Okay…maybe that is a little huge exaggeration but stick with me for a minute.
For many people living the life of the 9-5 office job, one of the common complaints is that their job is not overly enjoyable but it pays the bills and keeps a roof over their head.
But you know what? It can also suck the life right out of you.
My profession, or career if you want to call it that, is a programmer – Senior Software Engineer if you want to get technical. Day in and day out I sling code, until recently anyway.
Over the last few months I have been asked to take on a role as a technical manager on a project, and now as a more traditional project manager on another project. While this might be a logical step to continue moving up the rungs of the corporate ladder, I have been drained.
As I sit down at my computer each day, I feel like I am abusing my keyboard by using it to write project documentation instead of a totally cool (although possibly useless) application that makes people “ooh” and “aah” with amazement.
Until today.
With a need for a quick fix to a production issue, I dusted off the keyboard and hammered out a nice solution. While I admit it didn’t get too complex from a programming standpoint – a little batch file to hook into a shell script, execute a few Oracle queries, spool out to a file, and send via Blat mail – it certainly had my blood pumping again.
After rolling over in my chair and looking for the proverbial “after-programming” cigarette, I realized just how much I have missed writing code – which is something that I really love to do.
If you want to make your work as good as an orgasm, you need to really evaluate what it is that you love to do and what gives you that rush of excitement.
While you should not do anything drastic like quit your job to pursue your true love, you should begin to plan the steps that can lead you towards the work that will truly make you happy. There is a good possibility that the work you love might not pay the bills at first, if ever. Maybe you can begin to pursue your passion part-time, as I have been doing with my blogging and other online initiatives, until you are earning enough to make it your full-time passion.
The important thing is to start taking steps right now to change your life for the better.
As convenient as it might be to believe that the job you despise is necessary to provide for your family, life is too short to allow your job to deplete your motivation and enjoyment. Not only that but there is a good chance that a job lacking true enjoyment will carry into your family life and impact your relationship with your spouse and/or kids as well.
Don’t delay any further – start thinking about what it is that you truly love to do and then take action to make that a reality!
And the best part is that your spouse won’t even accuse you of cheating. 