Ten signs you’re in the wrong job

It is a fact of modern life that the vast majority of people have to work in some capacity or other. We live in a consumerist society and require money to purchase goods and services, to maintain a roof over our head and to feed ourselves and our families.

Ideally, the income that derives from our work not only provides the necessities but also enables us to improve our lives. To better ourselves and circumstances. To enrich the lives of those around us.

We spend many hours at work, the standard hours for most being the obligatory 9-5 or longer. Yet many forget that the working day starts from the moment your alarm blares and only ends when you arrive home. Even if you have the luxury of working from home, the time spent working remains significant—around 40 hours a week on average. Add that up over a year.

Society has conditioned people to believe work is a necessary evil. Drudgery. A chore. Something we have to do in order to get what we want or where we want in life.

We must change this mindset if we are to get the most out of this life and fulfil our purpose.

Below, I outline the top ten red flags that you may be in the wrong job. The more you can relate to, the greater the chances are you need to move on.

Poor performance

We’re all human and make mistakes. This is how we learn and grow. Mistakes and failure are often stepping-stones to success. However, if your performance is consistently poor, this is a sign you’re probably not cut out for the job.

Things aren’t a daily struggle when you’re doing work you were born to do. Instead, they come naturally. While there are always challenges, you tackle them head on and with confidence.

I’ve always struggled as a legal secretary. It’s very structured, routine work that requires close attention to detail. No matter how hard I tried, I always screwed up or fell short. I made mistakes and overlooked things that would have been obvious to others. HR often called me up relating to issues of poor performance and I found myself pushed out of several roles because of this.

Poor performance didn’t mean I was lazy or a poor worker. Rather, it signalled that the work wasn’t suitable and didn’t align with my personality.

Depending on the personality test, I’m described as a ‘creative’, an ‘INFP’ or a ‘squiggle’. Each type has similar characteristics, such as poor attention to detail and a dislike of the mundane and routine. In order to succeed as a legal secretary, I needed to work against my natural inclinations every hour I was at work, while my true talents weren’t being utilised. I was a square peg in a round hole.

Repeated poor performance that’s not because of inadequate training or understanding of concepts is a clear sign you must reassess your choice of work and find something more suitable.

There’s no point swimming against the tide, as it will only have a negative impact on your self-esteem and confidence, not to mention career prospects.

Lack of energy

It’s that time. Your alarm goes off, but instead of relishing new challenges that await, you toss and turn. You press the snooze button not once but twice. Perhaps three times. You awaken with reluctance, tired and groggy.

Somehow you drag yourself into the office, often 10 minutes late. Perhaps more. You ran out of excuses long ago. You sit at your desk, barely able to keep your eyelids open. The day stretches like slow torture. The inbox and in-tray are both full, but you lack motivation. By the time your employer allows you to go home, you feel exhausted. Arriving home, you dread the thought of having to prepare dinner and wash up. All you want to do is flop down on the sofa and turn on the TV.

This was me for many years. Over time, things got worse. I returned from work each day drained and exhausted.

Work that is the right fit energises you. It shouldn’t drain you.

While sometimes overwork can cause exhaustion, being emotionally drained by work you have no passion for is something else. It’s a definite sign that your line of work is far from ideal.

Zero growth

Another key indicator a job is a poor fit is when you’re doing the same tasks on repeat. While certain jobs are repetitive, there should always be opportunities for growth.

Stagnation leads to apathy. You will reach a dead end. Fast.

By nature, humans are curious. We need challenges to develop and grow and to reach our full potential. Learning shouldn’t stop in high-school.

The more skills we learn, the more we grow. Growth enriches the mind and helps us to devise new and better ways of doing things.

If the job is right for you, even supposed dead-end jobs may lead to opportunities. But if you’re not interested in the work, you won’t push yourself.

Initiative is essential, but this plummets when the work is a poor fit.

Mind-numbing boredom

Ongoing boredom is a sure sign you’re not into your job.

Whilst most work involves some boring, repetitive aspects, a job that fulfils and interests you won’t be boring.

A boring job is where you are beyond restless. You yearn to do something else. You’re just counting the hours and minutes until you are free to finish up for the day.

Constant boredom signals disengagement—that you have little interest in your position or role.

You’ve mentally checked out.

Sunday night blues

Everyone loves their free time, and of course it’s natural to feel an element of disappointment when the weekend is over. However, if the truth be told, when the work you’re undertaking is the right fit, there’s an element of excitement, a sense of joy almost that you’re about to spend another week doing what you were born to do. A means of fulfilling your life’s purpose.

When the opposite is true, it’s a sign all isn’t right. It’s not so much even disappointment that the working week is upon you, but more a sense of dread that creeps up and threatens to spoil your Sunday afternoon, if not the entire day.

