If you know anything about me, you know that I read a lot of books on lifestyle improvement.

I’m talking about books from authors like Chris Guillebeau, Tim Ferris and the like.

Books that teach you it’s not worth hating your job. They all seem to scream the same message:

“If you hate your job, quit.”

The assumption

These books thrive on the assumption that you hate your job.

But here’s the catch: I don’t hate my job.

In fact, I’ve taken what I’ve learned in books like The Art of Non-Conformity and The 4-hour Work Week and made my job rock (at least, I think so).

So why do most people hate their job?

And what’s the key to loving what you do without quitting your day job?

How to stop hating your job (without quitting)

I had a small epiphany yesterday while I was on the train.

I ride the train to work every day, 30 minutes in; 30 minutes out.

And yesterday it was unusually crowded.

There must have been some sort of family function in my city because there were tons of children and parents riding during peak train hours.

I passed a young boy with a notebook and a heavy textbook balancing on his lap–he was obviously doing homework.

And a small piece of me (a very small piece, mind you. I always hated homework.) was jealous of the young boy.

Why?

Because he was learning something new.

He was growing.

He was stretching his limits and becoming something better than what he already was.

The lesson

So what does this have to do with loving my cubicle?

I firmly believe that the people who hate their jobs most are the ones that have become “walking zombies” (as Chris Guillebeau would put it). They have stopped learning, they’ve stopped growing, and they’ve stopped enjoying their work.

In order for us to thrive as human beings, we MUST grow.

We must challenge ourselves, learn new things, and be better today than we were yesterday.

It’s in the moment we forget that, in which we begin to stop living. And once we stop living, it’s easy to start hating.

A different kind of quitter

I know I said you don’t have to quit in order to love your work.

That was a partial lie.

You don’t have to quit your job. You do have to quit doing things that are making you hate your job.

QUIT letting life and work pass you by. START taking opportunities to learn and grow.

Stretch and you’ll love it!

Push yourself. Do something new at work today. Make the most of the time you have to change the world. And don’t think being a quitter is the only way to make a difference in the world. The corporate world needs your genius. They need your inventiveness. They need your passion.

Don’t cheat them. And don’t cheat yourself.

Don’t quit. Just live.