Do you hate your job?

Have you ever heard trainers/speakers/ wannabe speakers/ tell you, “You’ve got to love your job?”

Have you ever watched some big time Chief Honcho of a company who would pull an index card, peek into it, and with an attempt at humor, would utter a line of a famous old song that says, “If you can’t find the one you love, love the one you’re with...”

And then would add, “This is the same with your job. If you can’t find the job you want, you’ve got to love the job that you have.”

And then everybody in the Town Hall Meeting would obligingly smile (because that is expected), would patronizingly nod their heads in agreement and in a few nano-seconds would think, “Yeah right! Easy for you to say...” And then would dismiss the idea.

As a professional communicator, I understand this principle very well. In order for a statement to resonate, (resonate comes from the Latin word “Resonatum” which literally means “to expand or amplify”) first, it should make sense. Second, it should be honest and credible. And most importantly, the source of the message should be perceived as an expert and the words said should not only be meaningful, but also believable. In other words, the message may be right but the messenger must be righteous.

Some jobs are just not lovable, hence the words “I love my job” does not really resonate well.

Suppose your job involves cleaning out sewers... It’s a little bit gross though, so let’s have a more acceptable example. Suppose your job involves cleaning toilets. Honestly, I have never met a person who says, “I love to clean pooh-pooh.”

The young generation today does not want old, worn-out clichés that do not make sense. They want ideas and encouragement that bring logic into their data-saturated world and inspire them to become better.

Leaders should make sense. Leaders should be clear. And leaders should update and upgrade their leadership skills so they can engage the young minds and make their message resonate and bring out positive results.

Still, there are those young people who love clichés and never bother engaging themselves in deeper and more careful thinking. They read one motivational book and assume they have all the answers to the problems of this world.

They come across a problem and rather than treading through, they throw in the towel and call it quits. They think that another job or another company would be better.

These young people will never love their jobs the fact that they don’t learn how to love themselves first. They waste their years moving from one employment to the other forever searching for the “better job.”

The grass will always be greener where you water it, therefore the phrase “the grass is always greener on the other side or somewhere else” is a fantasy.

To the young people, I offer this very important advice: you need to build competence, acquire skills and need to be good at something that will give you the market value you can leverage in order to achieve success in life.

And for those who really hate their jobs, here is a tip: find out why. Is it because you do not like your boss? Is it because it is a dead beat job? Or maybe the company you are working for is no longer viable as a business?

Whatever the reason is, be the best performer in your work, be the shining star in your company, and if there is no future, then quit while you are on the top, bringing with you a market value that will work for you in the long haul.

If you quit too soon, you’ll go to the next place blaming instead of bragging. And when you are “well-watered,” no matter where you go, the grass will always be greener.

(Send your high potential leaders and experience two inspiring days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills in his widely acclaimed Level Up Leadership this Oct. 27-28 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 or 6310660 for details.)