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Guest post by: Michael Hume Become an Author

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What Causes Job Dissatisfaction, And What To Do About It As a counselor to consultants and other business operators, as well as to personal clients, I'm often told stories of work woe. Most people (especially those who have a coach or counselor) have at least some degree of dissatisfaction with their job.

It was when my kids grew up and entered the workforce - and began relating their own work-woe stories to me - that I really got a handle on the causes of job dissatisfaction. There are only two basic categories of unpleasantness that cause work woe, and they're the same two categories for everybody from my offspring to the most successful CEO. Though those who feel acute unhappiness in their jobs use more colorful terms, I'll label the two categories "Jerks" and "Rubbish" (also known as "B.S.").

Once I arrived at this distillation, I assembled "Dad's Job Advice," a kind-of one-size-fits-all explanation of job dissatisfaction, and what to do about it. It goes like this. There are Jerks in every job. There is Rubbish in every job. Unless you are independently wealthy, the best you can hope for in this life, my son, is to find a group of Jerks with whom to work who have some redeeming qualities, and who serve up a brand of Rubbish you can best tolerate... then to get so good at what you do that you can command enough compensation to put a smile on your face as you get up each morning to go deal with that Rubbish and those Jerks.

Though I've been challenged on this, there really are Jerks in every job. Most dissatisfied employees center their ire on a Key Jerk at work, usually their boss... but what about people who own a business? They are the boss! And it's true that, as a business owner, you do have more control over your own destiny. But you still have Jerks, be they bankers, or competitors, or difficult customers... or even the occasional ungrateful, dissatisfied person for whom you provide employment. So if your people skills are good, you do have an easier time dealing with the Jerks in your work.

And each job comes with some rubbish. Sometimes you have to deal with policies and procedures you find stupid or inane. Sometimes it's government regulation. Just the vagaries of having to drive to work in bad weather contribute to the Rubbish integral to earning a living. Often, people associate Rubbish with Jerks, or course... it's always some Jerk who came up with that latest Rubbish policy by which we all must now abide. I have to remind my clients, though, that (odds are) if they were the Jerk In Charge, they might not do any better. So appreciation of the challenges of everyone's job, including the job of boss, also helps.

But people skills and appreciation, while they come in extremely handy, don't complete the picture of what to do about work woe. You have to get GREAT at what you do, so you can make GREAT money and bennies doing it, so you can feel GREAT about putting up with the Rubbish-wielding Jerks. And nobody gets that good at what they do, I'd argue, without developing passion for a mission.

My mission, for instance, is Entrepreneurship. I am all about trying to help people start and run great small businesses. I believe in it. I think the world needs more of it, and I'm gunned-up about making contributions to my world in the area of fostering Entrepreneurship. I don't care how many Jerks throw how much Rubbish in my way, I'm focused like a laser on my mission.

When you get that focused, you start to realize that you've granted undeserved power over your life to Jerks and Rubbish... and that the more you drive toward your personal mission, the more their power diminishes. You start to see the Jerks and Rubbish less as oceans to cross and more as speed-bumps on your highway to success.

Like most simplified advice, Dad's is much "easier said than done." But I do think framing the problem in this way, and understanding the simple (though sometimes difficult) things you have to do to solve the problem, is a helpful starting point. If you have passion for a mission, people skills to deal with Jerks, and appreciation for the necessary Rubbish in every job, you'll find your overall satisfaction soars... not just for your job, but for your whole life.

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