Why are you here?
You hate your job…
But you don’t want to quit…
Why bother going online looking for a solution to a problem that you don’t even want to solve in the first place?
Maybe you want confirmation that staying in a job you hate is not a stupid idea (which it is, but more on that later on) in order to avoid having to do something about it.
Or maybe you do want to determine a way to counter your bad situation without leaving your job.
After all, hating your job is no fun place to be so if you don’t want to quit it, well, you have to do something to improve your circumstances right?
But what could you do?
Before going into that in more detail, let me tell you that there exist a lot of ways to deal with a job you hate, but for me, the only “true” way is to quit it. We roam on this earth for a certain amount of years. An average person will spend 93000 hours at work over their lifetime. That’s almost 11 years. Fuck!
I don’t want to waste 11 years of my life working a job I hate! Do you?
Sometimes quitting your job right away might be the best choice. I’ve heard and read stories about people thriving after quitting the job they hated cold-turkey. Most of them claim that it was one of the best decisions they ever made and wish that they had done it sooner. Unfortunately, you can only know that if you take the plunge, not beforehand.
That’s why most people prefer keeping their job until they find a way to first replace their income. In theory, this way is safer but takes some more time. Also, it’s less stressful because you won’t have to worry when and from where your next paycheck is going to come.
But hey!
I understand…
You are not here to quit the job you hate but to determine what you could do to improve your situation without quitting right?
Read on then!
What to Do if You Hate Your Job But Don’t Want to Quit
1 • Figure Out Why You Hate Your Job
There can be numerous reasons for someone to hate a job. Some of them could be legit while others bullshit.
Nevertheless finding out the exact ones could absolutely help you counter your situation without requiring you to leave your job.
For instance, if you are facing problems with your coworkers (bullying, discrimination, etc) maybe you should talk to your supervisor, the HR department or even the CEO of your company. If you hate your current position and there exist other positions in your current company which you believe might fulfill you more, maybe you could ask for a transfer to another division. Same goes if you are facing problems with your direct supervisor. If you believe that you are underpaid, you might as well go ahead and ask for a raise.
On the other hand, if the situation is out of your control and you can’t really do anything to change it, you could always attempt to change your attitude towards it. Just go there, do your job, and stop giving a fuck about anything and anyone else. Let me tell you that this is no piece of cake though. It is nearly impossible to unhate and tolerate a job that you already hate. I’ve tried it myself without much success.
Other times the problem might not even be the job but you.
For example, if you hate your job because you have to get up at 7:00 am, well, welcome to the real world. You’ll just have to deal with it. Even the most successful entrepreneurs and CEO’s of the world wake up early in the morning, maybe even earlier than you (Apple CEO, Tim Cook wakes up at 3:45 am, Gary Vaynerchuck wakes up at 6:00 am, Elon Musk wakes up at 7:00 am, Jeff Bezos wakes up between 7:00 am and 8:00 am)! Your other options would be to ask your company if you could work an afternoon or night shift (if any available), or find another job tailored to your own needs.
On the other hand, if your job collides with your innermost values and/or your goals and dreams then quitting your job and going after what you want is most likely the sole option for you to be happy. If you don’t go after what you really want you will regret it forever not to mention that you’ll have to keep working a job you hate until you retire… Or until you die… Whichever comes first.
Do you want to travel the world and gather experiences? Go ahead and do it. You could cover your expenses by tapping into your savings or creating your own travel blog. Or maybe freelancing online. Or begging for money in foreign countries.
Do you value having the flexibility and more free time to spend with your family throughout the day? Start working your way towards creating something which will allow you to become your own boss and work on your very own pace and terms. Or find a job with flexible hours which gives you the freedom to work from home.
Lastly, if you hate your job because it negatively affects your overall health, then start seriously considering to leave it. A job which comes at the cost of your very health is way too expensive no matter how much it pays.
2 • Find Out Why You Don’t Want to Quit Your Job
Usually, the reason that people keep working jobs they hate is total bullshitty.
