How to Be Happy with Your Job




I've been at my current job for 10 years. That's very rare in this day and age, especially amongst my generation (X) and after. I've never met anybody whose job was truly their passion. I've never met anybody who was truly happy with their job to stay longer than a few years.


With some exceptions, everybody I've known has always moved around from job to job. I was like this too in my 20's. I once quit a job on the very first day. At one point, I was working 3 part-time jobs at the same time. There wasn't a full-time job out there that I liked, so I created a composite with 3 part-time jobs I did like.

Of course those of us who have jobs should be happy these days. Nevertheless, some of you may feel distraught being trapped in a job you don't like. Here's some tips on how to maintain career longevity:


1) Underpromise, overdeliver- Don't promise the world and fail to deliver. If you do that repeatedly, then everybody knows you're full of sh!t. It's much better to provide your boss or your customers reasonable expectations as to what will happen. Then do a damn good job. This way you'll exceed expectations and look like a miracle worker.


2) Good work gets you more work- If you do good work, then you'll get more work because everybody knows you get stuff done and done right. This is either good or bad, depending on your work environment. If you run a business, then doing good work gets you more business. More business means more money.

If you work in the public sector, then good work gets you more work, but you still earn the same pay as the lazy bum watching YouTube the next cubicle over. This doesn't mean you should do bad work (since that gets you fired), but learn to say no to work that somebody else is supposed to be doing.


3) Shear sheep, don't skin them- If you manage and supervise people, then keep this saying in mind when you hand out work. You might have a star player on your team, and you'll think of him as the go-to guy or think of her as the go-to gal for everything. Be careful, however, because if you overwork your star player, but don't compensate him with higher pay or extra perks, then he's going to have a mental breakdown and leave for another position with a company or department that will properly compensate him.


4) Be a specialist, not the go-to guy - If you don't want to promote, because promoting to a higher position means longer hours and more responsibility, then be a specialist in something that your company needs. Police departments, for example, have lots of specialty assignments, such as detectives, defense tactics instructors, K9's, etc.

The key is to be invaluable. If you have no specialty, then you're a generalist, and you can be placed anywhere to work on anything. You will be the go-to guy for everything and everyone. But if you choose a specialty, then you choose how to contribute your time and efforts to the department.

Comments

Brandan said…
James,
awesome advices. I enjoyed every one of your posts, can't get enough of them. I swear, sometime as read your post, it seems as though you were talking to me personally. Great writings!
J said…
Yeah, I started as a cop in my late 20's and stayed since then. But I was a career gypsy in my mid 20's.

I once worked at a library as a page, processing new books. I thought it was a great job, because I was reading all sorts of books on all sorts of topics. My boss kept yelling at me, "Quit educating yourself and get back to work!"

When I was going to grad school, I was reading for blind students. They needed audio recordings of written course materials, so I read these books and recorded books on tape.

I worked at Macy's a long time ago. I actually dropped by there yesterday to pick up surveillance equipment on a case, when I ran into a salesperson. We were talking and I told him how I used to work there. He said he was working at Macy's when I was working there. Essentially he never left and stayed in the same low pay dead end job all these years.

Law enforcement was enticing to me, because I always want to grow as person. The field challenges you in every way possible: mentally, physically and emotionally. it's best job I've had and that's why I've stuck with it or so long.
MojoRider said…
James can probably relate, but working in a bureaucracy, you really have to be mentally sharp to know how to survive.

I'd also add in these thoughts and these are dynamic to the situations that befall you:

A. never let management know what you really think/feel

The downside of this, nothing ever gets changed if no one knows what the problems are. The upside is, you won't get branded a troublemaker or a non-team player.

B. if you're in a HQs environment, be as anonymous as possible.

keep your head down, do your work and don't cause unneccesary trouble. make it so people (the front office, and maybe some peers) can't form a bad or good opinion about you. impress the people that need to be impressed with your work. let it speak for itself but safeguard it and don't let anyone take credit for it.

C. don't go overboard and do TOO good of a job.

the more good work you do, the more they'll come back to you over and over again dumping shit on your lap. if you're not going to get a promotion out of it, then fuck it. let the other lazy bastards pick up the slack. why should YOU play clean up all the time?

D. if you're stuck in a system that's broken and/or corrupt, don't strike a blow against the bureaucracy by yourself.

Bureaucracies can push back at you a lot harder. if your company exhibits zero loyalty, rewards the rank and file based on politicking rather than merits, then work for yourself and the people you trust. Do good work for your own satisfaction, accomplishments, and sense of self worth; do not do it for the company.

Don't give the bureaucracy anymore of your soul than they already own.
J said…
Bureaucracies can push back at you a lot harder. if your company exhibits zero loyalty, rewards the rank and file based on politicking rather than merits, then work for yourself and the people you trust.

This is so true. If you want to strike a blow at the bureaucracy, then you have to be untouchable.

But who's ever truly untouchable? There was one guy at work who thought he was untouchable, and now they're crucifying him.
MojoRider said…
Corrupt might not be the right word choice. Perhaps amoral? or dysfunctional? it is corrupt in the sense that there are plenty of people within the system who abdicate their moral responsibility to do their job or to do it correctly. How do you think shit like 9-11 happens? It falls thru the cracks because someone wasn't paying attention to their job.

And true, no one is untouchable. The system is a leviathan; a living, breathing, organism fueled by people adept at manipulating the system and gathering power.

If you're going to take on the power structure of your company, you better have a good grasp of the political leanings and connections of who is beholden to whom. Who's got the juice? Does your benefactor have a rabbi? What happens if his or her rabbi gets taken out by the system? You better have your proof lined up too.

I've been screwed out of promotions because HQs wants to play a patronage game and take care of their boys and girls. I could have filed FOIA requests and all to see how the career board made their decisions. But they could wait me out until forever. Besides that, they used the system to get around potential lawsuits. They covered up their improper personnel and human resources practices. Everyone knows you can't get promoted in my office. And nobody will challenge HQs to put an end to it unless you get enough people to do a class action lawsuit.

And even if you win, do you really want to work with the same people you just sued?

Promotions and extra cash isn't always everything. It's nice to have, but your happiness trumps all else. Once you're in middle management, you get to do the dirty work while the front office keeps their hands clean.

Just make sure you have a life outside of work.
J said…
Promotions and extra cash isn't always everything. It's nice to have, but your happiness trumps all else. Once you're in middle management, you get to do the dirty work while the front office keeps their hands clean.

Just make sure you have a life outside of work.


I take that advice to heart, dude. Middle management is when you get it from both ends. It's like you got to cross a minefield in order to get to the other side (upper management) to reap the real rewards.

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