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If You Hate What You Do… Stop Doing it

  • 7 min read

by Matt Weik

While a little off the norm for a topic, this article is honestly for everyone. While I’m deep in the fitness and supplement industries, the topic truly encompasses all industries, including the bodybuilding industry. The bottom line is, if you hate what you do and all you do is complain about it, stop doing it.

I get some of my article topics from conversations I have with people and groups, as well as things I overhear during my travels. This topic came about from being around someone who I continued to hear complaining while I was working outside of my office.

In all honesty, if you hate what you do, stop doing it. Do yourself and everyone around you a favor. I’m sure you’ve experienced this with people around you, and it could even hit home in your instance as well. Bodybuilding and even the act of working out isn’t for everyone. While it may not be “fun” and “exciting” for some, if all you do is complain the entire time you’re doing it, maybe it’s not for you.

Put Up or Shut Up

As I mentioned in my intro, I experienced someone who complained about what they do. Now, this is just one instance, but I’ve experienced this many times, which made me want to write this piece.

I decided to take a day to work off-site and not in my office. Call it a “change of scenery.” While working from an off-site location, a construction contractor sat at a table next to me. After each phone call he received, he would mutter things like “what an idiot” and “how can people be so f*ckin stupid.”

Look, I know the feeling. I’ve had customers and clients who were simply impossible to work with. Whether it be due to their lack of intelligence or the fact that they just want to be difficult to work with and impossible to please, it has never forced me to go off the deep end and complain openly in public — especially around strangers.

This individual ended up turning to me and said he couldn’t believe how dumb people are and that his job is doing easy tasks that other people are capable of doing but pay him to do. Umm, that’s what’s keeping you in business, and that’s what you do. If you solve a problem for someone or a business, they are going to hire you to complete the job regardless of how small or “stupid” it may seem. So, you’re complaining is basically saying you don’t respect the people you work with and think they are “dumb” for hiring you. What does that say about you and your business?

If you hate what you do and all you do is complain, don’t do it. Let someone else take over your accounts and go find something else to do with your career. Why would you want to get up every day and put yourself through “working with idiots” five days a week if it doesn’t make you happy?

You should love what you do. Some people do things for the money, and others do it because of how it makes them feel. You need to find a happy medium and figure out what means more to you. If it’s all about money and you hate what you do, then shut up and put up with it. You made that choice. No one told you this is what you need to do for the rest of your life. Go find something you enjoy doing that will still allow you to put food on your table and quit your bitching. It may sound harsh but seriously, why are you complaining every day about your job?

The office is another setting where this type of behavior occurs quite often from my experience working for various employers. I understand that you can’t always pick and choose the employees you work with. But you CAN pick and choose the clients and accounts you work with. While I wouldn’t recommend you do this all the time, sometimes you need to fire difficult clients and customers. If they aren’t a good account and aren’t easy to get along with or service, then stop doing business with them. Give that headache to someone else. But if it’s not a client issue and it’s more of a personal issue with YOU, it’s time to take a step back and figure out if this career is for you.

You probably work 40 hours a week (five days a week), right? In a 30-year career, that’s 62,400 hours or 7,800 days. That’s an insane amount of time doing something you hate. Do you honestly want to work 7,800 days where all you do is bitch and complain? Again, if you hate what you do, move on. It’s that simple. There has to be something out there that will bring you joy and happiness on a daily and weekly basis.

Bodybuilders Complain About Their Lifestyle

It’s strange to me that bodybuilders complain about their prep, the long hours in the gym, the amount of food they eat, etc. If you hate what you do, don’t do it! Their friends ask them to go out with them and have some fun. They answer with, “I can’t, I have to go to the gym and get my meals in.” Or they can’t stay in a relationship for long because their entire house smells like a gigantic protein fart all the time, and it turns their date off.

All of that for what? For $50,000 a year in prize money (if you’re lucky)? What kind of life is that? Then they want to complain about how expensive food is and how much they have to eat. Listen, no one held a gun to your head and told you to become a bodybuilder. Find something else to do with your life while still maintaining your physique and healthy lifestyle.

Don’t You Want to Be Happy?

I know I, personally, want to be happy. Don’t you want to be happy? Are you a people person? Find a job where you are around people. Are you not very personable (you need to be honest with yourself)? Then find a job with limited interaction with people.

Are you sick of being a bodybuilder where your entire life revolves around eating, sleeping, and lifting? I get it. I understand how that can become more of a chore than anything. Which is why I never decided to go down that path and dedicate myself to becoming a competitor. I know what it takes, and I was of the mindset, “if you hate what you do, stop doing it.”

You are not locked into any one job during your career or even bodybuilding. If it’s not for you, cool. Go find something that is for you. Money isn’t everything, and only you know if what you are doing is something you can do for the long term. When it comes to bodybuilding, many can’t do it long-term due to the lifestyle. And that’s fine!

Life is too short to hate what you do and to be unhappy all the time. The people around you can see and hear the frustration you have towards your career (including a career in competing on stage).

Don’t think for one second that if that gets to your boss that you’ll be around very long. Essentially, if you’re a cancer to the business, they’ll get rid of you before it affects those around you and the business overall. Don’t let it get to that point. And if you’re a competitor who complains backstage at every show, you’re going to be labeled as “that guy” or “that girl.”

Are you happy with your job and career? Do you enjoy walking into the office or gym every day? Let us know in the comments and let us know what you intend to do moving forward.