It’s Okay to Earn Money in a Job You Hate, For Now

How the power of growth mindset can help you out

I don’t like my job.

According to Forbes, anywhere between 20–40% of people don’t either.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Fresh out of university, the world was my oyster, or so I thought. Even without the slightest inkling of what career I wanted to pursue, I had anticipated a much more glorious post-graduation period.

For the first few months after I had finished my degree, I did nothing but apply for jobs that I thought I was qualified for. I have a degree; it’ll be easy, right?

Wrong.

Summer complete, I was jobless, and quickly realizing that money doesn’t grow from trees. With luck showing no signs of turning, I took to applying for jobs I knew I could get.

I’d worked in retail in my teens, so I started there. Soon enough, I secured a position. Fast forward six months, and I’m still there. I work as a Supervisor in a health supplier shop. Serving customers skin products and cod liver oil is not my ideal circumstance. It’s certainly not what I dreamed of doing.

But the experience has changed one thing, however, and that is my mindset.

I began to realize I had become bogged down within my ‘failure’ and that I was no longer pushing myself.

Looking to the future, instead of the now

“I’ll be out of here soon”.

“I’ve got interviews lined up”

These were just lies I told myself to keep going. I had nothing else to focus on, so I just kept on applying for jobs I thought I wanted. It was a constant attempt to disassociate myself from my current situation.

I learned a vital lesson: wishful thinking about the future isn’t going to get you there. Only your present actions will get you there.

As much as I don’t enjoy the job I do, it doesn’t mean I need to bring my life to a halt. In a classic case of denial, I was holding myself back from any real responsibility at work.

I thought to myself, what is the point? If this is the role I’ve found myself in, I might as well earn some money and gain some more credentials while I’m at it.

Since university finished, I stopped pushing myself.

It took me far too long to realize this. I was in a state of perpetual annoyance. Annoyed at myself for not getting the job, annoyed at companies not giving me a chance, and annoyed at universities for not providing enough guidance.

Often, when we aren’t where we want to be, we get stuck. Hope wanes, and we accept our circumstances.

A ‘fixed’ mindset vs a ‘growth’ mindset

In her book, ‘How We Can Learn To Fulfill Our Potential.’ Carol Dweck discusses the effects of having a ‘fixed’ mindset compared to a ‘growth’ mindset.

The ‘fixed’ mindset assumes things such as our intelligence, creativity, and character are inherited. Avoiding failure is the only path to success. Comparatively, a ‘growth’ mindset views failure as a challenge into the new and unknown.

In her work, Dweck states that this stems from an early age. While I don’t profess to know more than her, I would say that you can undoubtedly adopt aspects of a ‘growth’ mindset concerning your job situation.

For a more in-depth look analysis of her work, click here.

You may feel like a failure. I sometimes do too. Accepting that is the first step.

After all, where else can we learn but in failure?

Protect your mental welfare

Having a job you hate can affect your weight, immune system, relationship, sleep, and health.

At the same time, you still need to pay bills and for life. It’s a delicate balance. It is down to you to fix your circumstances.

Do you have a side hustle/passion? For me, it was writing. I knew I was good at it, yet didn’t do anything about it. It just didn’t seem attainable.

Now, I write every day. Doing so gives me a purpose. I go to work, earn some money, come home and write. I wish there were more hours in the day.

Who knows? That passion of yours may well end up a career.

A job you like changes your life

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a distinguished Hungarian psychologist, being able to enjoy your work is the main factor in getting into a state of flow.

Being in the ‘flow’ (being in the ‘zone’) more often roots down to multiple facets of your daily life, such as

• socializing (confidence)
• willingness to exercise (drive)
• learn new things (open-mindedness)

It could be as simple as viewing a ‘chore’ as a ‘task’ instead. The little things matter.

Not everyone can be in a job they enjoy. Not at the moment anyway. But you can flip this on its head. View the passion or side hustle as your main job, with the other ‘main’ job a more financial position.

Make the ‘flow’ yours.

Adopting this mindset has led me to come to terms with my current situation. I am not yet where I thought I was going to be as a post-graduate, but I am sure as hell getting there.

I’ve still got some way to go

Technically, my circumstances haven’t changed.

I still don’t like my job. No matter how hard I try, it doesn’t excite me to start my shift. I still dread the thought of people asking me what I do.

But, I’m making changes to mindset. I’m moving from one that’s fixed to one that is based on growth. I’m focusing on what I want to do; it makes doing what I don’t want to do that much easier.

Now, off to work.