Taste of Work — Part 2: How to Actually Enjoy Your Job

We spend too much of our lives at work to spend all of it waiting for 5pm.

Yet that is exactly how many people experience their working lives.

Monday arrives and we count down to Friday.

We get through the week and look forward to the weekend.

Sunday evening arrives and the feeling returns:

Tomorrow is Monday.

It is easy to fall into a cycle where we spend five days waiting for two.

But what if work didn't have to be something we simply endured?

What if we could actually enjoy some of it?

Not every job is exciting. Not every day is enjoyable. And nobody should feel guilty for having a bad day at work.

But there are things we can do to make our working lives more satisfying.

You don't have to love your job

One of the strangest ideas we've created around careers is that you are supposed to find your passion and turn it into a job.

For some people, that happens.

For most of us, it probably doesn't.

And that's okay.

You don't have to wake up every morning thinking:

I absolutely love my job.

A good job might simply be one where you:

• enjoy the people

• feel respected

• earn a decent living

• have some freedom

• are reasonably good at what you do

• learn something

• feel useful

• finish the day without feeling completely drained

That can be enough.

There is a big difference between loving your job and having a job you don't hate.

And somewhere in between those two is a perfectly good working life.

Become good at something

One of the easiest ways to enjoy work is to become good at it.

There is satisfaction in competence.

When you understand what you're doing, problems become challenges rather than threats.

You know what good looks like.

You know how to solve problems.

You know when something has gone wrong and how to fix it.

You don't panic every time something unexpected happens.

And as your confidence grows, something else happens.

You start enjoying the feeling of being useful.

You don't need to be the best person in the company.

You just need to know that you can contribute something valuable.

Take pride in your work

Pride doesn't have to mean ambition.

You don't need to become a director or run the company to take pride in what you do.

A cleaner can take pride in leaving a place spotless.

A chef can take pride in preparing a great meal.

A builder can take pride in doing a job properly.

A customer-service adviser can take pride in helping someone who was having a difficult day.

An accountant can take pride in getting the details right.

Whatever your job, there is usually something you can do well.

And there is something deeply satisfying about looking at your work at the end of the day and thinking:

I did that properly.

Find the parts you enjoy

Most jobs aren't one thing.

Even a job you don't particularly like probably contains parts you enjoy.

Maybe you like solving problems.

Maybe you like working with people.

Maybe you enjoy analysing information.

Maybe you like creating things.

Maybe you enjoy teaching others.

Maybe you like the independence of working alone.

Maybe you enjoy the satisfaction of completing a difficult task.

Pay attention to those moments.

They tell you something about yourself.

You might not be able to redesign your entire job, but you may be able to spend more time doing the parts that give you energy.

And sometimes that's enough to change how you feel about your work.

Good colleagues can change everything

A job can be ordinary and still be enjoyable if you work with good people.

The colleague who makes you laugh.

The person who helps when you're struggling.

The teammate who has your back.

The manager who trusts you.

The person you can have a coffee with and talk about something completely unrelated to work.

These relationships matter.

Work isn't simply a transaction between an employee and a company.

For much of our lives, it is also a social environment.

That's why workplace culture can have such a profound effect on our happiness.

You can tolerate a difficult project when you know the people around you are supportive.

You can get through a stressful period when you feel that everyone is pulling together.

The work itself might not change.

Your experience of doing it can.

Autonomy makes work more enjoyable

There is something motivating about being trusted.

Being told what needs to be achieved and being given some freedom over how to achieve it can make work feel very different.

Micromanagement does the opposite.

When every decision needs approval, every mistake is questioned and every step is monitored, people stop feeling like professionals.

They start feeling like children waiting for permission.

Good managers understand the difference between accountability and control.

You can hold someone responsible for an outcome without controlling every move they make.

Trust gives people ownership.

Ownership creates pride.

And pride often creates better work.

Learn to say no

One of the fastest ways to stop enjoying your job is to become the person who says yes to everything.

Another task.

Another meeting.

Another deadline.

Another favour.

Another project.

Before long, being helpful becomes being overloaded.

Saying no doesn't mean you aren't committed.

Sometimes it means you understand your limits.

You might say:

"I can take this on, but I'll need to move one of my existing priorities."

That's not refusing to help.

That's being realistic.

Your time and energy are limited resources.

Spend them deliberately.

Don't turn every problem into your problem

This is something many conscientious people struggle with.

