15 Reasons You Don't Like Your Job (& What To Do About It)

Can you believe there are people who wake up every morning excited about the work they get to do? They don't mind putting in the extra hours. Their work feels like their hobby. They're proud about what they do, and they have great colleagues. When you do something you enjoy, well, that's what it feels like. Your job doesn't have to be something that you dread going to every day. When you see other people enjoying their work, you have to ask yourself, are you being picky or does your job actually suck? Well, let's find out together.

Here are 15 reasons you don't like your job and what to do about it. Now we're going to start off with the most obvious one. This isn't really what you wanted to do. Something most people have experienced at some point in their lives. You don't like your job because someone else chose it for you. This isn't really what you wanted to do either. Your parents had certain expectations that you had to live up to, or you had no idea what you wanted to do. So you followed your friends, and now you hate it. And that's understandable.

Luckily, an experience like this gives you the opportunity to realize what you do like when you're bored at work, mindlessly clicking through things. What kind of work do you imagine yourself doing instead? Follow that path, your own path, and see where it leads you. You never made an effort to fit in. You can step into a job you thought you would hate and grow to like it by making an effort, making friends, and working toward a bigger goal. But if you're there with a negative attitude and believe that no amount of work or effort will get you what you want, well, that's exactly where you're going to stay.

We become invested in things that we invest in. We have to start putting in the effort to see the value in something. This doesn't happen the other way around. Okay? If you're in a job that you hate, before running away from it, actually try to make an effort to do your best work and make friends with your colleagues. You chose it based on location. Commuting is one of the worst things about working in an office. Spending hours of your day moving back and forth feels really pointless. It eats into your free time, and the journey seems to make you more tired than the rest of your day.

So it makes sense that you would choose a job that's close to where you live. You save on travel time, but your mental health might be taking a knock. Sacrificing 8 hours of your day for a job you don't like to save an hour or two of travel is a terrible long-term investment. Go for something you enjoy, even if it's a little bit further away. Find podcasts you enjoy listening to, and if you're traveling via public transport, find books you like reading. Take an online course or watch your favorite series on your commute. Find a way to make your journey your downtime too.

You've hit a glass ceiling. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work, no matter how many friends you make, your work destination is determined without your say. Whether it's because of nepotism, favoritism, or you pushing back against the company culture, you realize you're never going to be able to move up. And there's only one option here—that's to leave. If you know you're not going to get any further, then you're going to be in the same place five years from now. If the thought of this makes you unhappy, then it's time to update your resumé and go job hunting.

Now number four can be quite a bruise to your ego. You're bad at it, and people are starting to notice. You might like your job, but even then, compared to the rest of your team, you don't like your job because you're bad at it, and people are starting to notice. Some jobs require a lot of attention to detail, and you might be a bigger picture kind of person. Some jobs need a certain amount of creativity, and you're creative in different ways. Ask your manager about the gaps in your work. Take that feedback on and make a concerted effort to focus on that.

Ask to shadow people who are doing well. Take a course to brush up on your industry's advancements and practice the programs and systems you use every day. So you've got them nailed down. You're not in the right place or you're just not the right fit. A bottle of water can be $0.50 at the supermarket, $2 at the gym, and $3 at the movies, and then $6 on a plane. It's the same water, though. The only thing that's changed is the location where you are changes your value. And this perfectly captures this point. You're either in a bad place, or you're just bad at it.

You might not be properly valued in your current company, but you could be worth way more somewhere else. Knowing your value takes knowing yourself, and our new Reinvent Mastery course delves deep into this. If you want to change your life, you have to understand the value you bring to yourself and the world. Where the Reinvent Mastery will go through every step of changing your life—your job, the place you live, your mental and physical health, everything you need to be the person you've always wanted to be is in this course.

We believe in it so much that if after six months you're not seeing results, we'll give you all your money back, no questions asked. Go to alux.com/reinvent. And if you do it soon, we'll give you $100 off if you type the code NEWME at checkout. We've got everything you need right here by the doors; they're only open for a few more days. So get signed up. Lot wsj.com slash reinvent.

You know, you might hate your job because you're a jack of all trades and a master of none. Now, while this can be good in some situations, in others, not so much. So in other words, you're good enough at a bunch of things, but not really great at any one thing about work. This means you might be working hard, putting in the hours, but not really standing out or getting recognition. This is the time to invest in learning more.

