There a few things that are sure to happen when you work at a job you hate. Well..at most jobs for that matter. Pointed objects begin to look like very reasonable ways to check if you still have a pulse.
We’ve all had one of these jobs right? And maybe this is hitting too close to home…or work.
My friend Carla and I have had some interesting conversations about what exactly makes a job worth having. If worth having at all. She then pointed out an article that shed some light on the subject.
In a recent study published in the occupational and environmental medicine journal, suggest that psychologically, being unemployed works out better for your sanity than being in a job that makes you feel like three-fifths of a human being.
Yeah…I could have told you that. But I guess this recent study flies in the face of some earlier ones that quanitified the psycological trauma of losing ones job.
“Moving from unemployment to a poor-quality job offered no mental health benefit, and in fact was more detrimental to mental health than remaining unemployed,” says the lead author of the study, Peter Butterworth, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University, in Canberra.”
Check out link for more details:
For mental health, bad job worse than no job
I’m no career doctor, but my current prescription is as follows:
- Avoid getting a job altogether. I’m not talking about finding ways to live on handouts. I’m talking about unlearning the idea that trading your time for money is the only way you can make dough. Read this post from highexistence for a harsher and clearer idea of what I’m talking about. I’ve identified what I’m most interested in, and am now working towards creating value, and systems that are dependant on things done once, and where value can be extracted infinitum. (More on that another time.)
- Do only what you enjoy. If that is difficult, do something that provides you with some enjoyment, and meaning, and sense of purpose, while you work towards your escape plan.
- Get ready to make sacrifices. Forget the joneses, car pool, find roommates, cutting the fat, learning financial discipline, couch surfing, joining a commune…I’ve chosen to try all but the commune, and I’m not crossing that off the list.
Your return on investment? To borrow some Battlestar Galactica french…some frackin peace of mind.
Written by Veron Graham
Topics: Blog