Whether your job is Heavenly bliss or Hell on Earth due to job dissatisfaction depends on several things, including your ability to reason. Rather than expect employers, other people or material things to make you satisfied, come down to Earth and learn to reason and recognize your own career contentment.

My Dad used to say life on Earth will never be as good as life in Heaven. He said our struggles prepare us for Heaven; otherwise we might not appreciate it there when we check in for the balance of eternity. That's a long time if you get bored easily, so maybe our struggles really do have meaning. It depends on your perspective.

What would Heaven be like on Earth? A life of ease where everything goes your way and job dissatisfaction does not exist? Freedom from debt, worries, conflict, obligations and illness, and where everyone gets along and you can have and do whatever you like? I personally like the idea of being able to flying rather than pay high gas prices.

What would you be willing to do in order to make your life as much like Heaven on Earth as possible? Would you make more friends and become more tolerant of frustrations, take better care of your body, start a new hobby, play and laugh more, or would you work harder, start a new business, get a degree and maybe change jobs and careers?

Even if you did all of these things perfectly there would never be Heaven on Earth. Life happens and is full of surprises that make it impossible to eliminate the struggles. And besides, some people prefer not to work so hard. I guess life really is what you make it.

Have you noticed that whatever struggles come your way they're never bigger than your ability to handle them? That's because you always have options for dealing with them that make the experience tolerable. Rather than just accept or complain about what happens, you have the ability to reason, find a way to benefit from the experience, and keep on trying. It all begins with your willingness to reason, and thank goodness you have this option because it seems the struggles never stop. But what if you could somehow reduce them?

Behavioral researchers have proven that you don't live in response to your struggles but in response to your emotions caused by what you think about your struggles. Whatever happens is meaningless until you assign it a meaning and react. If this is true, it means you're creating your own struggles, but also, you can improve your life by viewing whatever happens not as a struggle but an opportunity, benefit, blessing or something more positive. But this is contingent on your willingness to exercise this option.

Because life is unpredictable, not entirely perfect or always within your control, it makes no sense to expect that you will always be happy or satisfied. The better approach would be to learn how to reason and recognize the acceptable middle ground, and to assign better meanings to your life circumstances. This would enable your contentment, and put you as close to Heaven on Earth as possible. Otherwise you could struggle, suffer and complain, which is probably easier but closer to Hell on Earth.

Sounds like your worst job. The one you need in order to live, but you happen to work for an autocratic boss who keeps you in the dark, manipulates your time, exploits your talents and takes credit for your ideas. Co-workers are insincere and political to expose your errors and weaknesses so they can advance before you. Where you struggle through work that doesn't matter and which pays hardly enough to cover your expenses as you watch the clock and dream of climbing a better ladder to greener pastures elsewhere. In the meantime you wonder ?Is this all there is and the best use of my time and talents??

Not exactly Heaven on Earth, but how on Earth can you reason to recognize your contentment in this situation?

The obvious solution is to avoid the wrong jobs and if it evolves to become like this you leave. But let's assume that while you hate your job you actually love your work and it's inconvenient for you to leave immediately. How do you endure the misery?

There are some things you cannot change or avoid, but it's amazing how things improve and become more tolerable when you change first. I'm referring to the meanings you assign to whatever happens, and how you reason to recognize the acceptable middle ground. Rather than miserable your situation is improving, bosses are challenging rather than autocratic and co-workers are ambitious rather than political. More than just altering your perspective, it's a matter of establishing a predisposition to make your life however you want it to be. It could be Heaven or if you fail to take control of the meanings you assign, it could be Hell.

I'm not suggesting that you naively live with blinders on but that you leverage the control you have in any situation to recognize your contentment. Doing so not only provides resiliency strength to endure but actually helps to prevent your struggles from occurring.

Need proof this works? How about the fact not everything in your life seems to bother you. It's because you made some things meaningless by choosing to ignore or not take them too seriously. Why not take this same ability which you already have and apply it to all areas of your life, including your improving and potentially satisfying job, boss, co-workers, pay and benefits? If you can't or you believe it's not worth the effort, then maybe you're in the wrong job and should move rather than waste your time complaining.

Contentment proves you can live without satisfaction but not without your ability to reason and recognize the acceptable middle ground. You need contentment more than you need satisfaction because nothing is perfect and not everything goes your way, and besides, it's easier to achieve because it's not dependent on anyone or anything except how you choose to reason.

So where on Earth does this leave you? You could say life is one big struggle and then you die in hopes of Heavenly bliss. But this doesn't address why you have to struggle or why you were given the ability to reason. You could have the most satisfying job possible and still be completely miserable due to life's persistent struggles.

Just as my Dad said, your life on Earth will never be as completely satisfying as it will be in Heaven, and although you don't have all the answers, you can still make your life pleasant as humanly possible by your ability to reason.

Thank goodness you have this ability because while you never have complete control over the people or material things you expect will make you satisfied, you still have control over how you interpret your world and influence your life. In fact, your reasoning is about the only thing on Earth entirely within your control. This insures that if you're not happy or entirely satisfied, you can always and everywhere recognize your contentment to endure rather than complain or struggle unnecessarily.

Rather than expect or depend on employers, other people or material things to give you job satisfaction, get real and back down to Earth by learning to reason and recognize your own career contentment to endure or pursue it elsewhere rather than complain.

We pride ourselves on explaining employment and career like never before. To learn more and download a free audio on this topic please visit our website and while there join the campaign to retire job dissatisfaction.

Copyright 2007 by Jeff Garton All Rights Reserved