Find one thing about your work you really love and spend time learning more about it. Throw yourself into perfecting this and make yourself an invaluable expert. Find confidence in this so everyone comes to you for help, and you feel like you belong there. Your skill or potential doesn't match the opportunity. You could be the most skilled person in the room, but if your skills don't fit the job description, then you're wasting them. You could have a job that pays great, but if it doesn't match your skills, you're always going to feel like you're outside your comfort zone running after something that you'll never catch.

It might feel picky to not grab every opportunity that comes your way, and when you're just starting out, it's natural to feel like you have to. But as you gain experience, you can curate the opportunities that you take. Be intentional about them, Alexa, and think about how you would feel about the work in the next few years. You don't like your job because it doesn't depend on what you can do. It depends on other people and external factors. It depends on your manager and whether they are competent or present at work.

It depends on their relationships with other people on your team. It can even go all the way up to upper management. If there are gaps and issues in the company, it makes things harder for you to do your work properly. You have to know what's expected of you so that you can meet those expectations. If you don't like your work because of other people, you should write down everything they're doing and address it with someone in charge. Let them know you're struggling with work and show them the evidence.

You're overworked. Most companies go through a phase where your workload increases, and everyone has to take on a little bit more. This shouldn't last longer than a few weeks, and once that's done, well, things should go back to normal. But sometimes they don't. When you perform well, the catch 22 is that management can rely on you, and they might put more pressure on you than everyone else because, hey, you've done a good job. This can make you hate the job that you used to love.

It's so important to establish your boundaries early on and push back the moment you see that relying on you becomes a habit. You have to stand up for yourself. Your job doesn't feel like an adventure. It doesn't challenge you. Your work should challenge you; it should make you feel like you're learning and doing something new every day. Without that, you're going to get bored and start to feel unfulfilled.

So, speak to your manager about taking on some new challenges. Have an idea of what you would like to explore going into your meeting, and explain why you would like to take on these projects. This is also a great opportunity to enhance your negotiation skills. Nobody acknowledges your success. Depending on how competent your managers are, they might not notice your success and achievements. That's not ideal, but part of your job is to make other people notice them.

Be loud about when you're successful because it's a reflection of the company and everyone else too. Unfortunately, even when people do notice, they might not acknowledge it. And that can really bring you down. You need resources and support to feel motivated, and while you can discuss this with your bosses, if you don't see an improvement over something that's easy to change, you should know that you deserve to be somewhere and to be recognized for your work.

Your job is a joke, and everyone knows it. It doesn't matter how much you get paid; if your job is a joke and everyone knows it, you're going to feel like you're forgoing your dignity for a paycheck. In 2022 and 2023, we've heard lots of stories about fake tech workers, people who were just hired to give the company good PR. It sounds great when you have a lot of employees or when you grow quickly, but if there's not enough work for all the new hires and you're just pushing pencils, you're going to feel like there's no point in you being there.

You don't have any autonomy. It's so easy to hate your job when you're being micromanaged. When you feel like you don't have any autonomy and it feels like people don't trust you to do your job, then why would you feel safe and comfortable there? Some managers love the power, and they're more focused on being an overbearing manager than being a good manager. You can speak to your manager all you want, but historically these types of people don't take feedback or advice very well.

Your best option is to go to someone higher. See if you can transfer departments or look for jobs somewhere else. The pay is terrible. Anyone who's done really fulfilling work as a nurse, a teacher, or working for a nonprofit organization will tell you that while you feel like you're making a difference and you feel good about yourself, the stress of the low pay often just isn't worth it. Fulfillment doesn't pay the rent. It's only a part of being happy at your job.

Doing a job you love but living paycheck to paycheck might make you resent it. The thing you enjoyed and loved most is making you struggle to put food on the table. That's not sustainable. You either need to apply for a raise or find a job that meets your requirements at least halfway. Something that at least partly fulfills you and pays better.

When your job goes against your personal values, you'll feel embarrassed about it. You'll feel like you're a fake and like you're letting yourself down. Some jobs can make you a lot of money, but every day you have to do something that you don't personally agree with. You can't swallow your critique; it will catch up with you eventually. And even though you might like the work, you don't like the goal. This isn't somewhere you can stay.

So, learn the skills you need, gain the experience, and then start looking for something that at least matches your personal values a little bit more. And Alexa, that's a wrap. 15 reasons why you don't like your job and what to do about it. Talk to your managers. Stand up for yourself or get out there and start the Reinvent Mastery course. Stop saying you're going to make a change and then not doing anything about it.

And I like. So tell us in the comments, what was a job that you hated and why? We love to hear your stories. We'll see you back here next time, my friend. Take care.