To future proof your employment, stop toiling and learn to uncover the love and joy in your job – no matter what you are doing!

Myth:

It is not possible to love all parts of your job, all the time, every time and forever. If I have this wrong and there is someone out there who does – contact me – I need to meet you!

You might ‘love’ a particular gym class – but do you love it when the instructor increases the weights and demands, ‘5 more reps’? You love the feeling after the class – that is the sense of wellbeing, pride, and accomplishment from achieving and trying.

Unlike the romantic notion of ‘love’, this sort of love has very little to do with a magic sparkle that the ‘job fairy’ sprinkles over us.

Love is the same as everything else in life. It is a choice, and it is a practice. We need to nurture, cherish, sacrifice, give and take, keep investing, and have a lot of patience. It is possible to love something and somebody but not like every aspect of the person or ‘thing’.

Holding onto this expectation will not lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, no matter how much imagination and positivism you possess. It is not realistic, rational, nor fair to you or your employer. You are setting yourself up to fail.

But you can find pleasure and satisfaction, and here is how.

Pride – vastly underestimated and undervalued – in my opinion.

It is important to mention – I refer to an ‘authentic’ kind of pride, not ‘unproportionable’ pride. Authentic pride earns respect from others. Unproportionable pride is less healthy, often seen as arrogant and calls for constant approval from others, not so great!

Pride as an ‘emotion’ has been undervalued in psychology and means different things to different people.

Also, pride is one of the ‘seven sins’; and has easily contributed to many negative connotations, even if just at the subconscious level.

I always love working with people who have that authentic sort of pride. When you have pride, you set yourself up for success. You will try harder and see meaning and purpose. Pride and ‘meaning’, go hand in hand – in our jobs and careers.

You stay back for an hour to finish a project – or, to assist your boss or colleague. You might be tired from doing so, but you will feel great for your contribution and achievement – that’s pride.

When you have pride, you finesse a job to ensure it is done to a standard that is not just good, but great. There is enjoyment in that!

When you have pride, you are more likely to gain respect from others, be inspiring, and influence and affect not just yours, but other people’s self-esteem.

This was not any factory, a meat processing factory. I was 18 and had just finished school. I had to be up before 5am to be at work for 6am. My Dad drove me there each day, and I took a pillow to sleep in the car on the way. There may have been an occasional tear.

My job was to put stickers on the legs of ham. My friends had cool jobs in cafés and Kmart. I had the glamour job – I wore a hairnet, white gumboots, and white overalls. I am not sure if it was the outfit or the job that I found the most confronting. I was well out of my comfort zone. I did toil in the beginning, but I gave my word to finish the contract and because I had zero skills at that age – this job was a favour pulled (thanks Dad ☹), making it even harder to ‘quit’.

After a week, I began to find some joy – I started to increase my competence levels and so my comfort zone levels also increased.

I set goals and targets for myself and was able to leave each day feeling I had contributed, and with a genuine sense of achievement.

I made friends with people at work – most of them were old enough to be my parents – which helped me mature and increased my skills in dealing with people beyond my small world. I had to ‘grow up’ and be a part of that team and deliver.

I enjoyed the levels of responsibility given to me – small as it may have been, but I did not want to let people down. Only later, did I learn what I felt – was a strong sense of pride!

A healthy sense of pride, will not allow you to lower your standards, no matter what the situation you find yourself in. Dreading a certain part of your job, a meeting or task, pride in yourself will get you through. And then follows the pleasure and joy and maybe even love!

In finding the importance, meaning and purpose in what you do, blame, resentment, apathy, even boredom, will not easily enter your realm. No matter what job you are doing, when done with pride and self-regard, will make you so beautiful, that people will not be able to take their eyes away from you! We have all worked with that person. Be that person!

 “Most people are only as happy as they choose to be” – Abraham Lincoln

Roxanne Calder

As Founder and Managing Director at EST10, Roxanne has an all-encompassing role that includes building and growing the business, as well as actively recruiting and consulting.

After completing a Bachelor’s Degree at Monash University, Roxanne began her recruitment career with renowned recruiter Julia Ross. From there, Roxanne worked in HR and recruitment with a number of global players and boutique businesses throughout Australia, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong for over 20 years. She has been responsible for managing large teams and projects, implementing RPO models, managing and assisting businesses to an IPO and assisting companies in setting up their recruitment teams and processes.

Following completion of her MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Roxanne launched EST10 in July 2010. In doing so, she hoped to combine the flexibility and high touch service levels of boutique agencies with the structure and strategy afforded to larger firms. Roxanne believes in high-touch, high-care consulting and is always on the lookout for consultants that share this vision of recruitment.