There is No Such Thing as a Bad Job

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast.

What do you do when you feel stuck in a job? To an interesting question, because for most of us, our jobs are pretty much our key to life. Right? If you're in a relationship, if you are trying to live here in the Western world, if you want shelter, if you want a car, if you want all the things that we see as the key to life here in The United States, you've got to have one. And a lot of times that leads us to do things we don't want to do.

I've been in this situation a lot. I've done a lot of different jobs. I've been a truck driver. I've been a day laborer. I've been an admin worker.

I've been I've had jobs within The US Government that, you know, made me wanna rip my hair out because they were so boring. But in so many different ways, it's easy for us to see those jobs not as the key to living our lives and the key to to getting money in the door, but as as traps. Traps that we have to go to every single day that are slowly killing us. So what's the key to trying to survive there? And a lot of people are gonna say, well, suck it up.

Suck it up. You know, everybody's got to work. Everybody's got to do this. Everybody's got to do that. Yeah.

That's true. All of us do have to figure out a way to earn money. But I think that if you're approaching your job in a consistently negative mindset, what you're doing is you're setting yourself up for a round of depression, a round of darkness, you know, creating that that mental trap that you feel stuck in your life without moving forward. So what are the keys to really getting through this? And not only getting through it, but but thriving wherever you are, no matter what you're doing, no matter what kind of work you're doing.

I think it comes down to something that I've learned from reading the stoic philosophers. You know, guys like Epictetus or or guys like Seneca or Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius in particular. But it's that idea that it's not what happens to you in life. It's how you approach it. It's it's how you perceive it that really matters.

So what am I talking about? Well, I was just I was talking with my buddy Mike Ergo when we were on a in a conversation about depression. And one of the things I remember from, you know, being in boot camp in the Marine Corps is there was this this time period, I think it was a it was during the the week where we all had to work and and Marine took me down, I was still a recruit, took me down with a couple other recruits. And we had a couple of buckets, a couple of scuzz brushes, and there were some steps down at Parris Island. And he said, I want all the scuff marks out of these steps.

And there was black scuff marks all over these white steps. And so our job was was to get those get those scuffs out. And, you know, the work was it kind of sucked. Right? It was better than getting yelled at, but but it kind of sucked.

And what we did was we made a game out of it. And we made a game out of how many black marks we could get out of those white steps, rubbing these little green scuzz sponges all over that that those steps. And it was one of the most fun days I've ever had in boot camp because, you know, we're bragging to each other about how many how many marks we get out, and it was it was like a game. It was like competition. And I've been able to utilize that mindset to approach a lot of other things that I've done.

Right? Regardless of what I was doing. So when I had my day laborer job, it would be moving bags of cement, right? I'm gonna move a 100 of these bags of cement within the next hour, just moving as many as I can and treating it like a workout, trying to trying to to just exert myself and trying to do as much as I could. And, you know, setting up those types of games has always helped me.

Another thing, and and this is, you know, kind of getting into, you know, the those types of jobs that you get into where you feel like the work is beneath you. You have to understand that there is no work that's beneath you. There is no work out there that's beneath you, regardless of what you're doing. And I think so many people are missing that in today's world. Right?

A lot of people look at a job like working at McDonald's or working at a fast food restaurant is beneath them. It's not a bad job. That's a job. That's a that's a start. Right?

So you have to look at wherever you are as a launching platform. And if it is a launching platform, then what you need to do is you need to say, alright. I'm going to do the absolute best that I can right now where I'm at. So if I'm working at at McDonald's, I'm gonna be the best, you know, french fry maker in the McDonald's company. Right?

I'm gonna be the best burger flipper in the McDonald's company. And then from there, you know, put everything you can into it, and then see how you can move up. Because if you're putting a 100% effort into what you're doing, people are going to notice. People are going to notice, and they're going to take an interest in you. And then they're going to want to help you to move up.

But if you're approaching your job, like, oh, I got to get this fryer later going, I gotta get these fries going. I'm, you know, I don't care if I burn these fries, whatever, then people are going to notice that too. And then all you're ever gonna do is make fries. And it's not a platform. It's a trap.

Right? No matter what it is, treat it like a launching platform. And then you'll give yourself some keys to success as you move along. Right? People will notice that you put the effort in.

People will notice that you are trying. And throughout your life, if you do that at every level that you're at, you'll consistently find ways of moving up. But never treat yourself like the victim. Never put yourself into that mentality where you're trapping yourself into the position you're in simply because you don't want to do the work. Thank you guys for listening to this little rant of mine.

If you haven't been to the Warrior Soul podcast before, this podcast is about helping US Military Veterans to live their best lives. And we do a few different types of episodes every week. We do interviews. Those are usually with people who found some degree of success in their lives and and who are delivering keys, tools, tactics to live your best life. We also do these types of rants.

So I do two of the two types of these. The there's the Wednesday fitness notes normally, where I'm talking about some key to living a healthier, fitter lifestyle, and then we do Warrior Notes. Now this week, it's going be a little bit messed up because this episode is going to be on Wednesday, but those are the other two types that we do. The Warrior Notes is more about mental strength, mental mental mindset, things to help you to move forward. Don't ask for anything in return.

All I ask is that you spread word about the show. Write us a review on iTunes. Give us a five star rating and let other people know about the show. Share these episodes out. The other type of interview we do is it's a network interview or a network episode.

And I've just partnered up with my bro, Mike Ergo, from the Transitions From War podcast, fellow US Marine Corps veteran. And every week, we're publishing episodes on each other's podcasts. And that is our own little veterans podcast network. So if you listen to this, definitely go over and check out Mike Ergo from the Transitions From War podcast. And other than that, the only other thing I want to say is I want to thank our fine sponsors over at F Bomb Nutrition.

They make awesome, delicious packets of fats. Macadamia nut butters, they're so delicious. They mix them up with pecan butter, mix them up with chocolate, mix them up with sea salt. And you can head over to www.dropanfbomb.com. Use the code warrior soul at checkout, and you'll get yourself 20% off of your first order.

Till next time, guys. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast. Get out there and live your best life while you can.