10 Tips for Coping with Low Job Satisfaction and Preventing Burnout

Foreign. Hey there, everybody, and welcome to today's live stream. Today we're going to be talking about 10 strategies for coping with low job satisfaction. Now, I know that there are a lot of reasons why people may be unhappy with their jobs, and these 10 strategies aren't going to hit all of them. But hey, we've only got 15 minutes, so I'm going to try to give you some tips and tools. Don't forget to click the subscribe button if you're not already subscribed, and also click the bell to be notified when we go live each week, as well as when I upload new videos. So why might somebody have low job satisfaction? Well, there's a lot of reasons. They could be in a job that's not a career, and you may be scratching your head going, what? A job is something that you see as time limited. I have a summer job. I have a job while I'm in college. But a career is something you expect to take a position in and then advance and grow in your craft, in your trade, in your chosen occupation. So being in a job can feel stifling sometimes because, you know, whatever it is, that's your career, you're looking forward to that, and this just isn't it. However, recognizing what function that job is serving for you at that point in time. I remember when I was in college, I worked at as a cashier and was it my favorite job? No. Could I see myself doing it forever? No. But it was paying the bills and it was allowing me to go to college to get my education. So sometimes reframing it and recognizing that it's a temporary thing that you're in. Some people are in jobs right now that they didn't train for because with the pandemic and everything, certain jobs sort of, you know, dried up and. But other jobs were available, so they took what was available. And that's totally understandable, too. Again, recognizing that as things get back to whatever normal's gonna look like, other opportunities will arise. And this particular job that you have right now is, again, paying the bills, at least somewhat. And it is showing future employers that you have longevity, that you have dedication to, to whatever you do. I know as a supervisor, when I look at resumes, if I see somebody who has jumped around, you know, every few months between different jobs, that makes me a little bit nervous. Now, it's one thing if it's an internship, but if it. They don't seem to be able to stick to anything. As a hiring manager, it makes me nervous because there's a lot of money that goes into advertising for doing all the drug testing and screening and training for a position just to have somebody leave, you know, a month, two months later. So look at what some of the things that your current job may be providing for you that will help you get the career or a future job that you will enjoy more. Job, duties or environment no longer match your temperament. Sometimes you take a job and you think, oh, this is really good, this is kind of cool. But then something happens and it doesn't match with who you are anymore. And a lot of people experience this during the pandemic because, like me, they're extroverts. So working from home, being in isolation can feel very oppressive. Sometimes can feel very stifling and not. It's hard to get as excited, even with zoom, because extroverts, we draw our energy from being around other people. So when we're not around the hubbub, when we're not around the energy, it can, it can feel exhausting. So looking at, in what ways does this particular job not match your temperament? If you are an extrovert and you need to be around people, how could you, if you could, could you modify that to sort of meet your needs? And like I said, right now, maybe that may mean more virtual meetings, but what can you do? So you can still kind of tap into that energy reserve. Introverts, on the other hand, really like having downtime. They like being able to focus. So if your job changed and now you're having to interact with a lot of people or do, you know, customer service chats or something in addition to your other work, it could start to feel exhausting. And the things that you enjoy doing about your job, you may not be able to spend as much time on anymore. Sensing and intuitive sensors really like to work in the details and get things done. Intuiters, we tend to be more dreamers. We like to think about meta concepts. So if you're not able to get your needs met, or if your job no longer meets those needs either, figuring out what you can do to modify it, maybe there's a transfer you could apply for that would be a better fit or, or you know, ultimately you could also start looking for a different job. But it's important to recognize why you're in the job right now and what is hindering, hampering your sense of satisfaction with it. Judging and perceiving judgers I'm a judger. Like I love structure, you know, I love having my calendars and my push notifications and all that I don't like having. Ambiguity, spontaneity, no, thank you. So I like that. But somebody who's a perceiver, somebody who likes to be more spontaneous, would find my sort of semi rigid daily structure to be oppressive and exhausting and bland because there's just no room for surprises. And so if you're in that position, trying to figure out, what can I do to make this job better fit my temperament. And sometimes it means talking with your supervisor and saying, you