Your Relationship With Work is Awful

“The grass is greener where you water it." This is a saying most of us have heard, usually in regard to a relationship. 

Yet, most of us don’t realize we have important relationships in our lives, not just with people but with our jobs. 

We know that in a standard lifetime, an individual will spend more time at work than with their partner. 

Thereby, we could even argue that one’s relationship with their job is one of the most important relationships in their life. 

Yet, we seem to be in a crisis when it comes to our relationships with our jobs. 

The Great Resignation came and went. 

And there doesn’t seem to be more satisfaction.

Is it possible that we are the problem?

Thoughts and mindsets are contagious, and currently, there is a cultural shift toward having a sense of disdain toward work. 

There is a perception that organizations are oppressive and exploitative. 

This seems to result in a sense that one is being exploited by their job. 

While as a person I agree that this is most likely the case, as a coach I am reticent to encourage this thinking. 

It is making people who want to stay in their corporate roles miserable. 

With that said, I want to make a note here that some workplaces are exploitative and toxic, and those should very much be criticized and brought down. 

What I'm talking about is the normal workplace, a job that most people in the world would consider a good job. 

Yet, even individuals in these “good jobs” have an impoverished relationship with their job. 

They often think of their job as boring and useless. 

I would like to encourage you all to consider your job as a person to better illustrate the nature of this relationship. 

What would happen if you thought your partner was boring and useless?

You would probably fall out of love with them. 

You may divorce or separate from them. 

Some of you would stay and be miserable. 

We actually know that the most successful marriages involve two people who accept and idolize each other’s qualities. 

All good relationships require acceptance and a focus on the good qualities. 

Yet we do not do this with our relationship with work. 

And then we expect to enjoy our work. 

Just like a happy marriage, a good relationship with work takes effort. 

It requires a mental discipline that I’m not seeing anyone talk about these days. 

At the end of the day, I want people to enjoy their work truly. to find meaning and purpose in it. 

For some, this may imply leaving a job that is no longer fulfilling. 

But for so many others who don’t want to leave a good job, it means doing the mental work of loving their job. 

Because right now it seems we are living with a “the grass is greener on the other side” mindset, 

Consider how your relationship would be if your work was a person. Would you think these thoughts about a person you would want a good relationship with?