WHY ARE WE FRUSTRATED WITH OUR JOBS?

1.       OUR INSTINCTS IN ACTION:

                I bet there is a joyful and exited stage in many people’s lives as they were just hit with a job offer and landed into an office building. New people, new places, new targets and even money starts coming in. On the pay day you just feel like you have accomplished a great deal in your life. Just as the days passes by months and years passes by slowly a shadow of gloominess starts invading your life. All of a sudden one day the same office, same people and the same work which you were much excited about, at a point of time now seems to be boring. Your monotonous daily routine starts draining your energy. Have you ever thought of why? The reason is YOU.

                What? Are you kidding me? Why would I make a hell out of my life? I know that’s exactly what you want to say. But tell me why do you feel differently about the same thing at different points of time in your life? The answer is it’s the way your brains are hardwired. When our ancestors used to live as hunter gatherers in African savannas, Mother Nature have ensured their survival by coding in instinctive functionalities into their brains. One of them is the desire for novelty and the search for new and exciting things around him. This created an instinctive desire to try new foods, desire to explore his surroundings, have a desire to mate with many woman etc., So that he could enhance his chances of survival and evolution. Floating back to concrete jungle and corporate eco system we still instinctively search for this novelty, which when not met creates a sense of boredom and frustration.

2.       INDUSTRIALIZATION:

                After the Second World War the economies of many countries were down to their knees. The only chance of a country to exist is to stabilize their economy as soon as possible. This inculcated a desire for secured financial conditions and a need for steady growth. The governments, the leaders, the policies and the entire economy have embraced this need for stability and security.

                Then came the industrial revolution where the mindsets and the skills of people were also manufactured by the schools and society. They were made to fit into the community’s and economy’s requirements. The sole purpose was work like a machine and produce. I say the Humachines were the need of the need hour.

                Once the globalization has been reached and many countries have attained as status of developed countries and developing countries, but the production of Humachines is still on. But let me remind you that they still are humans, at least partly.  This is creating a conflict between the instincts of the human nature and the requirements of the manmade economy.

3.       MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS:

                I strongly believe that the Maslow’s theory of hierarchy needs a revision. Because it has not considered a key aspect of the rate of change of human needs. Of course it has explained the hierarchy of the requirements of humans, but it has not explained to what extent a need of human being will remain in a particular stage of the hierarchy.

                Assume that a person has got into a new job with an x amount of pay. But very soon his expenditure would reach y amount where in y would be definitely be greater than x. The rate of change of this difference will always be in the positive direction only. Once he reaches x+1, his requirements would reach y+1 similarly x+n and y+n. This degree of difference and the rate of change are the parameters which would decide that how long a person would be happy with his new job.

                All human beings crave for a sense of belongingness, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of control over his life. But when he is put to the discretion of the policies of the company, whims and fancies of his boss, square peg in a square hole attitude of the society. It is for sure that he would get a great amounts of stress built up in his psyche. But imagine that if all his energies can be channelized into a particular task which has always fascinated him. This would give a sense of control on his life, a sense of accomplishment and a joy in to his life. And if this task is noble enough to serve the greater good of humanity then obviously that would be a source of satisfaction for him. So, getting things to a conclusion if a person really wants to be happy and satisfied with his career and if he is expecting lot more than 35 years of service and retirement from his career, then choosing to be an entrepreneur is like choosing to live