How to Cope While Plotting to Escape Your Job
I’ve done a lot of research for the book I’m writing about people leaving their jobs to pursue more meaningful work. One of the most interesting things I learned was the various ways that people coped with their unpleasant work situations while they prepared to quit. Here are some of the top coping strategies I heard about:
On your drive into the office each morning, turn up the volume on your car stereo and blast any song that you can yell-sing along with. Repeat on your drive home.
Watch the 1975 movie “Rollerball”. In it, corporations rule the word instead of countries and individualism is squashed by the puppet masters. Marvel that the film is set in 2018.
Join a support group. AA, a church group, a Non-Violent Communications practice group. Anywhere where you are with trusted people that you can talk honestly about your situation. Or go to a counselor. Paying someone $100 to listen to you for an hour might be the best money you’re spending.
Change the settings on your smart phone so that your work email doesn’t automatically sync. Then make a point of not checking it after you’ve left work in the evening and not until you arrive at work the next day. And never on weekends. They have your cell phone number, right? If it is an emergency, they can call you.
Move the icon or tile for your work email to the very bottom of your smart phone, so you can’t see it unless you scroll down or navigate to another page. Psychologically this is a reminder that your workplace isn’t the most important part of your life. Put the higher priority icons or tiles at the top – your contacts, your calendar, your camera and pictures – you look at your phone multiple times a day so let it reinforce your values.
Put yourself first. Running late in the morning? Eat breakfast anyway. It’s your health and your energy. Feeling fatigued at the office? Take ten minutes to visit with a coworker or take a walk around your building. Don’t work at your desk during lunch unless you’re planning to leave work early to compensate. Go sit in the cafeteria and clear your head, go run an errand, or take a nap in your car.
Download a countdown app to your phone and set it for the day that you plan to give notice. Give the countdown a funny name that won’t tip off anyone at the office if they happen to see it. Like “lunch with Michael Scott” (a reference to the head Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch from the former tv series “The Office”). Or “Dilbert Festival”. Or “Day of Reckoning”. Every time you feel like screaming at your desk, take out your phone and look at your countdown.
Start taking home the things you care about from your office. Replace them with things you don’t care about, or facsimiles of what was there before. Like my friend who took home the photo he had on his wall but replaced it with a color photo copy.
At home, take an old cardboard box and write “This is the box I’m going to use to carry my stuff home from the office” on the inside with a black sharpie. Put it in your closet or the trunk of your car.
Then every day when you go into the office, smile at your subversive self.
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