know, I'm really feeling a lack here. What can we do? It could be you're not feeling as much fulfillment from your job because your priorities changed. Maybe you just had a baby or something else. So you go to go to work and you're like, okay, I'm doing this. It's a job that, you know, I like, but I'd really rather be home. Okay, so your priorities changed. Is there a way to make it work? Is there a way to change the job so you don't feel like you're missing out? So it feels fulfilling? So when you're there, you're happy about it. No carrots, only sticks. Sometimes people take jobs, and a lot of people find that they don't enjoy their jobs and they don't feel fulfilled in their job because there are very few rewards and very little room for upward mobility, for promotion, for growth, for mentoring. So that can be really frustrating, stagnating. And when people feel stagnant, it's hard to feel fulfilled. And some people get disillusioned. I would encourage you to think about all of the reasons that you got into your current job and or your current career and figure out whether the position that you're in is meeting those ideals. Is it what you thought it was going to be? And if not, then you may need to kind of adjust your cognitive framing of what's going on and take a step back, maybe reconsider some things. So interventions physical. And I know we already always go over the physical, but if you are not healthy, if you are worn down, if your hormones are out of whack, you are going to have a hard time feeling fulfilled, feeling anything at all, or not feeling angry and agitated. So it's important to take care of your health, take care of your circadian rhythms, because that helps regulate when you have cortisol, when you have energy, when you have the ability to feel that. Aha. Eat healthfully. Give your body the building blocks it needs to make the dopamine and the endocannabinoids and everything that will help you Feel those emotions affectively and cognitively, examine your motivations for the job. And in what way is this job fulfilling your needs for physical needs? In what ways? You know, maybe it's just. It's getting you money so you can buy food and it's paying your insurance and those sorts of things so you can have medical care. All right, cool. Affectively, in what ways does this job make you happy? A lot of times, you know, when you're in a job, there are some sucky aspects, but there are some positive aspects, too. So what are some of those positive aspects? Cognitively, how does this job kind of make sense to you? How does it make sense that keeping this job right now will help you achieve your ultimate goals? I mean, this may not be a career path, but like my job in college, maybe it's something that's helping you so you can get your degree, so you can get that career that you want. Environmentally, what are your motivations? How is it helping you maintain stable housing? How is it. What's your environment like at work? And what can you do to make your environment more pleasant and more inviting? And relationally, you know, in what ways is this job helping your relationships? Maybe it helps take some pressure off your significant other so you're both sharing the bills. Maybe it helps you have enough money so you can afford to take your kid out to Chuck E. Cheese, or if your kids are older, to Dave and Buster's, you know, in what ways does the job serve a purpose that is meaningful to you? Hardiness is another way of looking at it, and that is looking at all of the things in your life to which you're committed. Your family, your friends, your health, your hobbies, all that stuff. And recognizing that your job is one aspect. Now, your job may be integral into allowing you to nurture those things because, you know, again, it pays money. So commitment. What aspects of the situation of your job can you control? In what ways can you make it a better fit for you? In what ways can you view it if you can't make it a better fit? Can you view it as tolerable until you can find a better fit and view it as a challenge instead of seeing it as drudgery and feeling stuck and oppressed? View going to work, and this takes some mental gymnastics, but view going to work as a challenge each day? So challenge yourself to try to have a good day. Challenge yourself to find three positive things. And I've worked in some really interesting situations before, and I know that's easier said than done sometimes, but. And Purposeful action, recognizing that you have these ultimate goals for your rich and meaningful life. So again, in what ways is your job helping you move towards those environmentally add, positive triggers? Maybe your job is helping you earn enough money so you can go on this great vacation in the coming months. So keeping a brochure of that vacation. Place your desk that you can look at, whatever you need to do so you can feel more comfortable and you can feel more motivated to be at the office. Another thing, and I'll put it back under cognitive. Sometimes people don't have a lot of satisfaction in their job because they feel overwhelmed. They feel like they can never get anything completely finished. So I would encourage you to chunk it, you know, see, set small goals that you know you can accomplish each day. When I worked in intensive outpatient, getting my client notes done for group before the end of the day, that was something that I knew I