How to Make Work Suck Less

Ever feel like your workday is a 'Groundhog Day' of meetings that could have been emails and emails that should have been meetings?

I sometimes get pushback from people about incorporating more humor in their work. It usually comes in the form of anonymous post-event survey entries, as comments on a video I post, or as emails - often in ALL CAPS. 

“Sure, I’ll start using humor at work when I don’t have to work 3 jobs just to try to make ends meet.”

“It’s not my fault I work in this hell-ish, late stage capitalistic bull**** society.”

“That’s pretty naive of you to think we have any level of control of how we do things.”

And honestly? These are all valid points, especially if you’re stuck in a challenging work situation.

Maybe you don’ think there’s anything funny about pushing papers around, yawning in meetings, or your boss’s jokes. Or maybe you think that it shouldn’t be your responsibility, that it’s corporate’s job to make work less terrible.

I’ll admit, I haven’t loved every single job I’ve ever had, but I also haven’t flat-out hated any of them. So if you’re stuck in a slave-wage situation with a tyrannical boss, unrelenting hours, and dangerous work conditions, no amount of humor is going to instantly make you love the grind. I completely agree.

BUT - and this is very important - humor isn’t about transforming a terrible job into your dream career overnight or ignoring the realities of a tough work environment.

Humor can help make things suck less. Especially work.

Of course I don’t believe everything is going to magically work out simply because you use some of our techniques. But I do believe that it can make nearly any situation just a little bit better.

For example, let’s say you have a hypothetical task you’ve been putting off for four months because you hate doing it and it causes you stress and anxiety. Will listening to Eminem while you do it make you love that task? No? But will it make it less terrible? Absolutely (as I learned last week when finding out how to do a task you don’t want to do).

I’m not suggesting you should be pretend-happy all of the time (that’s toxic positivity which can be just as bad as constant negativity). No, humor is not a cure-all, but it is a means to lighten your daily load.

If your job sucks, it’ll help it to suck less.

If your job is just meh, it will make it better.

If it’s already pretty good, it can make it feel great.

Wherever you are, or whatever the task, humor can give an additional boost in making it a bit more fun.

Which is why we’ve decided to relaunch one of our favorite programs:

Make Work Suck Less in 10 (Business) Days

It’s especially relevant now with the summer high ending and fall workload starting to peak its head.

This program is a failproof, step by step method on how to intentionally incorporate humor at work and at home to create meaningful connections with co-workers and fellow humans, become (more) memorable, improve productivity, relieve stress and simply have more fun to... you know, enjoy life (if you’re into that sort of thing.)

And because you made it this far into the email, I want to sling a little sunshine your way.  Use the code worksucks at checkout to receive a $10 discount on your enrollment. Ready to transform your workday? Take the first step and join us today!.

Click here to learn more about the course and enroll.

See you inside?
(an)drew

PS. I hope you actually enjoy your job, unless you work on vacuum cleaners, then I hope it does suck (in a good way).