Thu, July 02, 2009 - 9:25:31

Finding the Small Joys in a Dreadful Job

image courtesy of workitmom.com

We’ve all been there.  You’re working in a thankless job, doing mindless tasks, for a boss who just doesn’t seem to recognize your effort.  For many of us, that’s precisely the reason we move on to new positions.  But, in today’s difficult job market, more and more people are finding themselves temporarily trapped in a job they hate and as Steven DeMaio, author of the blog I Quit-Now What, explains, sometimes you just have to make the best of the worst job.  And the easiest way to do it, he writes, is with a little laughter.

In his post, “How to Make the Best of The Worst Job,” DeMaio describes how he coped with what could possibly qualify as one of the worst jobs ever: microfilming death certificates inside a closed, darkened, and poorly ventilated walk-in safe at the local town hall.  To make matters worse, the clerks of the town hall largely ignored him, referring to him only as “the micro guy.”  But, DeMaio discovered a potential friend in one clerk, by noticing one small detail; instead of “the micro guy” this clerk called him “the archivist.”

Recognizing this difference not only in semantics, but in attitudes, DeMaio began making small talk with the clerk, sharing stories about the town’s history as it pertained to deaths.  It might not have been the most cheerful of subjects, but it became the basis of a private game.  Every day at lunch time, the clerk would submit his guess for one year’s most prevalent cause of death, and at the end of the day, DeMaio would reveal the correct answer.  Eventually, other clerks became interested in the game and everyone partook in the daily ritual, helping to forge a relationship between DeMaio and the town hall staff and make his otherwise dreadful job a little more fun.

And that’s why, he argues, we all need to find the small joys in even the most tedious of jobs.  When you indentify even one miniscule thing to help brighten your day, it can alter your perception of your work, enhance your overall performance, and even improve your appearance in the eyes of others.

After all, as anyone can tell you, negativity is like a virus. It spreads throughout your system to affect the way you view every aspect of your job and in turn, changes the way others perceive you.  Inevitably, the more you concentrate on how much you hate your job, the more unpleasant it will become.  But, by simply finding just one little thing to smile or laugh about, you’ll find your job will become a whole lot less painful.  In fact, you might even start to enjoy it.

Posted by Linda and Robin