Some of the most common bullshit reasons are:
- Fear of the unknown
- Job Security
- Feeling Comfortable
- Wanting the money
- Peer, parent, or any other kind of social approval
- Believing that things might get better if they just stick it out
If you don’t want to leave your job due to one or more of those reasons then I hate to be the one to break it to you but you are full of crap!
So, let me debunk your excuses really fast.
Fear of the Unknown
Quitting a job is always scary, even if you have something else lined up and everything figured out.
However, do you know what is scarier than quitting? Working a job you hate until you retire… Terrifying.
Job Security
There’s no job security, period.
According to the US Department of Labor, more than 1.1% of all US employees got laid off every single month during 2018. So, if you believe that your job, your salary, your benefits, your position, etc, are secure, think again. You might as well be the next one.
Yeah, I know that you believe that this would never happen to you right?
This is exactly what two highly-skilled supervisors at my company used to believe. And guess what! They both got fired after 15+ years of service for no reason at all!
There goes your security down the drain.
Feeling Comfortable
Sometimes despite hating your job, deep down you like your already established routine. You know where to go, you know what to do, you know the people there, you know what time to get in and what time to get off, etc.
You’ve gotten comfortable.
At that point, wasting your life working a job you hate seems much simpler than looking for a job, going to interviews, getting rejected, etc…
However, the more comfortable you are now in a job you hate the more uncomfortable you are going to feel in the future.
And again, no matter how comfortable you might be feeling right now, you might lose your job in the blink of an eye.
Wanting the Money
Everyone wants money… After all, this is how we buy stuff.
However, your current job is not the only way in the world that could bring in some income.
Truth is, that nowadays earning money is easier than ever before.
The options to replace your current source of income are literally countless with the most simple one, finding another job.
Others options include
- Freelancing
- Creating a Youtube channel
- Dropshipping
- Building a blog
- Selling services
- Flipping items or domain names
- etc
You don’t HAVE to work a job you hate to make money… You choose to.
I don’t condemn nor judge you. I want the money as well. I have chosen to not quit the job I hate just yet. But I want to quit it. And that’s why I am spending most of my “free” time developing this website.
Hopefully, it will eventually bring in enough income to enable me to safely quit my job, if, of course, I manage to not end up locked in a mental institution until that time comes.
Social Approval
Please, oh please, don’t tell me that you don’t want to quit a job you hate because you want to fit in the preconceived notions that some people have about you.
Social approval is one of the dumbest reasons to not want to quit your job.
-“My parents will be disappointed”
-“My friends will think that I am weak or a loser”
-“My colleagues will say that I am a quitter”
-“The cashier at the supermarket whose name I don’t even know is going to judge me”
So, you care more about what some people might say and think about you than your own happiness. Sorry but that’s plainly stupid.
Care about other people’s approval, and you will always be their prisoner. – Lao Tzu
My advice? Fuck everyone!
No one else is living your life but you. No one has the right to tell you how to live your life but you.
Don’t try to maintain the status quo at the cost of your happiness. Demolish the status quo even if it costs you some people.
Those who leave weren’t supposed to be on your side in the first place. Those who will remain at your side will most likely stick for a very long time and even forever…
It Might Get Better
Bad news…
It won’t… At least not by itself.
The job you hate is not going to magically turn better. You’re not going to wake up one day and stop hating it (unless you become enlightened).
Not only a bad job is not going to get better but it is highly likely that it’ll become even worse as time passes, either objectively, or inside your mind, unless, of course, you do something to improve the overall situation yourself.
It’s one thing to see the glass half-full and a whole other thing to be delusionally optimistic.
Nothing changes towards the direction that you want unless you do something yourself.
In rare occasions, it might happen, yes, but what are the odds?
Slim to none is the answer.
If you realized that the reason you keep your job is a mockery to yourself and you can’t seem to fix the situation without having to quit it, then you have to
Determine How You Are Going to Quit Your Job
So, as stated earlier, when it comes to quitting your job, you got two options.
You either bite the bullet and quit it cold-turkey or you find another source of income that could enable you to replace your current one.
Quitting Your Job Cold Turkey
Since you are here I don’t think that you are ready to quit your job cold turkey.
