The job you hate is an opportunity

Today, we’re diving into a painful yet important topic that most of us have experienced: Hating your job.

We’re talking about those soul-sucking, spirit-crushing, "Oh God, why me?!" kinds of jobs. But fear not—this isn't just a venting session. Instead, I’m going to share three practical strategies for making the most out of the job you despise.

You’ll learn how to squeeze those rotten lemons just right to make punchy lemonade and realize that your terrible job isn’t a prison. It's your Training Ground, your Lab, and your Bank.

Finding Purpose

The very first step, before you can apply any strategies, is to find the elusive reason why you’re in this current job and how it might advance your bigger purpose. This will serve as a boulder you can step on to get your head just above the suffocating water level of despair.
Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a mentality of suffering and victimhood, which will drain your energy much faster than your actual job ever could.

If you’re in the dark and see no way out, think of a destination and start digging that tunnel. If you can’t see any light in the distance yet, ignite your own and carry it with you.

Start with your big goal, purpose, or dream. What are you after? Who is that future version of you in five or ten years? Are you in a management role in a specific industry? Running your own business? A digital nomad who also teaches yoga on the side?
Whatever it is, that’s your North Star. Once you have it, you can pivot how you approach your current job to serve that purpose. This way, it becomes a step on your journey rather than a dead-end.

It doesn’t have to be a grand, detailed strategy—just a short concept, an idea, or a distant vision is enough to start. Grasp it, believe in it, and it will work wonders for you.

Now, let’s dive into the specific strategies.

Strategy No. 1: The Training Ground

Any job, whatever it is, can be an opportunity to build transferable skills you need for that next stepping stone toward your big goal. If at first glance there seems to be no connection between your current job and the future you want, you just haven’t looked hard enough. The connection is always there.

Let me give you a real-life example.

I’m originally from a little-known country called Latvia on the Baltic Sea, and I come from a family with big hearts but little money. When I was studying at my first university in Latvia, I needed to find work to afford basic necessities like food and shelter without burdening my family.

One of the jobs I took was at a small 24-hour autogas filling station. I was filling cars running on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). That job was bad—soul-crushing, even. I worked 24-hour shifts all by myself. The connectors were terrible; if you didn’t align them perfectly with the car’s gas tank, your hands would get freeze-burnt by the leaking gas. This was especially unpleasant during the winter, when temperatures in Latvia could drop below minus 20 degrees Celsius.

I barely slept, catching maybe an hour or two on a dirty, cold bench. I dealt with an endless stream of unpleasant people: boozing teenagers waking me up at 2 a.m. to top up their daddy’s car on 2 euros, rude and aggressive clients, thieving colleagues, and, of course, management that took intense pleasure in bringing down their employees.

At the time, my goal was to become a renowned journalist. I had no choice but to turn that horrible job into a training ground for the job I wanted.

How? Well, I had many hours of free time between filling cars, writing inventory, and arguing with taxi drivers. During those hours, I wrote. I wrote short stories, poems, jokes, and articles. Every waking moment in that little cold booth, it was just me, a cheap notebook, and a pen.

After two months of doing that, I managed to land a 10-minute interview with the Editor-in-Chief of a local business newspaper. He gave me a writing task that I ended up crushing. A day later, I published my first small article. Two weeks later, my first big interview was published. Within a year, I was one of the top journalists in the country.

To this day, as minor as it may seem, this was one of the coolest wins and tectonic changes of my life. And it all started with one of the worst jobs I’ve ever had.

The connection is always there. In your case, it may be even more obvious.

Are you working in a call center, making cold calls, and feeling like you’re at the bottom of the pile? Use this chance to sharpen your language and influencing skills and build a thicker skin. This can help you land a lucrative sales job later.

Are you a bored mid-level executive in a big company in an industry you don’t like, smashed against a glass ceiling? Do you want to be a project manager in a high-energy startup instead? Use your current job to improve your delegation, time management, and project-leading skills. They’ll help you land the job you want.

These are just examples, but the principle is always the same: There is always an angle—you just need to find it. Once you do, your job will become more bearable because it won’t be about the job anymore. It will be about that next, exciting thing.

Strategy No. 2: The Lab

A mistake many people make when stuck in a job they hate is failing to use it to gain at least snippets of experience in fields they want to gravitate toward. Usually, what holds them back is the expectation of being paid or promoted for those extra efforts right away.

I suggest abandoning that thought entirely. Instead, treat the whole experience as your little experimental lab, where you can try different things while still getting paid.

For example, let’s say you run an analytics team but are curious if marketing might suit you better. Volunteer for some adjacent work. Try creating content, running social media accounts, or jumping on sales calls.

Most of the time, if you’re not asking for additional resources and have a decent pitch on how this can help your team or your own development, your employer will allow you to experiment. Try as much as possible to find new paths toward your desired big goal and identify the skills you need to improve.

Strategy No. 3: The Bank

Once you’ve discovered your purpose and started using your job as a Training Ground and a Lab, it becomes easier to use it as a Bank too.
You’re not in this job for the long haul—you just need to squeeze as much value out of it as you can.

In addition to acquiring new skills and knowledge of various business aspects, use the time spent in this job to develop and apply good financial habits.
That means saving and investing.

While this is especially important for those in the early stages of their careers, it applies to everyone.

When I say saving, I don’t mean cutting back on necessities like food or the gym. It’s about making smarter decisions regarding your spending on less important, and sometimes harmful, things.

Often, when we struggle at work, we spend money on things we don’t really need just to make ourselves feel better. When you feel bad about your social status, you might want to buy an expensive watch, a car, a suit, or a purse that you don’t need and can’t really afford—all in the hope that others will perceive you as more wealthy or successful.

This is an attempt to buy back some confidence and gain a feeling of control.
Unfortunately, at best, you may gain a short-term confidence boost, quickly followed by imposter syndrome, more stress, and an even bigger financial gap that you’ll now need to fill.

You’re not gaining control; you’re losing it.
Control comes from having some degree of financial security, not from buying luxury goods.

Also, when people feel bad about their jobs and lives in general, they tend to double down on escapism. They drink more, smoke more, watch more TV, and spend unreasonable amounts of time playing video games. All of these can turn into massive drains on money and energy.

I’m not advocating for a monk-like lifestyle. It’s just that when you need to fix something in your life or career, that’s not the time to overindulge. If you do, the problem will remain, and you’ll feel even worse about yourself for not fixing it. To make yourself feel better, you’ll indulge in even more escapism.

Instead, try investing.

There are plenty of user-friendly platforms out there. If you’re new to it, you can start with something simple like the S&P 500 index and invest consistently every week or month.

I’m not one of those “gurus” who suggest that compound interest is the road to quick wealth because it’s not. It may take decades for compound interest to accumulate, especially if you’re starting from a low point.

However, it’s still a good exercise in financial discipline and a great way to keep your expenses and savings in balance.

It also helps you adopt a different mentality regarding money. Watching those numbers add up in your portfolio, even if it’s small, will give you a far greater sense of control and confidence than buying an expensive item you don’t really need.

The Key

If you’re in a job that feels like a prison right now, I’m here to tell you that the key has been with you, the prisoner, all along.

Identify your purpose and use these three strategies, which are mostly mindset hacks, and it will make a massive difference.

Remember this simple equation: Job You Hate / (Training Ground + Lab + Bank) = Opportunity.