could get accomplished. You know, there may be other stuff that was still in my inbox, but that was one thing that I had on my checklist that I knew I could check off. Maintain work life balance. And you know, that's laughable sometimes. I have a lot of friends and I've worked in places where your supervisors are emailing you and texting you at like 8, 9, 10 o' clock at night, 5 o' clock in the morning, they're emailing you at 2:00am and so you never feel like you can actually unplug from, from anything. I have a friend right now who's on vacation and still getting calls from his supervisor even while he's on his break. So that doesn't really contribute to work life balance. Now sometimes your environment, the job is so toxic or dysfunctional that it doesn't permit work life balance balance. And if that's the case, it's important to really consider that. But setting boundaries where your work is not encroaching, intentionally encroaching on your personal life and then setting those cognitive and emotional boundaries. And that is even harder where you leave work at work or maybe you bring it home, but you decompress and after an hour it's like, okay, I'm going to let that go and I'm going to focus on my family, my home life, the other things that are important to me. If you're feeling like all you do is go to work and get up, or get up and go to work, go to sleep, get up and repeat. Even if it's a job that you like, you may start finding it is unfulfilling because you feel like you're in a Ruth, so, you know, making sure that you are taking time to nurture all of the things that are important in your rich and meaningful life. Explore other opportunities if it's actually about that particular job. Now, if, for example, in counseling, a lot of people complain about the amount of paperwork we've got to do. If you don't like paperwork, quitting job A and going to job B probably isn't going to fix your problem because every job you go to in counseling, there's going to be a lot of paperwork. So recognizing whether it's a characteristic of the particular type of job or if it's a characteristic of a job at that particular agency, if it's at that agency, then certainly exploring other opportunities. If it's of that type of job, then you may need to evaluate, is this really where I want to be? And vocational counselors can be. Or career counselors can be really helpful in identifying other options. If you don't feel like you're in a good fit relationally, develop a support system at work so you have people that you can reach out to that you can laugh with. You know, you don't necessarily even need to support. Support each other about work, but having a sense of connection, having somebody at work, you know, care if you show up or not, can make a world of difference sometimes. And finally, nurture your relationships outside of work. Because work, as I mentioned when we were talking about hardiness, work is only one aspect of your life. So making sure that you have other relationships, other things in your life that are meaningful. So when you go to work, even when you have a bad day, or even if you're going to a job that you really don't like, you have other things that you can remember that are meaningful in your life. And you can say, all right, I've got eight other things in my life that are going well that are meaningful. This one, not great right now, but I'll figure it out. So, like I said, that's not going to solve every problem. You know, there are a lot of other reasons potentially that somebody may not be feeling fulfilled in their job, but evaluating, you know, when did you start feeling unfulfilled? What changed? Or have you always felt that way? And if you've always felt that way, then either consulting with a career counselor looking for another job, you know, those sorts of things may help you find a better fit for you. Alrighty. So people have had time to log in. So let me see what we've got with questions. Working in retail for Example, I worked in retail, like I said, as a cashier. I also, when I was in high school, worked in a department store. And it can be really challenging if you get stressed out interacting with people or if pressures can stress you out. So recognizing, you know, if you have particular preferences that make certain environments more difficult for you. You know, like I said, I am a judger. I. I really like predictability. So I would really suck as a firefighter or a law enforcement officer or an ER physician because their days are totally unpredictable. And I know that about myself. Levi says I'm an INFP and have an autoimmune disease. I had to start business making and selling jewelry, and it's still hard for me due to mental health reasons, but I can cope with it and it's getting better. So that's awesome. Recognizing the. The introvert, you know, being around people can be exhausting, which can trigger or exacerbate that autoimmune issue and building off other talents that you have in order to help you meet your needs in a different way. So that was, you know, extremely creative. I'm sorry you're struggling with the autoimmune disease, but that is very inspiring. And some of us. It's important to remember that temperament is on a continuum and very few people are pure extroverts or pure introverts. I've got combat characteristics of both. So it is important to know your personal characteristics and not get too caught up with