Don't HateYour Job

From Cosmopolitan magazines long time editor.
Written by Donna Nebenzahl

It’s an ideal time to consider how you’re going to approach the workplace now that your summer holidays are over. And sometimes, great advice comes from the strangest places, like the old little book that crossed my desk the other day, titled “How to be useful: A beginner’s guide to Not Hating Work.”

In one chapter, former book editor Megan Hustad managed the astounding feat of channelling points of view on the workplace offered by the ambitious former editor of Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown, author of Sex and the Single girl. The subject was dealing with a workplace in which you don`t feel favoured, usually because you have a boss who could care less about you.

Never, Gurly Bown wrote, make the mistake of thinking that someone with power over you will also empower you. Far from it. Bosses unsure of their own power will only direct their energies upward, so they can look good to their own bosses.

Gurley Brown offers a few ways to channel your irritation over this type of superior. To start she advised try to change the way you look at the job, so you see yourself as self-employed and that selfish boss as your client. That will make the criticism and frustration a bit easier to bear.

When you must talk about a dissatisfying situation in the work place, don`t play the blame game. Don`t ascribe motives to anyone but yourself, Hustad said. If you need to describe what`s going on, take the position that what has happened is in the past and you`re looking forward to moving on.

And if you must send an e-mail, write it, then hang on to it at least overnight and cut it down to one quarter of it`s size. Take some time to realize that your boss might be feeling incompetent, and so relies on procedure or petty assigning to take the pressure off. Sometimes you just have to make allowances for someone else’s behaviour.

Even if you think your career is going nowhere, keep your spirits up. Charm, which Gurly Borown calls `total awareness` helps you detect what other people want, or don`t want. And no matter how charming you are, be aware that there`s always someone around who will dislike you. It can`t be avoided, especially when you finally gain some recognition.

Realize, writes Hustard, that `some people might actually enjoy disliking you`. Since there`s little you can do to change that, take a breather and stop worrying.