3 Signs You Actually Hate Your Dream Job (and What to Do About It)

Can you hate your dream job?

Do you hate your dream job?

Okay, so, here’s the thing: we’re rarely in touch with what we really want.

We think we want something, but it turns out it was really just a shade of what we really wanted. Often, societal pressure bears down upon us and forces us to make decisions based on a bias that doesn’t serve us. So, we pick something that isn’t really true to who we are.

Other times, you genuinely think you would love to pursue a career path, but end up realizing you love something else. Or maybe you’ve changed as a person.

Whatever the case, you’ve now got what you once considered to be your "dream job," and you’re just not as happy as you thought you’d be.

In fact, you think you might hate it.

Work to become, not to acquire.

– Elbert Hubbard

3 Signs you actually hate your dream job

First, let’s talk about some common signs that your supposed dream job isn’t really a fit for you.

Then, we’ll talk about what the heck you should do about it.

1. Your motivation and interest have tanked

If you’re no longer motivated to go to work and your level of interest has gone way down, this is a red flag.

You should love getting up in the morning to go to work. Are you? Answering that one question may be all you need to figure out the truth.

2. You’re very distracted

If you can’t seem to maintain focus during work, that’s a critical sign you just don’t care about your work any longer.

Your dream job shouldn’t just interest you, it should captivate your attention regularly. Sure, not every day is golden, but if you’re doing what you love, you should be engrossed in your work and rarely distracted.

If you’re not, it’s almost surely not the job you were meant to do.

3. You complain frequently

No matter how much you love your job, you’re going to find things to complain about from time to time. However, if you’re frequently complaining about your job and you can’t find much to be grateful for, that’s no dream job (at least, not any longer).

The existence of anger and frustration are, partly, to do with your mentality and the work culture. However, when you love what you do, frustration barely has any time to shine its prickly little head, so keep that in mind.

What to do if you hate your job

So, your dream job either isn’t what you thought it’d be or you now realize that it might not be what you were meant to do after all. What do you do about it?

First, take some time to analyze what you specifically dislike about your job.

Maybe you really love the work you do but the whole working with others thing just isn’t working out too well. Perhaps, you’d do better starting your own business, where you can build your own team and decide on the company culture.

Or perhaps the work just isn’t what you thought it’d be. Maybe you expected something exciting or stimulating and it’s neither, and what you really want is something much different.

Whatever the case, by analyzing this you’ll have a much better idea of what your dream situation actually entails.

Next, you need to take a long hard look at your life and find out what you have a real passion for.

Don’t restrict yourself to the confines of professional careers, really dig deep and find out what you’d love to do if there were no restrictions (money included).

Sometimes, all you need is the first step we just talked about to realize there’s one particular aspect of your dream job you don’t like.

However, other times, you realize that what you thought would be your dream job really isn’t what you love to do. In that case, it’s critical you find out what you have a true passion for.

And, lastly, get out there and start trying things out. Put yourself in situations where you can simulate the work or try it out before having to invest any real time or energy into it.

You can never know for sure what you’d love to do for a living until you’ve actually started doing it -- there are just too many factors at play to know for sure. By testing things out,  you can get a better idea of what your real dream job is.