a label. For example, you know, I said, I like to be around people. I draw energy from being around people. But when I start to work, I don't like to be interrupted, which is a very introvert characteristic. So, yes, I know what you mean about feeling like you're switching sometimes. And fryer, you're right. Anyone who can work through serious mental health challenges should be very proud of yourself. Even if you're not working through them, if you're surviving them, that takes a lot of strength and endurance and courage. So that is, you know, super awesome to make sure you give yourself credit because what you're doing, you know, don't compare yourself to other people because somebody who doesn't have a mental health condition or a health condition, think of it like they're running on pavement to get to the finish line and you're running through mud. So it's a lot harder for you, but you're still plugging along. So that. That's really awesome. Friar asks the question about valid. Valid as it relates to strong emotions that are not based in reality. The Word valid strikes as saying the overreaction is justifiable. And what I would say is valid in terms of that is what that person is feeling at that moment in time. If you're feeling anxious, if you're feeling angry, it's a valid feeling to have. However, then you need to say, all right, I know what I'm feeling. I've identified it, I've acknowledged it. Now, is there a reason to continue holding on to this feeling? Is this feeling accurate? And what can I do to improve the next moment? Hello, Kira. How can I help my counselor help me better? Well, the first thing I would say is identify what that looks like. What does it look like to help you better? What are they doing now that is helpful? What do you wish they would be doing that would be more helpful? And what are they doing now that's not helpful? If you can be more authentic with them about what's going on, then they may be able to more effectively help you. Any tips for teachers? When stress is too much, especially during a pandemic, you have to learn so many new skills. And that is exactly true. You have to learn a lot of new skills and there's a lot of stress. Taking a breath and recognizing, taking a step back and recognizing what you're being asked to do and being realistic with your expectations of yourself. If you've been teaching for 20 years in person, you have a rhythm, you know what to do, you expect a certain level of quality, if you will. Not the word I'm looking for, but we'll go with it. But when you go to online teaching, that's a whole different ball game. So recognizing that your student evals may not be quite as high right now, and part of that is maybe you. And part of that may be the students really not liking that new format. So being compassionate with yourself, giving yourself a little bit of slack because you're having to do your normal job plus almost a whole other job on top of it. Getting used to working full time after a period of inactivity can be exhausting. I remember there was a period a couple of years ago where I was very sick and I was all but on bed rest for a couple of months. And getting back into it was exceedingly draining. And it's important to recognize that, just like whether it's mentally or physically or both, recognizing that you've got to build up that endurance. So during when you first go back, if you're not able to step into it gradually when you first go back, making sure that the stuff outside of Work is simplified and minimized as much as possible. You know, if you can pre make your meals or, you know, not that I'm a super fan of TV dinners, but sometimes they can pinch hit for a little while. So when you're not at work you can rest and recuperate and do what you need to do and then gradually start building back up to some of your old tasks. I know it took me a while before I was able to work an entire day and then come home and make dinner and do those kinds of like make dinner from scratch and do those kinds of things. So be compassionate with yourself. Set small goals, minimize and simplify as much as you can. Whatever you don't have to be doing, see if you can set it on the, the back burner, so to speak, until you have more energy. Think of it just like if you were starting to try to run a marathon, you know, you wouldn't run 24 miles or however many it is. The 26.2, the first day you'd go out and you would maybe jog a quarter mile and then walk a quarter mile and jog a quarter mile and walk a quarter mile. Do the same thing when you're at work. Pace yourself. Be willing to take breaks if you need to, at least mental breaks to give yourself a little bit of time to re re readjust. I hope that makes sense. Tips for teachers. Anxiety and attachment and dependency issues are oftentimes very much intertwined. So I would suggest looking at some of the videos that I have on attachment and abandonment anxiety for strategies in coping with all of those things. And Staley raises a good point that there can be intermittent leave from a job if you do need that. So work with your human resources department, your EAP as much as possible. I find it helps when I start getting overwhelmed. So sorry y', all, but I'm a visual learner, so this may not work for those of y' all who aren't visual learners, but I have a whiteboard and I just write down everything on the whiteboard so I can see it. And then I can