Follow These 3 Quick Steps To Like What You Are Doing

Many people clock in and out every day, working on a job they feel they don’t like. To some extent, some said they hated what they are doing. When asked, many said it’s not easy to change and so they just hang in there even though they don’t like it. The interesting fact is if you ask what they would like to do instead, the majority of them don’t have much idea.

I used to dream about being on stage like those American Idols, but soon realise that it is merely a dream. But I realised I could work harder and pay my friends to listen to me singing at a karaoke session! Since changing to another unknown could be harder and you decided to remain as is, can you find ways to like what you are doing instead?

I started my career as an electrical engineer. My job was to understand how the latest chip developed by the company work and help the customers design their system with it. I had to spend most of my time in front of the PC and then in the lab to master the knowledge and skill. I didn’t have much interest in that job nature, to begin with. I love talking to human beings, but not spending most of my time dealing with machines and equipment. After dragging myself to work for the first 2 months, I realised I have to do something.

I don’t like what I was doing, but I would hate myself even more if I would just be an ordinary worker. To love someone is to know someone, I decided to find out more about being an engineer. I figured people around had always thought it was cool for me being an engineer. I went and did some further findings on what other passionate engineers did and what moved them.

Engineers are proud when they see the impact of their work. It’s a great satisfaction witnessing how your work solves a problem for human nature. Also the kind of respect you get as an engineer in the society is priceless. I started to appreciate this aspect of the job, and over time develop the proud feeling for the job.

1. Clue number 1 to liking your job: go out there and find all those cool aspects of it, what impact it creates, how other perceives it and tune your mind to develop the feel for it!

Having that initial feel and spark for the job will be able to sustain you in the job for a while.

2. Next, try to develop an in-depth interest in your job. I discovered after I completed a product ramp cycle, I got to meet the customers to support them in their design. That part of the job includes presenting the product features and design requirement, assisting the customers in their design cycle all the way to market.

I love that part of the job! Being able to talk to experienced designer enlightened me and broadened my views.

I started to see the potential of the job in touching and enhancing life, and most importantly I enjoyed talking to people!

Though this ‘fun’ part only made up a little chunk of my job scope, it motivated me to work really hard on those regular days, knowing that the faster I ramp, the more I get to talk to the customers. It has also pushed me to excel and grew in my job, as the passion for customers has made me went extra miles along the way and built my credibility within and beyond the company.

So, clue number 2, find the aspect you like within your job. There must be some part of the job you would like! Zoom into that and make use of it to move you further.

3. One more thing you can really build on the enthusiasm for your job is to connect your hobby to your workplace. One of my co-workers loves photography and is good at it. He started off volunteering himself to take pictures for company’s event. And then he developed greater synergy by forming a ‘special interest group’ connecting all the employees that love photography together.

The group have then gone off and took great pictures of people at work, capturing precious moments of success, and decorated the workplace with those great pictures. Not only had he been able to do the thing he enjoys, for the company, along the journey he has developed many trusted network and helped his job directly. What he did had cultivated the sense of belonging within the workforce, and he was very well recognised for his leadership because of that.

So, clue number 3, try to connect your hobby to your job. You spend most of your time in a day at work, connecting your hobby at work would definitely be your best investment! You gonna be amazed by how much it can help you!

Not convinced yet? Looked around your circle of friends and think about what you admire for their job. Then pull yourself out and try to admire your own as if it’s theirs. Start with that to find cool facts and love your job.

Another friend that loves animation but work as a printer sales person, he always uses the animation pictures with different resolution and details to demonstrate different print quality to his customers. Because of that, he has built a lot of customer network as people remember him much more than other sales person, and even more for the customer that loves animation! So, instead of dragging yourself to work, start the mission to transform your mind by discovering how you could fall in love with your job!

This is a guest post by Sumi Sam. She has spent years managing brilliant people in a well-known MNC and is currently leading a local SME that provides software solutions. Please post your feedback in the comment or ask questions regarding how to thrive in a corporate environment.