To go down that path requires no thought and no research. It just happens. It’s spontaneous. If you stop and try to rationalize it, you’ve already lost it. Your mind will never let you quit your safe job because it’s afraid of the unknown just like we talked about earlier on.
If you get the urge, just go for it!
The decision might either improve or worsen your life but no one, not even you, could possibly predict how things are going to transpire beforehand.
You just jump in with both feet and hope for the best.
Truth is, I’ve heard more stories about people who quit their job cold turkey wishing they’d done it sooner than stories of people regretting such decision.
Replacing your income
On the other hand, quitting your job and leaving yourself without an income could put you under a lot of unnecessary stress and worry about your next paycheck.
Even if you have an amount of money saved up before quitting you’ll know that this money will eventually run out and this could lead to making decisions out of necessity or fear and those decisions are almost never the most beneficial to you.
You might end up taking a job you hate once again, undertake clients or projects that you don’t really want to, employ black-hat strategies towards growing your business which will most probably hurt it in the long-term, etc.
So, if possible, hang in there, while, of course, looking for a way to substitute your current income.
This way you’ll avoid tons of frustration, stress, and fear and you won’t feel under pressure 24/7.
It’s might be wiser to start building another ship, while on your current ship, before jumping ship than jumping shit and have to build your new ship while struggling to stay afloat in the water.
Do What I Did
I don’t want to quit my job either.
I want the money because I live alone, have bills and rent to pay, a car to maintain, have to buy food, clothes, toilet paper, etc.
Sure, I could quit my job, sacrifice all that and move back with my parents for a while until I figure my next move. They would be glad to have me, I think. This way I would be able to kill two birds with just one stone.
- I would rid myself of a job I hated at once
- I wouldn’t be under pressure to make money ASAP in order to survive and maintain my belongings
But this would be my last resort. I don’t want to quit my job and move back with my parents, because, mainly, it would suck!
So, my only two options are
- Deal with my job without having to quit it
- Find a way to replace my current income
Option #1 is not possible for oh so many reasons for me
So, I went for option #2.
But instead of looking for another job that might end up hating once more, I started my own online business, this very website, which will hopefully, eventually, enable me to quit not just this job, but all jobs forever, and work for my own self.
Conclusion
There are ways to deal with the job you hate without quitting sure! But first, you hate to determine why you hate your job in the first place. To solve a problem, you hate to first identify it.
If this doesn’t work, figure out why you don’t want to quit your job. Maybe the reason is just a crappy excuse. If this is the case, then quitting is pretty much the only option left.
Find a way to replace your income before doing that. Try to not quit cold turkey. Unless you believe that the stress of not having a job will be much less than the stress of working your current one.
Do what I did!
Get your very own online business up and running right here for free!
So, why do you hate your job? What’s your excuse of not quitting it? Are you going to act to change your situation? How?
Let us know all about your story in the comments below.
If you have any questions or need any further help or guidance from me, please email me at harry@dearboss-iquit.com or drop me a PM on my Wealthy Affiliate Profile.
I will be thrilled to help you out.
Harry,
dearboss-iquit.com
12 Responses
Who really wants to stick with a job they hate? The answer of course is no one.
You have really nailed the reasons/excuses that people make to not quit their jobs, and you supply the answers to those excuses. If people really take notice of what you say, then they have no option but to go ahead and quit!
But I personally would always choose your alternative option – to build another business which can support you when you do quit. And as you say, that is not nearly so difficult as it may sound!
I would definitely endorse your idea that people in this situation should join Wealthy Affiliate and learn the ropes and then start their own business with all the support that the amazing community of WA offers. If they put a time limit on when they will quit, then they will realise that it is possible with perseverance and hard work to make a go of working online and be able to quit on that date. Then their motivation is huge, and they will succeed.
Many thanks for your encouragement for people who hate their jobs, and your help to show them the better way.
Chrissie 🙂
And yet I know many people who hate their job but don’t want to quit 🙂
As stated within the article, people prefer being comfortable and unhappy at their job than putting in the time and effort towards changing jobs (or creating other income streams) and be happier.
I would take the online business option as well any given time of the day. With all the online resources it’s not as difficult as it used to be but it still takes ginormous amounts of time and effort to succeed.