prioritize and move things around and identify what's most important. I can literally step back and look at everything that's pressing and go, all right, which thing is most important? And then rank them or which three things are most important? And I can make my choices that way. Sometimes I will bounce it off other people. You know, what do you think? Where do you think I should start? Because I can't even figure out where to start with this. So getting feedback from others. Writing it down so you can, like, literally look at it and sort it out can be helpful when you start feeling overwhelmed. It also helps just the way our minds work when we start getting stressed out and overwhelmed and that stuff starts bouncing around in our head, it can almost feel like you're in, you know, a pinball machine or something. So when we write it down, our brain is able to let it go so we can have it down there. And our brain says, okay, you've remembered everything you need to remember. Now I will let you have some clarity so you can actually focus on things. It can be really challenging when people in our lives don't understand what we're going through, when they just. They don't get it. Whether it's addiction or mental health issues or autoimmune issues, educating them can be important if they're receptive, helping them understand what they're. What you're going through. I've shared with y' all before that my daughter has a condition called pots. And some days she has okay days, and other days not so much. And she has difficulty even getting out of bed. If she gets up and walks around, she's prone to fainting. So we have a scale on the. Or. Yeah, a scale on the refrigerator. And she moves the magnet up and down to let everybody in the house know how she's doing. So we know if she's having a great day or if, you know, she needs sleep. And, you know, we need to kind of give her some space. So communicating with them about the condition, about what your needs are, about what their needs are, and then trying to create a win win so everybody feels understood and respected can be helpful. Shelford points out that it's easy to get frustrated when it feels like people aren't keeping up, when they're not paying attention, or when they start making excuses about things. And all three of those things may represent a behavior on someone else's part that may make you feel disrespected. So that can make us feel threatened when we feel disrespected, when we feel unimportant, important. So it's important to step back and figure out kind of what's going on with that person. You may be very gifted, and your mind may work a whole lot faster than theirs does, so they're not being able to keep up. It's not malicious. It's just the way they are, and they're doing the best they can. So being compassionate can be helpful. You know, imagining what it must be like to be in Their head where life seems really overwhelming. When people make excuses, oftentimes either it has worked for them before or they feel guilty about something. You know, there's a lot of reasons people make excuses and it can be helpful to communicate with them your frustration, assertively communicate your frustration about them not taking responsibility. And that's not always appropriate. But in appropriate situations, you know, if your kids are making excuses about something, acknowledging that, okay, those three things exist, whatever your excuses are, that's true, and you still had this responsibility over here that you need to take ownership of. I'm real big on ownership in our household. So when you feel angry, remember anger is a threat response. So you need to ask yourself, what am I feeling? In what way am I feeling threatened? Am I feeling rejected, disrespected? You know, what's going on that is triggering my anger. And also looking back at your prior experiences and saying, you know, has somebody acted like this in the past that I still hold resentment towards? So I'm projecting that resentment on this person. You know, it's possible. Any ideas? For people that have PTSD for jobs part time, retail is not appropriate. Wearing masks, not working. There are a lot of different opportunities and I would really strongly encourage you to contact your local department of vocational rehabilitation because they may be aware of reasonable accommodations. They may be aware of jobs that are more a fit for you. Also recognizing making a list of the things that are deal breakers for you with the job and then the things that you like, the things that you could do and trying to figure out, you know, okay, so what would that look like? There are a lot of jobs that are online now, which is great. If you like working online and you've got enough computer savvy to be able to do that. There are jobs like, you know, those shopper jobs like Doordash or I don't know, those where you go shopping for somebody and you bring them their groceries or you bring them their stuff. For some people that's fine. They don't mind that brief interaction, but they don't want to have to be in an office all day long. So think about what kind of environment would you like to be in? And at least, you know, around here in middle Tennessee, people are so desperate for employees that a lot of employers would probably consider somebody part time if you wanted to do the job. Let's see. And expectations can. If you expect something to go poorly, then it certainly