“Do you feel like you have a good job?” I asked.
“Well, honestly, good is the last word I’d use.” he replied.
“What kind of job would you consider good?”
“I think a good job is one where you can make decent money and work little.”
“Hmmm… Do you know anyone who has such a job?”
“You mean someone I know personally?”
“Not necessarily. Let me rephrase: what kind of job allows you to make a lot of money with little effort?”
“Influencers or celebs?”
“Yeah, some of them get paid well and it seems they don’t have to work too hard. Sounds like a dream job…”
“Look, they must be satisfied with their jobs.”
“Well, it seems to me that many of them struggle with eating disorders, are constantly in scandals with their private relationships, drink, and do drugs. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never looked at them as truly happy people.”
“Okay, maybe it’s not a dream job after all. What do you think makes a job good?”
“I don’t think there’s a dream job…”
If we ask people who love what they do, they do not tell us how they have spotted “the dream job” in the listings. They’ll tell us instead that they had clicked to an ad of an average job, and they transformed it to a good one.
Every position will be as good as the direct supervisor makes it for his team members, and as good as people make it for themselves. Instead of hoping for having a good manager, it is a better approach to deliberately shape or bend the activities you do in your position every day.
Pay close attention to the positive moments that strengthen you. Create a list of the activities, examples, and events in your work that charge you and energize you. Write down your experiences and feelings from the tasks you have completed successfully, look in the rearview mirror to spot what went well and why.
For example, articulate precisely what you did during a joyful and successful activity. Did you research something? Organized? Improved? Contextualized? Analyze a few strong moments: what did you do? What has made it so good? Don’t gather things like “it was good because I was praised.” Praise is what happens to you, not what you do. It’s the result of using your strengths. Follow the path these moments show you and trust the direction. You don’t need to change your entire job, just one moment or a specific activity at a time.
In practice, you can build your strongest self by consciously putting yourself in situations where you can use your strengths. Volunteer for tasks where you feel “this is for me.”
You do have a chance to make your current job better. It may not be perfect, but it can be better than it was yesterday.
If you prefer, you can make a shortcut and discover your strengths and unlock your potential and find fulfilment in your work with CliftonStrengths. This powerful tool helps you identify your unique strengths and provides insights on how to leverage them for success. Whether you’re looking to improve your current job or find a new path, it can guide you towards a more satisfying and productive career.
“Anyway” I said to my young friend “if you don’t like what you do you have two choices: either you do something else or you like something else. 
Act2Manage Application
An interactive, gamification-based, practice-oriented leadership development application that provides immediate help and enables follow-up to the most common dilemmas.
