Launch T10 BLOG "Working hard to make a living"

Work. The 9 to 5, Monday to Friday – maybe our enthusiasm for the activity can be determined by how many times we hit the snooze button. Last count? 3.

Think to yourself, how often are we asked: “So … what do you do?” It’s the perfect icebreaker and many people define themselves on this one response. Some pride themselves on a decade of university tuition to say “I’m a doctor” and receive the excepted response that comes with such a position. Others seem all in for the – do as little work for the highest possible pay– mantra.

I consider myself in the position of many others my age – working as a means to an end. I work to get paid, period. I don’t hate my job, I don’t love it either. But even as just a student working twenty or so hours a week – this is a large portion of my life. Is it wise to have such a nonchalant attitude? But really – is there anything I can do about it?

Surveys emerged from the US early this year, ringing in the new decade with disappointing although not surprising results. More people than ever hate their job. It's not groundbreaking news but its no pleasant figure either. How has it become the social norm to hate your job? At 645 we all stand at various ranks on the employment step ladder. Some of us are struggling students toying with the idea of gaining employment while surviving off a government meal ticket. Others have been working for decades with a rather impressive resume to show for it. Regardless, I'm sure there are hefty percentage of us who see the jotting of 'WORK' in our diary and moan in something slightly more dramatic than disappointment.

Adding salt to the wounds, Gen Y - supposedly we are the most fickle pronoun yet! In similar figures, anyone stereotyped by birth as a 'Y' baby can be predicted to change career paths three of four times before the age of 55. This isn't just talking medium McChicken meal to the Colonels secret recipe chicken, it's a completely different ball game. Whilst the figure may be comforting to those nestled in an unhappy, unamusing degree or unsatisfying job, the smell of discontentment is wafting in the air - is it not?

On the threshold of my career deemed possibly as "the rest of my life", I want to know how I can avoid this discontentment. How - even if my workplace is a drag - can I be content with what I'm doing?

BRIT K