can set you up to be irritable and look to create a self fulfilling prophecy. Thank you all for the well Wishes for my daughter. I appreciate that. It's definitely been a learning curve over the last year. Where do you draw the line between behavior that comes from mental illness and the intention to abuse someone verbally? Well, I'm thinking narcissism, borderline personality disorder, some of those that tend to be more explosive in their. Or impulsive in their behaviors and their verbiage. And ultimately, it's important for you, for people, for an individual to figure out what helps them feel safe, what do they need to do to feel safe. Even if whatever's happening is because of another person's mental health issues, like their addiction or their personality disorder, if, if it's not safe, if they are verbally, emotionally abusive, then it's important to figure out how to make yourself safe and not make excuses and say, oh, well, they're only doing that because of their issue. Well, maybe that's true. However, it doesn't mean that you deserve the abuse. So. And for some people, it's important for them to be able to see the consequences of their behaviors in order to seek. In order to start making changes in their behavior and seek help with it. And, Ted, I'm not sure what broken really looks like for you, but I really would encourage you to be compassionate with yourself. You are there. You are doing the very best you can with the skills, the tools, the energy, the abilities that you have. And I would ask you to consider, if a coworker were in your position, how would you be judging them? Would you be harshly judging them because they were having, you know, a little bit slower at getting things done or having to take more breaks while they were readjusting to getting back to work, Accepting limitations? And I would encourage you to think about embracing your characteristics. For example, a lack of formal education doesn't necessarily mean a hill of beans. I'm sorry, there's just. I have worked with some really amazingly talented gifted clinicians who didn't have a degree. They had an education from the school of hard knocks. So I would encourage you to think about ways that your experiences have helped you be the employee that you want to be. And I know that can be really challenging sometimes because, like getting into counseling, for example, there are certain blocks that you've got to check. But for being an addictions counselor, there are a lot fewer requirements. For example, many states have an option for people who don't have a master's degree, which can be really helpful. So from that, as far as age, I personally really think that age is only kind of what you feel, and some Days I feel like I'm 80, but most of the time I still feel like I'm in my 30s. So if employers are discriminating against you because of your age, that's an issue. That is an equal opportunity issue. But as far as thinking, well, I'm too old to start a new career, where's that coming from? Who's telling you you're too old to start a new career? What is telling you that you're too old to start a new career? And what is it that you want from your. Wherever you're at in life right now? What do you envision in your rich and meaningful life? And how are you going to get there if. You know, I've threatened before to go back to school and go back to veterinary school, and you know that I think about the literal cost benefit because veterinary school is expensive. And I think, yeah, that's probably not the best idea, but I could go to vet tech school if I really wanted to work in the veterinary environment. So sometimes we've got to make compromises and in order to meet our goals, but also be realistic. But I would encourage you to view your experiences as knowledge and your age as, you know, time for that knowledge to develop. And you may work with a career counselor. If you're struggling to get other people to see that, you may work with a career counselor to help you figure out ways to present that in a meaningful way to an employer. And you're right, Friar. Sometimes our internal, internal monologue can be the most critical of all. Telling ourselves that we can't or we shouldn't or nobody would want us. You know, put yourself out there. Sometimes the whole it can't hurt to try actually is meaningful. And if you find yourself in a negative internal dialogue, examine the facts. What do you know? Or are you just making assumptions about what's going to happen? What are the facts in the situation? What aspects do you have control of and what can you do to improve the next moment? You all were very interactive today. That was really awesome. I'm sorry I had a hard time keeping up a couple of times, but I appreciate you guys, you know, trying to help each other out, too. That was a. Seemed to be a really productive chat today. Is there any. Are there any other questions? Anything else that y' all want me to comment on before we call this? As far as the people with ptsd, cptsd, I do have a lot of videos on the channel on the functional nature of symptoms, coping with symptoms, current treatments for PTSD that may be helpful for just understanding or may be helpful for helping others understand what you're going through. These chats are every Thursday at 4pm EST, 3pm CST and I don't know any of the other times. Okey dokey everybody. Have an amazing week and I will see you next Thursday.