You care about your work.

You want things done properly.

You don't want to let people down.

So when something goes wrong, you immediately try to fix it.

But not every problem belongs to you.

Sometimes a colleague has made a mistake.

Sometimes the company has made a bad decision.

Sometimes there aren't enough resources.

Sometimes the deadline is unrealistic.

Sometimes the system is broken.

Sometimes management has created a problem that employees are being asked to solve.

You can care without carrying everything.

Responsibility has boundaries.

Learning those boundaries can make work considerably less stressful.

Protect your energy

We often talk about managing time.

Perhaps we should talk more about managing energy.

You only have so much mental energy each day.

If you spend all of it dealing with workplace drama, worrying about your manager, checking emails late at night and thinking about tomorrow's problems, there is very little left for the rest of your life.

That's why boundaries matter.

You don't necessarily need to work less.

You need to make sure work doesn't occupy every corner of your mind.

When the working day ends, try to let it end.

Go for a walk.

Exercise.

Cook dinner.

See your family.

Meet a friend.

Play a game.

Read a book.

Do absolutely nothing.

Whatever makes you feel like yourself again.

Don't chase every promotion

A promotion can be great.

More money can be great.

More responsibility can be rewarding.

But progression isn't the only definition of success.

Sometimes the best job for you is the one you're already doing.

You might enjoy the work.

You might like your colleagues.

You might have a great manager.

You might have flexibility.

You might have enough money.

You might finish work with enough energy to enjoy your family and hobbies.

Why would you automatically give that up for a bigger title?

Before accepting the next promotion, ask yourself:

Will this make my life better, or will it simply make my career look better?

Those aren't always the same thing.

Your manager matters more than you think

You can have a great job description, good salary and excellent benefits.

Then you get a terrible manager.

Suddenly everything changes.

Your confidence drops.

You become nervous about making mistakes.

You stop asking questions.

You stop offering ideas.

You start watching what you say.

You begin counting down the hours.

And eventually, a job you once enjoyed becomes something you dread.

The opposite is also true.

A good manager can make you better than you thought you could be.

They give you confidence.

They listen.

They challenge you without humiliating you.

They trust you.

They recognise your strengths.

They let you make mistakes and learn from them.

They don't need to control you to get good work from you.

Good managers don't simply manage work. They bring out the best in people.

We'll explore that much more deeply later in this series.

What if you don't enjoy your job?

Sometimes the answer isn't to try harder to enjoy it.

Sometimes the job simply isn't right for you.

Perhaps you've outgrown it.

Perhaps the culture has changed.

Perhaps your manager has changed.

Perhaps your priorities have changed.

Perhaps the job was never a good fit.

There is no shame in recognising that.

The important thing is not to immediately assume that quitting is the only answer.

Ask yourself:

What exactly don't I enjoy?

Is it the work?

The people?

The manager?

The hours?

The environment?

The lack of autonomy?

The commute?

The pay?

The stress?

Or is something outside work affecting how you feel about everything?

Sometimes one change can make a huge difference.

Sometimes you need a different role.

Sometimes you need a different company.

And sometimes you need to change something much bigger in your life.

Work should give something back

A healthy relationship with work isn't completely one-sided.

You give the company your time, skills, energy and effort.

In return, you should receive something meaningful.

Perhaps that's money.

Perhaps it's learning.

Perhaps it's experience.

Perhaps it's purpose.

Perhaps it's flexibility.

Perhaps it's friendship.

Ideally, it's several of these things.

The relationship doesn't have to be perfectly equal every day.

But over time, it should feel worthwhile.

The goal isn't to make work your life

There will always be difficult days.

There will be boring tasks.

There will be frustrating colleagues.

There will be deadlines.

There will be meetings that could have been an email.

That's life.

The goal isn't to create a workplace where you are happy every minute.

It's to create a working life that is good enough to be one part of a good life.

Because your job should not have to provide everything.

It doesn't have to be your passion.

It doesn't have to be your identity.

It doesn't have to be your entire purpose.

It simply needs to contribute something worthwhile to the life you're building.

Maybe the secret to enjoying work isn't finding the perfect job.

Maybe it's learning to appreciate what is good about the work you have, protecting yourself from what isn't, and making sure there is plenty of life waiting for you when the working day ends.

Don't live for the weekend.

Find something worth enjoying on Monday too.

And remember:

You work to live.

You don't live to work.