I believe in Wealthy Affiliate as well. It’s so many success stories prove that it works. But as you said, perseverance and hard work are the keys. Wealthy Affiliate won’t magically bring riches to anyone who is not willing to work.
You’ll have to act on what you learn 24/7.
Harry
I hate my job and want to quit for reasons I can’t explain, maybe bad energy revolving around the job itself, someone or myself. And leaving the job also seem so difficult too maybe because getting a new job would be difficult at that moment was the reason I stayed back. If that reason isn’t enough for me to stay back what should I do?
Dear Seun,
I totally understand what you are saying. The second I enter work, a feeling of bad energy flows through my body, my mood drops, and I literally become a different person.
It’s both the job (which sucks donkey ass), the people there (who are sad as fuck), and my own self (who perceives this job as the worse thing on earth since Hitler).
My advice for you is to find out what you really want to do and never stop until you get it. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away or if it takes effort or if you get rejected a couple of times. That’s life.
If you want to find another job keep looking till you get one. Tweak your resume, and prepare the answers to some questions that you might be asked during the interviews such as “Why do you want to leave your current job?” and “Why do you believe that you will be a good fit for this job?”
You could always start your own online business just like me and solve the problem of hating your job – finding a new job – hating the new job – and looking for another job, forever.
You can get started right here or you could contact me if you need some more info and guidance.
I would be thrilled to help you out!
Harry
I find that the job nowadays are getting more and more demanding. Companies are all talking about productivity and multi-tasking. Being stuck in the corporate rat race is not a fun idea.
It is great to be able to make money online. Not only you can be your own boss but also potentially have a passive income stream. I started doing affiliate marketing after I quit my job to be stay at home mom. And now I don’t want to go back to the corporate life anymore.
Dear Grace,
And they will get even worse as time passes. My job gets worse by the day. More duties, more responsibilities… Everyone has to be everything. I keep wondering when they are going to ask us to clean the floors, paint the building, and tend their garden (I am working as a customer service advisor BTW).
Earning your living online is indeed THE dream. It might take a lot of time and effort but it’s absolutely worth all the trouble! Once you get a taste of it, you can never go back to normal employment.
Harry
Reading this article just makes my think of my husband – he’s hated his job for a long time, and has only just recently quit and found another one. I’m guilty of being very comfortable in my job, hence why I’m not quitting. In saying that, I don’t hate my job. But I’m definitely looking for opportunities to earn income that doesn’t require a daily commute.
Fiona, I really hope that your husband likes his new job more than his old one.
I’ve been hating my job for about 2 years now and I have no idea when I will be able to quit it. However, I choose to be there, I choose not to find another job, because my dream is to make my living out of my own online business.
One of the many reasons that I am going down that path is that when I succeed, I won’t have to commute to work anymore. I will be able to work whenever and from wherever I please.
Have you considered something similar?
Harry
I loved my last job, but I hated upper management and executives (except for a select few). But the stress was unbelievable. Long work days felt like 2 hours. I usually arrived at work about 6 am to get a headstart on the day. Seeing the office building where I worked triggered an adrenaline rush. I knew that if I kept it up, my job would kill me. So I started a side hustle. And ultimately walked away from a 6-figure income. Doing a side hustle is the way to go. Build it to a full-time income. I took control of my life. I don’t miss the craziness of the workplace. But I still get up between 4-5 am because I am excited to work on my affiliate marketing business.
Hey Glen,
Thank you for sharing your story with us!
I am exactly where you were except that I hate both my job and the upper management.
I live close to my workplace and when I am off work and need to go somewhere, I take every possible route to avoid passing by the building where I work because just seeing it causes me depression.
Could you let us know how much time did it take you to reach your side hustle to a full-time income and leave your job?
Harry
Almost everyone in this world is doing a job that they don’t like and this article explains why it is a bad idea to keep doing the job we hate. I was surprised to see that an average person wastes eleven years of their life just by doing the job they hate.
Thank you so much for sharing this post.
Thank you for taking the time to read it and comment 🙂
I was surprised as well about the 11 years we waste in working a job. I didn’t know that beforehand it kind of came up while I was doing research for this post.
Harry