Some people are bored at work to the point of falling asleep at the desk, perpetually understimulated, their talents not put to good use. It does not have to be this way.

I am a fan of the fact that people can truly change. We evolve. Some say every 7 years or so a big change comes and it’s also a change of character. Imagine the very smart, but horribly shy, computer guy. He is nice, writes programs and fixes your workstation, but that’s all.

But then something interesting happens. As time goes by, he develops self-confidence, becomes more talkative, and before anyone realizes how it happened, he’s telling jokes and everyone is laughing. He gets bored at work.

What else could he be now? A salesman? A consultant? A manager?

But it does not occur to him and he wonders why he finds his work more boring every day.

The remedy is to do the old “What should I do with my life?” self-analysis. It’s common knowledge and quite simple, you only need a piece of paper.

On this paper you make three columns.

The first column represents the jobs you’d like to do. Write down all the jobs you could imagine which would be fun for you in that column.

The second column represents the jobs you can do. Write down indiscriminately all jobs that you have the skills and degrees for.

Finally, the third column is for jobs that pay well. Write down jobs that you think make enough money until you reach the bottom edge of your sheet.

Now a little mathematics. Set theory. Take your pen and cross out all the jobs that are not in all three columns. Only keep those that you have written in each column. And those are the jobs you should apply for.

Do that from time to time. Perhaps every year. It’s your life. Don’t waste it on something you don’t like.

You’re better than that.

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