I read somewhere that if you’re not working towards your goals, then you are definitely helping someone else work towards theirs. I cannot, for the life of me, recall where I read this brilliant quote in order to give that wise person their due credit, but the wisdom of that statement shines clear as sunlight on the surface of water.

I used to be unhappy at work. I used to feel like I was going nowhere, stuck in the same old, same old kind of thing, that is, until I established goals that my job is an essential part of accomplishing. I created a meaning for my job other than to just pay the bills.

I used to get upset with coworkers when they messed up or didn’t show up for work, and I had to carry the burden that was left in their ignorance or absence. I used to be so negative at work, until I had a mission and I realized that what my coworkers do didn’t actually effect what goals that I was working towards, and then all of a sudden, after that shift in my mentality the negativity and victimizing was slowly but surely washed away.

I have goals that my job is supporting and that makes all the bullshit and drama that occasionally comes my way easy to handle and that can be transmuted into games I play to make myself better.

For example, I work with a man who doesn’t really care about anything. When he actually shows up for work he just does things as quickly as possible and gives little if any thought to the quality of the work he does, and it used to really bother me.

The days when he wouldn’t show up to work (don’t ask me how he still has this job because it still amazes me) I would sometimes be alone at the sushi bar, which at a busy restaurant is no picnic, and it used to really stress me out. However, once I reminded myself that I was there to do my job so that I can get to where I want to be in life, then I took it for what it was, which is a challenge that can only make me better.

If I can hold down the whole restaurant by my lonesome and all the customers leave happy and satisfied, then I have achieved another level of skill, in which I have attained mastery over my skills to the degree in which I can rely on myself to do whatever it may be to do my job well and not need anyone else to assist me. I call this method of skill development being forged by fire.

What being forged by fire means is to be thrown into intense pressure (fire) where you have to perform or fail. It is an extreme but effective way of developing skill if you can come out of the flames better then you were before and having pushed yourself to a new level.

Anyways, sometimes in my work I am forced to put up with a lot of bullshit, as I’m sure most of us do, but its all worth it and easier to deal with when you have a goal that your job is helping you towards. It can be easy to fall into a negative mentality when work is stressful, and I find it helpful to remind myself about what is really important and how this job is helping me get to a better place.

If your goal is just to “pay the bills” then you need to do some soul-searching and ask yourself what you really want and what would make life and all the crap you have to put up with worth it. Then you make a plan and work towards that goal.

Once you decide what your purpose or mission or goal is (whatever you want to call it), then you might even realize that the job you currently have does not support your mission, and if so use that current job as a way to support yourself to the next one that is more goal affirmative.

Life is all about perspective. If you’re not currently living your dream, then use whatever you have at your disposal to work towards that dream, which might mean to continue working at your current, not so glamorous job. The cool thing about that though is that that not so glamorous job now has meaning as a stepping stone to something greater.

Ask yourself what are you working towards? What will help you get there more efficently? With a direction to go in you can make that job have meaning and make it all worth it.