon walk I’m much more calm and serene, which makes it easier to prevent my thoughts of work from dragging me into worrying. When I’m able to see a larger picture, the little things don’t worry me as much.

I’ve talked enough about how I have improved my life. The most important question is – How can you enjoy your job for what it is?

The first thing you can do is figure out what makes you tick, and gear your goals toward those desires. Do you want to lose weight? Walk up and down flights of stairs whenever you have the opportunity, or instead of sending an email, walk to your co-worker’s office or cubicle. By steering your internal desires into your job you will improve your emotional balance as well as the quality of your work. Do you want to work on your people skills? Then put yourself in situations that require more interaction with people and I know that you’ll see improvement.

The next step is to reinforce your new positive behavior. Try sending yourself a “Thank You” email to your personal address. Maybe you can thank yourself for being compassionate toward a co-worker who grinds on your nerves, or for a well-written letter that you didn’t feel like writing. Then when you are at home, read your “Thank You” email. It will reinforce the positive that you saw in the situation that was difficult to enjoy. You can also reward yourself for enjoying a menial task by taking a break and talking to a co-worker. An emotional payment for your hard work is a great way to stay motivated.

I usually reward myself by telling my wife about what I accomplished. She usually gets a kick out of my stories because she has never had such difficulty enjoying every day work.

Figuring out what makes you who you are is a part of the benefit that comes from this practice. I never realized that I hated to do work for others; I just figured that was how most people felt. I thought that my life would be easier if I kept an emotional distance from my job. If I didn’t like my job, it wouldn’t matter if I lost it because there was always going to be something better out there. I was creating this negative cycle of pain that only made my days more torturous. I also thought that by hating my job, I was assuring myself that I would eventually branch off and create my own business. I didn’t want to like my job because then I might be tied to working for the “Man” for the rest of my life. This was a false perspective that kept me from relaxing and enjoying myself. I am more motivated now than ever to branch off and create my own business; I’m working toward that goal. So be aware of any mental traps you create for yourself and make sure that you do not believe in something that’s making your life miserable.

By engaging your energy in the task at hand you’ll find many ways to learn from the experience. When you are learning from every moment and striving to make your life better, your job becomes so much more than just money. It becomes an enjoyable way to pass the time, just like a hobby.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Motivation, Passion, Stress Management, confidence, enjoy everything.