What Happens When You Hate Your Job
It’s fair to say we all walk around with a level of grumpiness about some of the things we have to do at work. It’s usually the boring stuff that has to get done but no one wants to be the one to do it. Things like trivial paperwork or small tasks that aren’t hard but just take time. Bad days happen here and there.
That’s not what I am referencing.
I am talking about the wake-up-every-day-and-question-why-you-go-to-work-stuff. The feeling of dread for days and weeks and months of your life. The icky pit in your stomach kind of sensation as you approach the door of work. And we cannot leave out the horror of being asked, “How’s work going?” and trying to hold in the anxiety and tears that you didn’t even know were there.
When you hate your job, life is pretty dark.
Then one day, a switch flips.
You realize you actually have some choice in the matter. You can continue in your current job with a different outlook, or you can quit.
In 2004, we quit.
And just like that, ERG was born.
Of course, there is much more to the story, but the bottom line was that the work we were doing at that time was not filling us up. It was not what we expected, it was not utilizing our strengths, and we felt out of alignment professionally. Our moments of grumpy started to extend to days and weeks and months of grumpy. And out of survival, we started to fantasize about what was possible if we carved another path.
We often wondered what would happen if we created a company, went out on our own to provide professional development, and did things the way we envisioned. Without constraints.
The only glitch was this made no logical sense.
We both were vested in the state retirement system. We had worked many years and had developed some strong relationships with people we genuinely enjoyed. Alice was a single mom in grad school, Hope had her sights on eventually retiring from the school system, and both of us had small children. People we shared our idea with told us we were crazy. Told us to stick it out, give it time, it couldn’t be done, etc. Starting a legit company from scratch without ever taking a business course… what could go wrong, right?
Fast forward 15 years and we are very, very thankful for the distaste we had for the job, and especially for the blissful ignorance that allowed us to forge ahead without fear. We didn’t know what we didn’t know and somehow that got us through to this moment. We still don’t know a lot of stuff, but here are some things we do know:
You have choices.
You don’t have to feel powerless because you really can choose your path. When you begin to take responsibility for the choices you make, you will find more comfort in the choosing, even if it’s messy. Sometimes things don’t work out, and that’s ok. At least you chose to test it out and will have additional choices even in failure. You truly control the legacy you leave – good or bad.
Your work is bigger than you.
We believe we must work toward something larger than our individual selves and goals. The work we do at ERG must matter for us or it’s not worth doing. Our work impacts students, teachers, schools, and districts because ultimately, we are impacting the people who will be running the world when we are long gone.
You attract your tribe.
It’s clichéd but true. When you get centered, get focused, and utilize the gifts you have been given, your people show up. They show up right when you need them and right where you need them. And they elevate you to do things you didn’t know were possible.
ERG turned 15 on September 1st. We couldn’t be prouder.
Oh… that job hate we used to have? It’s the best gift we ever exchanged.
