#WorkMomSays you don’t have to stay miserable, even in a job you hate. In this episode, Lori shares candid advice and firsthand stories about finding purpose, resilience, and even gratitude in difficult work situations. Learn how to reframe what’s draining you, focus on what you can actually control, and leverage the experience to build your career and personal growth, even when quitting isn’t yet an option. Themes discussed in this episode How to shift your mindset and reframe the parts of your job that bother you Strategies for managing frustration and finding things to appreciate, even in tough environments Identifying when a job is beyond saving and how to build your exit strategy Using gratitude, skill-building, and small wins to turn a bad job into a stepping stone The importance of documenting your progress, celebrating accomplishments, and planning your next move Episode Highlights Time-stamped inflection points from the show 01:42 – Lori shares a real-life “I hate my job” story and what she did for relief and perspective 04:45 – Discovering that you have control over your mindset, even when you can’t control co-workers or a boss 06:13 – Identifying the true source of your job misery, weighing negatives against positives, and focusing on what you can control 07:31 – Lori’s “three thing gratitude list” as a simple trick for feeling better fast, even at work 10:43 – The “paycheck plus progress” approach, documenting your wins and using your current job as a bridge to something better Top Quotes 04:47 – “No matter what happens, you have control of your mindset and you have control of what you choose to see.” 05:43 – “You are not stuck. If you’re in a really icky job right now, you are not stuck. Small changes in how you look at things can make a huge difference.” 08:24 – “You don’t have to love your job, but you can find things about your job, your co-workers, and your environment, your paycheck, that you like.” 13:01 – “Reframe, turn your focus toward the things that you love and minimize the things that you hate. Are they really that important? Or can you let them go and then use where you are to get where you’re going?” Transcript 00:12Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Work Mom Says, Don’t Be an Idiot. Today we are going to talk about how to love the job you hate. Now, that sounds crazy, right, but what I have to say is there are moments when you will hate your job, and even jobs that I liked, there have been moments when I hate them. So sometimes you may outgrow your job. You may get a new boss that is just not a good fit. Have a new co-worker that makes you miserable. Sometimes you really don’t want to be there, and quitting isn’t an option. And when that happens, maybe you, you know, could start looking for a job, but you can’t just quit. You’ve got to stay and if you hate it, your performance will suffer, and actually your attitude will suffer, your entire experience, your joy will suffer. So you don’t want to keep hating that job when you could actually figure out ways that you can get through it without too much drama. 01:20So in this episode, we’re going to talk about some strategies you can use to shift your mindset, reframe what you see at your current job, and turn that kind of job into an experience that is good for you, that helps you build your skills. And I know it sounds crazy, but it’s it’s true, it can be done. 01:42And I’ll tell you a story. I had a position with a great big production studio in Metro Detroit, back in the oh gosh, it was 95 to 2000 and it was a really pretty big company for the industry that we were in. There were about 200 people. And there were som