“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Most of us who are out of school and working generally don’t like our jobs. Some of us deal with too many hours. For others, the job is very boring. Sometimes, your job is very stressful. So, for a variety of reasons, a lot of people trudge through a job they simply cannot stand. Most of these people toil away in this employee misery.

There are others who actively try to break out of their jobs and employee life in general. They have ideas for businesses they want to start, and some may have even started side businesses already (like an online venture). Some are part-time bloggers whose income is slowly becoming enough to sustain them. Others start to invest in real estate. Eventually these ventures become profitable enough for their owners to quit their day jobs.
Whichever person you, the point is that, in the here and now, you are STUCK in a job you don’t like and hate going to. You feel like the proverbial “rat race” is grinding you down. So how do we get through our jobs on a daily basis? Even for those who see the light at the end of the tunnel, what do you do from here to there? How do we deal with the day-in/day-out misery that plagues us?
The answer is focusing on the reality around us and on the things that make us who we are. These things are reflected in many tangible experiences. Here are 12 tips to help you attain this focus and get through your current day job:
1) Remember that there are only so many hours in a day. There is only so much you can do in one day. Don’t stress over the fact that you have to finish a 10-hour work assignment in 5 hours. You do what you can in 5 hours, turn it in, and let the rest take care of itself. We’re only human, and there are limits to what we are physically capable of doing. The next time it feels like a time constraint is going to burden you to the ground, don’t become obsessed with how little time you have. Focus on what you can do with your skills and abilities in the time that you do have. The rest is out of your control and, thus, should be out of your worries.
2) Find something you love. Since work is not what you love, find something that you truly enjoy. Everyone has specific interests and skills. Find a hobby or activity you enjoy doing and dive into it. Some people enjoy sports. Others enjoy fishing, scrapping, writing, blogging, etc. Find something you can do a little of every day and attack it with everything you have. It will become your passion. Our hobbies and activities reflect who we are, and the more we immerse ourselves in them the more we discover ourselves.
3) Educate yourself. For those of you who strategize about ways to liberate yourself from your job and life as an employee, learn more about your hobby or passion. Take that activity that you love and find out how to turn it into a business. If you like writing, determine whether you can write short stories, poetry, or a full-fledged novel. If you love antiques, find out if you can buy and sell antiques as an Ebay business. If you have an interest in real estate, read about it and attend seminars. Researching this connection between your passion and a possible business opportunity is important for a couple of reasons. If you can turn your passion into a profitable business, you can set up a framework for escaping the 9-to-5 grind. In addition, and more important, you create a means through which you can fulfill yourself on a daily basis, and that sense of fulfillment distracts you from your workplace misery.
4) Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. Nothing bothers me more than someone telling me I “can’t” do something. I remember explaining to my boss one day the mechanics of investing in rental properties and the potential it has for developing passive income and a consistent cash flow. He dismissed it and promptly declared that it was too difficult to do. Comments and attitudes like that can quickly suppress whatever dreams you have and bury you further into your “rat race.” If you have a dream, you have to protect it, especially from people with “can’t do” attitudes. Don’t let anyone take that dream away from you. People who think something “can’t be done” simply can’t do it themselves. And then they want to tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something, and if you think it can be done, go do it, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
5) Exercise. Not only do you have to train your mind to believe the impossible, you also have to train your body to help you achieve that. Exercise is essential to surviving the daily grind. When I wake up and exercise in the morning, I feel so good the rest of the day. My body is energetic, and my mind is quicker and more alert. The lack of exercise can bog you down. Combined with an unhappy work life, it can push you down into unspeakable depths. Exercise your body regularly, and the benefits you’ll experience will transcend the physical and spill over into a healthy mind and a vibrant self-esteem.
6) Save money. Nothing makes you feel more miserable about work than the need to keep working to pay for items you bought with money you didn’t have. Instead of buying that new widescreen TV or that new iphone, save your money. Don’t eat out as much. Bring lunch to work. Build a fund of money that you can use for investing or starting a business. Knowing that you’re saving money for something productive will help erase the feeling that you “need” to go to work to pay your bills.
7) Drink wine. If you’re going to spend money on something, spend a little on the fundamental pleasures of life. The ancient Greeks and Romans never spared themselves a glass of wine, so why should you? A glass of wine every day has unbelievable health benefits, and it helps you wind down after a stressful or active day. It also tastes great and pairs well with good food and enhances any meal. It’s a pleasure worth indulging in.
Go to the movies. There is nothing like sitting in a large, cold movie theater and watching a great movie on the big screen. Widescreen TVs have attempted to replicate this experience, but there’s nothing like the real thing. Making the time to go see a movie helps you escape from reality, even if it’s just for a couple of hours. That escape can do wonders for you. It can help you re-charge your batteries and, by watching a fictional story unfold before you, allow you to sustain your dreams.
9) Spend time with your family. The most important reflection of who you are is your family. Allowing work to consume you will only create and widen a divide between you and your loved ones. If you’re married, make time for your spouse, and don’t underestimate how important “I love you” is. If you have children, be there for them, no matter what the cost is at work. Focusing on your family will help you realize that your job, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that important. If you know it’s not #1 on your list, then you won’t stress as if it had that kind of importance.
10) Take at least one vacation to relax. When people take vacations, a lot of them go sight seeing. They go to Europe. They go to Disney World. They take time away from work to do things that exhaust them. Then, when they return to work from their vacations, they wish they had taken a second vacation to relax from their first vacation. This only perpetuates their unhappiness at work and makes them feel like they can’t ever get ahead. That’s why it’s so important to take at least one vacation per year where you just . . . do . . . nothing. If it means taking time off and staying home, then do that. Another great way to relax is to rent a house close to the beach. Head over every morning, get some sun, grab some lunch, and then go back to the house in the afternoon and take a nap. Taking a truly relaxing vacation will help you re-energize and, upon your return, help you cope better with a stressful work environment.
11) Don’t do anything on weekends. That’s right. Don’t make plans. Don’t run errands. Don’t go to the mall. Don’t find activities to do. Just stay home and relax. The same rationale for relaxing vacations applies here. Having a jam-packed weekend runs you to the ground and leaves you tired and helpless when Monday’s roll around. Enjoying an activity-free Saturday and Sunday does, in the short term, what a relaxing vacation does in the long term. It helps you re-energize after a long week of irrational bosses, annoying co-workers, an overwhelming workload, and long commutes. Saturday’s and Sunday’s are there for a reason. Take advantage of them.
12) Find a good television show. Find a show you love and get into it. The intrigue and excitement about watching a weekly sitcom or hour-long drama makes it seem as if the week passes more quickly. It’s as if you have this weekly outlet that no one can take away from you. When you sit down to watch your show, you dive into its world, and you live it and breathe it for a half hour or an hour. For several months, you look forward to that show, and you become enveloped in its plot and emotionally attached to its characters. It provides a great weekly escape from the 9-to-5 grind. My favorites are Lost, 24, and The Office. Lost, in particular, captivates me and is, quite possibly, one of the best TV shows ever made.
Follow these 12 tips, and your work life will improve significantly.