With apologies to the 1982 hit song of the same name by The Clash many people at work are asking themselves this question daily.
Is there a better job for me? Is there a better career path? Should I start my own business? A fairly recent Deloitte Shift Index survey found that almost 80% of Americans are now unhappy with their job!
Wow! I would have guessed it was a high number but 80%? If we accept the number of dissatisfied workers is that really high then why don't more people take action and quit, resign, transfer, or do SOMETHING to change the situation?
I went back into the archives to pull up an outstanding article from 2012 by Daniel Gulati called Why You Won't Quit Your Job that cites 3 main reasons why people stay on in unhappy work situations. Make sure you click the link to read the article because it is quite good.
The most surprising of the three reasons cited in the article by Mr. Gulati was the simple fact that we have been conditioned to stay. In a study of lab rats featuring fixed and variable stimulants, rats that received rewards every time they pulled a lever quit pulling the lever almost as soon as the rewards stopped coming. On the other hand rats that received random rewards at varying times for pulling the levers kept on pulling LONG after the rewards stopped coming. They had been conditioned to believe that their next reward was "just around the corner" if they only kept pulling the lever.
Maybe that is where the term "Rat Race" came from? In any event maybe it is time to ask yourself this question: Is the next reward "just around the corner" if you will just keep pulling the lever or has the lever stopped delivering the rewards?
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