How to Escape a Job You Hate
Stop neglecting what you have, and you will be rewarded
First, a confession: I’ve worked at the same company for 6 years now.
This makes me some sort of Heretic Millennial, I think. Many of my peers have bounced around 4 different jobs by now.
In case you were wondering, it’s not a trendy startup where you can take naps all day. It’s one of those companies: a sprawling enterprise full of these creatures called “middle managers. Every cliche you’ve seen on The Office, I’ve seen it happen at least once.
Now, a second confession: I actually like this job.
However, it wasn’t always that way. When I started, I held the dullest role you can imagine. Now, I’m a global media producer making double my original salary. Turns out, the first company I joined had the job of my dreams.
Most people don’t believe this is true, but I genuinely believe every company wants more creative, energized people people. Usually, though, it’s up to the creative person to find her way out of the dull, non-creative role and in to a more valuable (and fun) place in the organization because big companies don’t have the systems set up to find and leverage those people.
If you’re stuck in a job you hate, here are 5 strategies to try.
1. Be More Creative
Look around the internet and across dictionaries, and you will find dozens of different definitions of what creativity actually is.
Here’s one I like to use:
Creativity — Combining existing information in new ways
Or, if you like the simpler but less studious version:
Creativity — Connecting the dots
Pablo Picasso didn’t invent paint. He didn’t create the paintbrush. He wasn’t the first to painting discover the canvas, paint for enjoyment, or find the perfect brush stroke.
Instead, he combined all these existing elements in new ways, eventually generating a truly new and unique art form — Cubism. Picasso connected existing dots to go down in history as possibly the most masterful artist.
But watch this:
There exists another man I would refer to as masterful. His name is Brain Meeks. Meeks, an expert in Amazon book advertising, did not invent Amazon. He did not invent Microsoft Excel or data analysis. He did not come up with completely new or different ways to write copy.
Instead, he combined all these existing elements in new ways, eventually generating a truly new and unique practice for looking at data. This expresses itself in the way he teaches others to analyze similar data.
Picasso and Meeks are using the same process.
Stripped of the specifics, both men are going through the same steps. This is a good reminder a reminder that creativity is not really what you do, but how you do it.
2. Stop expecting the company to sponsor your hobby
Many times people ask this question with a different motivation:
“Well, I just want to do ________ for a living, and it’s not fair my favorite activities can’t generate enough income for my expenses! Why won’t the company just pay me to do what I love most??”
Nobody ever actually says that, of course, but it’s an underlying expectation. In some respects, many of us wish we could play around and get paid for it.
However, let’s address a couple of false assumptions with the statement above:
a) “My favorite activities can’t generate enough income for my expenses”
They probably can.
Ask yourself: “Does anyone in the world have the career I want?” If so, ask yourself one more question: “Why can’t I do that?”
The reason you’ve written these dreams off as impossible, though, is because they don’t happen fast enough, don’t grow big enough, or aren’t reliable enough to please you.
b) “The company won’t pay me to do what I love most!”
In the most basic terms, a company is a structure organized around a need in the marketplace.
- Publishing companies are organized to meet the need of people who want to read books.
- Identity security companies are organized to meet the need of people who want to protect personal data.
- Pet accessory companies are organized to meet the need of silly Americans who overpamper their dogs (guilty)
Quite simply, your company probably does not have a legitimate need for what it is you do. It has its own needs, its own goals, its own vision. As a reminder, you signed up for that vision when you took the job.
Want to really blow your boss’s mind and get more creative opportunities? Try these things:
- Discover what the company is REALLY after
- Find creative solutions to help achieve that goal
- (Regardless of whether or not it fits in your role)
- Present those solutions to someone with influence
The more you help your team/business unit/company win, the more trust you earn to be creative in the first place.
3) Help as many coworkers as possible
I picked this up from James Altucher:
Do all your work before noon. Do everyone else’s work after lunch.
If you work a 9–5 job, start making the most of it by learning and solving problems for all your colleagues. This not only gives you a better picture of the company as a whole, but it widens the amount of existing information you have.
In the corporate world, where what you need might be hiding three levels deep in the org chart, information is critical.
4) Make two versions of all your work
Most of the time, my favorite boss and I operated pretty much like this:
Tami: “Todd! I have this great idea for a thing.”
Me: “Cool! What are the details.”
Tami: “Well, I thought we could [blah, blah, blah] for the [blah, blah company details] announcement, but let’s put a llama at the end to show how ludicrous it is when our managers do that.”
Me: “Hmmm…”
Tami: “Anyway, that’s just what I was thinking. Run with it.”
I then go off and make a thing. It may have a llama at the end. It may be that I chose another silly animal. It may be the llama has been cut, and instead, I did whatever I wanted to because I wanted to make a video which looked like “Stranger Things”
When I show her what I’ve done, the resulting conversation goes one of two ways:
CONVERSATION 1:
Me: “Hey I made a thing”
Tami: “OMG I LOVE IT. This isn’t at all what I asked for, but you totally got what I was trying to say.”
CONVERSATION 2:
Me: “Hey I made a thing”
Tami: “I don’t get it. Can you add a few more llamas like we originally talked about?”
Me: “Sure, and as a matter of fact, I already built an alternate version with several llama options so we will still hit our deadline.”
Tami: “Wow, you sure are great.”
Me: “I know.”
Tami: “You’re going to write about this experience, aren’t you?”
Me: “………”
Take chances. But take chances with your reputation, not anyone else’s. Making two versions can help you do this. At the end of the day, your boss is probably just worried about getting in trouble with her boss, who needs to have work ready for his boss.
5) Quit your job
Ah ha!
You were waiting for this, weren’t you? If I have learned anything about writing on the Internet, it’s that everyone loves when you tell them to quit their job.
You’ve probably been waiting for me to say it this whole time, haven’t you?
“It’s time to go little bird! Free yourself from the chains of corporate tyranny! Follow your heart and all the butterflies!”
So sure, you can quit.
If you have the financial resources to not starve, quit.
If you can do so without damaging a meaningful relationship, quit.
If you are ready to depart without blaming a stranger on the internet, quit.
Quit and go “find” your dream job.
But remember this: If you don’t create excellence with what you have now, you probably won’t get it where you’re going.
