It’s Not Your Job, It’s You

24 Oct It’s Not Your Job, It’s You

A while back, I saw a clip of a Mel Robbins video on Instagram (and then hopped over to YouTube to watch the full episode). It’s called “Is It You or Your Job?”

While I enjoyed the video and her perspective (as always; she keeps it real), it was the video’s title caught my attention and got me thinking.

Mel and I are on the same page with our answers to this question. In her words: “It’s always you. It’s never the job.”

It took me a loooooong time to realize this. For years I found myself in job after job after job that just plain sucked. And I couldn’t figure out why.

I felt like there was some kind of bad karma cloud following me around, making sure I ended up in the crappiest roles. I kid you not, I took one job thinking it would involve graphic design projects, but ended up spending the duration of my time there making fruit baskets and buying event decorations from the dollar store.

Despite how much I loathed it, though, there was actually nothing wrong with this job.

Jobs don’t have feelings or faults, they’re just collections of duties that some head honcho puts a title on and hires a person to fulfill. So they can’t actually be “horrible,” “torture,” “the worst,” or whatever other adjectives we often use to describe them.

Why, then, do we feel this way towards them? Well, because the jobs we’re in don’t fit with who we are, what makes us tick, and what we want to contribute to the world.

It’s not the job’s fault that it involves a lot of paper work, and you just plain haaate paper work. It’s not creating these tasks just to spite you.

Instead of directing these feelings of dissatisfaction toward your job, it’s time to recognize them for what they are: glaring signals that it is NOT right for you.

As in romantic relationships, it’s all about compatibility. Maybe when you took this job several months, years, or even decades ago, it was exactly what you were looking for. But over time you’ve come to realize that it’s just not the right fit.

Or maybe the job never was a good match for you, but you took it hoping that the paycheque and decent benefits would be enough to make you happy.

Regardless of how you got to this point, it’s time to break up with your job. You know, the usual “it’s not you, it’s me” thing.

Except instead of saying it to soften the blow, you’re saying it because you mean it. It really isn’t the job. And it never would have been the job’s fault that you didn’t work, no matter how long you stayed.

It’s you that’s not compatible with it, because you are meant for something different…something more. And that’s okay.

The good news is that there are plenty of other jobs in the sea.