I’ve often felt like this and as the years went by the symptoms became more extreme. My stomach seized up in knots. I’d feel anxious and break down in tears at the very thought of spending another week cooped up in a cubicle doing something I had no interest in, that I loathed with every fibre of my being. I felt like I’d sold my soul, and for what?

If such feelings are frequent and ongoing, it’s yet another clear sign the job isn’t the right fit.

I realise most of us need to earn a living, but when it comes at the cost of your personal happiness and wellbeing, you really need to reevaluate things.

Misalignment of core values

Ideally, the work we undertake should align with and reflect our values. If there’s an imbalance, it could be a sign that your job won’t bring out the best in you.

My values clashed with the profit-driven culture of a law firm, where making money was the overriding aim as opposed to creative fulfilment. Also, working for a firm whose client base stemmed from global corporations such as banks and insurance companies did not sit well with me personally.

If you can’t relate to the core values of the company or business you work with, this is a further sign the job is not for you.

That trapped feeling

I always felt trapped in my cubicle, like a restless caged animal. Prison Panda. Looking for excuses to escape the confines of my cubicle, whether it be a brief walk to the tearoom to fill a glass of water, a trip down the lifts to the newsagent to grab a chocolate frog or pace over to the copier. Even a toilet break was better than idling at my desk, wishing the day away.

Our work shouldn’t trap and restrict us. Rather, it should expand our horizons and invigorate us. Five hours in front of my laptop writing feels like five minutes, whereas five hours at my cubicle desk doing menial tasks feels like an eternity. A prison sentence.

I yearned to escape.

Poor health

If you’re stressed and unhappy in your job, it’s bound to have an adverse impact on your health and immune response. For me that meant increased levels of anxiety that manifested as skin problems such as eczema and rosacea. It may mean catching a cold more often than normal or coming down with a bad bout of flu.

Excess levels of stress can also disrupt your hormonal imbalance and overload your body with cortisol leading to weight gain and a host of other issues.

You’re much more likely to eat a poor diet or reach for the sweet stuff to compensate for unhappiness.

It becomes a toxic cycle that can be hard to break out of until you fix the source of your discontent and re-evaluate your work situation.

Feelings of resentment

It’s inevitable that if you hate how you spend most of your time, you’re bound to resent this.

I resented spending the majority of my waking hours doing tasks that didn’t interest me, that were meaningless and unfulfilling. That didn’t utilise my talents or abilities.

Instead, I spent my work days feigning interest as I struggled to keep up the facade.

I wasn’t comfortable. A fish out of water.

If your attitude towards work is negative, such negativity will ultimately seep into your personal life as well, affecting relationships outside work.

Pessimism soon takes over and impacts all areas of your life.

Can’t relate to co-workers

Another sign you could be following the wrong career trajectory is when you have difficulty relating to your co-workers.

Office small talk irritates you, as does the constant mechanical drone of photocopiers and the incessant tap-tap-tap of other staff on their keyboards. Most of your colleagues don’t seem to get you and appear rather content with their lot. Of course, no one enjoys Monday mornings, but they’re not itching to escape. They seem to tolerate things much more than you.

People of similar personalities and persuasion tend to gravitate towards the same roles. However, there are always exceptions. In my case, I didn’t choose my career path. Rather, well-meaning family members pressured me into becoming a legal secretary. Once on the corporate spinning wheel, it was difficult to get off.

My advice to youth is that parents don’t always know best but it’s up to you to come to the realisation that you are on the wrong course.

I’m in the wrong job. Now what?

Accepting you have made a terrible choice, for whatever reason, is the first step. Next, you need a plan to get back on track. This will require some soul-searching, research, and trusting your instincts.

What do you enjoy? What interests you? What are you good at? What do you really want to do? If you could do anything, what would it be?

It’s important not to put limits on yourself because there are none. You can do anything you set your mind to, but you have to want it desperately and believe in yourself and abilities 100%.

Trust me, it’s never too late. I was over 50 before I saw my dreams materialise into reality. I’ve always dreamt of becoming an author, but for me becoming one was a long journey—from early ambitions around the age of 19 to giving up, to a period of study before attempting to write a screenplay and falling over, to getting up again and utilising another tactic. It took several years from the day I shelved my screenplay to the time I turned my story into a full-length novel.

In some ways I’m grateful for the years of toiling away in an unfulfilling job, because it gave me the drive, the determination to succeed and create new opportunities.

You are the master of your own destiny. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of living someone else’s life. Life is short and you don’t want regrets.

Live your own life and to the full.

Follow your dreams.

Don’t sell yourself short.