It can feel hopeless. It can feel like there’s no way out. And the worst part is, time and money wise, it seems almost impossible to get out. You need to spend time working at your dead end job to make the money to pay the bills and there’s very little money left over for any transition you wish to make, not to mention life happens in the form many unexpected emergencies that require money to take care, which sets you back some. It seems like an endless cycle. It can feel like you’re Sisyphus.
So how the heck do you get out? It’s going to require a number of things, it’s going to take time, but there is a way.
In fact, if you think about it, there’s really only ONE thing you need to do and from there, everything rolls downhill.
It’s so simple but people don’t realize it until they do it.
It’s simply to find SPECIFIC WORK DIRECTION.
Once you identify a job you really want, one that’s possible for you given your circumstances, one that’s within your grasp, once you see a path, you’ll move heaven and earth to get there.
Get another roommate? Sell your car and get a cheaper one or maybe just take public transportation? Rice and beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
You’ll do whatever it takes.
Because once you have a destination, then you have hope, and hope is what makes your time at your dead end job tolerable.
The WORST part about being in a dead end job is having no light at the end of the tunnel.
If you can see the light, and see that this job is helping you get there, suddenly, work doesn’t seem so bad anymore. You know it’s just a temporary thing. A pit stop along the way.
So the million dollar question is – how do you find that job?
Do all you can. Read career books, talk to people who like their jobs, research online, think about all the jobs available in your city, look for apprenticeships for blue collar work, etc. Read my article that started it all and the book as well.
Ask yourself what you like about your current job. See what other jobs also include those factors.
Ask yourself what you hate about your current job. Then flip those around and look for other jobs that include those reversed factors as well.
You’re going to find a couple of jobs that interest you but narrow it down the best you can given the life you envision yourself living.
After that, pick ONE SPECIFIC job to go for.
Once you have that, the rest is history.
You’ll research the heck out of that job, do your best to get ready for it, interview others who already have it, see how you can get your foot in the door, etc.
In the meantime, do the best you can where you are now in your current job because that can only help you when you talk about your work history.
And finally, realize even if you do get another job, and it pays well, and you like it, the job is never itself going to make you happy. That’s up to you. Work itself plays a small role but it’s really up to you how to decide how to view your reality.
And also, if you think about it on a large scale, no jobs are “bad”. It just may seem that way given the nature of the job and the compensation but in the end, we are all serving one another in some way and everybody should always be proud of the service they give to others.
It’s too bad we live in a society where we’re judged by our occupation. It causes people to have a lot of anxiety about it, but if you can zoom out and remember the fact that it’s you who dictates what your reality is, you’ll put work in its proper place.
Your job doesn’t define you. You do. You get to define who you are and when you do it from that internal place, you’re a rock. Too many people define themselves through external means but the external is unstable and always changing so it’s not a good idea to do so.
What makes a job a dead end job is having no light at the end of the tunnel.
Find the light.
And do everything you can to move toward it.
The rest will take care of itself.
