Like all but 20 percent

No job is perfect, but much of it should be good

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that all jobs have ups and downs, but
if you find yourself unhappy for a significant proportion of

(00:26):
your work week, it might be time to look for
something else. Ideally, you spend no more than the equivalent
of one day a week on things you really don't
want to do. That is, if you like all but
twenty percent of your job, you've got a keeper. If

(00:47):
you dislike more than twenty percent, you might want to
see what else is out there. So I started thinking
about this topic recently when someone asked a group of
us what we felt was an acceptable ratio of positive
to negative feelings about a job. In my younger years,

(01:09):
I might have said this ratio should be infinite. That is,
you should like absolutely everything about your job and dislike nothing.
As I have gotten older, I have realized that disliking
zero is going to be tough to pull off, even
in almost ideal situations. We are seldom one hundred percent

(01:33):
happy in life. You can be sitting on a tropical
beach watching a beautiful sunset while sitting next to the
love of your life and still be thinking hm, my
toe itches such as the human condition. You can love
your job and still find your weekly meeting with Dave

(01:56):
from Accounting tedious, but isn't quitting and neither are you,
and so here we are. I'll also note that sometimes
we think the problem is with the job, and it
turns out to be more internal. I have followed some
situations where people have quit jobs because they just can't

(02:20):
trust their coworkers and they're always crashing right before deadlines.
Then they find different jobs and it turns out that
you just can't trust these co workers either, and they
are still always crashing right before deadlines. And maybe, just maybe,
these two situations have something very specific and common, namely

(02:43):
the person experiencing them that said, you have to balance
the reality that nothing is perfect against the truth that,
as far as we know, you only get one wild
and precious life. As the at Mary Oliver would put it,
it would be one thing to be miserable day in

(03:05):
and day out if you were assigned a job at
age twenty and required by law to keep it until retirement.
But if you are listening to this podcast, then you
don't live in a society like that there are millions
of jobs out there, many of them are currently open.

(03:28):
Within any given industry, there are often lots of companies,
some of which have vastly different cultures from others. Within
any company, some departments are probably a lot better to
work for than other departments, to say nothing of individual managers.
And if you can't find a company or department you like,

(03:51):
there are lots of ways to start your own business,
many of which don't require a whole lot of capital
to begin. In other words, you are not trapped. I
know it can be hard to leave. Maybe you earn
a lot of money. Sometimes people who earn a lot

(04:12):
of money believe that they have to accept certain things
about their jobs. But the labor market isn't totally efficient,
and so most people haven't completely optimized on any dimension.
That means that even if you earn a lot now,
it is always possible that you will be able to

(04:33):
find a job you like more that pays more. Too.
You might be able to find a job you like
more that is more flexible as well. You might be
able to find a job that pays more and features
nicer colleagues. You just don't know until you look to

(04:54):
strike a balance between the truth that nothing is perfect
and the truth that no one deserves to be misera.
I will put twenty percent out there as a target
to aim for. You want to like all but the
equivalent of one day a week at your job, as

(05:14):
few people actually shunt all the work they don't like
to one day. In practice, it will be more like
an hour or two a day of stuff you generally
prefer not to be doing. You might try keeping track
of your time and seeing where the percentage lies currently.

(05:35):
If it is over twenty percent, that doesn't mean you
need to quit Jerry McGuire style. The first thing you
should do is see if you can craft your job
to spend less time on the things you really don't like.
Do they actually have to be done, Maybe they don't,

(05:55):
or maybe they can be done with less fanfare than
they are currently getting. Maybe the load can be shared
or delegated. Maybe things can be done more quickly or
more efficiently. You meet with Dave from Accounting for thirty
minutes rather than sixty. You can also try doing more

(06:18):
of the stuff you really do like, which at least
pushes the proportion down. I am not suggesting extending your hours,
but If you do have a lot going on, you
become less available for tasks that wouldn't be your first choice.
People start asking you less, or you find ways to

(06:40):
spend less time on these things. Time is elastic that way,
but if the proportion is quite a bit over twenty percent,
then it is time to really look at life and
figure out what you can do. There is no harm
in reaching out to old contacts and set up some coffees. Indeed,

(07:02):
people should be doing that regularly, even if they love
their jobs, but it might flush out some new opportunities
somewhere better. Work doesn't have to be a negative thing
in life. It can be a source of joy at
least eighty percent of the time. In the meantime, this

(07:25):
is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

(07:46):
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,
then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at ihart media dot com.
That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters
thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch?

(08:11):
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