It is a sad fact that though we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, these are by no means guaranteed to be satisfying or even to make you particularly happy. From managers and coworkers using the time to satisfy their own ego at the expense actually doing the job, to jobs that are seemingly set up to overwhelm (talking to a teacher is an educational experience for many), work is one of the biggest causes of stress in modern life, and learning how to handle it is vital for keeping an even keel.
A New Career
The most dramatic action you can take, of course, is looking for an entirely new career. If you realise that your current job simply doesn’t give you what you need, it’s time to look elsewhere.
If what’s driving your dissatisfaction is a lack of concrete results or a sense of worth, you need to look for a career that allows you to easily see the difference your day’s work has made to people’s lives (something that’s difficult to identify when your day’s work is simply dealing in spreadsheets and emails.
Looking at an area like physiotherapy jobs is a route towards a career based on helping people, without the long years of training that can go into becoming a doctor.
Changing Your Current Job
If you don’t want to upend your career entirely, you need to think of ways you can make your existing job suit you better. Think about what the problem is: if you’re being ground down by your commute, try to put together a case for being allowed to work from home, at least a small amount.
If you’re having difficulties with a particular employee, you could talk to them face to face to try and resolve the dispute or go to management to try and have the problem solved (this latter course is especially recommended if the problem is that they make you feel unsafe).
If you feel like you’re not going anywhere in your career, it’s never bad to reach out to your manager to ask for more responsibilities. Even if it doesn’t lead to promotion in your current job, it can be a useful CV booster for future applications.
Changing Your Mind
If you’re feeling dissatisfied with your work life, the answer might be to counterbalance it in your personal time. If you don’t have a hobby you enjoy, it’s easy to feel like your life is out of balance: you sleep and eat at home, but it’s all simply in support of more work.
Giving your life a driving purpose outside the demands of your job can help you to find your motivation at work: excelling there gives you the resources for your private enthusiasms!