3 Ways to Stay Happy During Your Mundane Summer Job

Do you find yourself facing three months of working at Subway? Are you mowing ten lawns a day in order to pay for your car insurance? Do you think that if you have to go to your extremely boring and repetitive summer job one more time you are going to jump off a bridge? (figuratively speaking : ) If you are answering yes to any of these questions I've got bad news for you; unless you change the way you go about dealing with your mundane summer job, you are going to have an absolutely miserable summer. However, I also have good news for you! Even though my two main summer jobs consist of bussing tables and doing solo landscaping work for my neighbor, I'm quite a happy camper! This means that you can be a happy camper as well : ) Below are a few suggestions as to how you may go about making fun of a job that most people would consider to be worse than death.

BE HAPPY (and take pride in what you do)

If you've read the title of number one you may think something along the lines of, "Yea, easier said than done, this guy doesn't know what it feels like to wash dishes for eight hours..." (For your information, I do : ) However, I truly believe that a big reason why so many college students do not enjoy their summer jobs is because they don't give themselves a change to enjoy them. Instead, most college students find a menial job at the end of second semester, and convince themselves long before starting the job that they will have absolutely no fun while at work. So, instead of going to work tomorrow with a negative attitude, I highly suggest making a genuine effort to take pride in the task you are performing. Also, while taking pride in what you do, try to enjoy being at work! Make friends with your coworkers. If you're working alone, bring your ipod : ) This first step alone will take you a long way towards having a much better day at work.

STAY HEALTHY! (get some sleep)

Incase you're wondering, I am not a health freak by any means. However, in order to even give yourself a chance to enjoy a job, you have to be well rested enough to not resent having to work an eight hour day. If you work during the week, you should probably save the partying for the weekend. If you work on weekend mornings, try as best you can to get a bit of sleep the majority of the time. Trust me, as much fun as a Friday night festivity can be, the happiness gained does not equal the physical and emotional pain you will suffer while working Saturday morning.

Always have something to look forward to : )

I must admit, even if you do follow the two suggestions above you still may find that you have moments when you wish you were anywhere but your job. The best remedy for such moments is to have something to look forward to. So, if you're working a 40 hour week, make sure that you ALWAYS have something fun and exciting planned for the weekend. That way you'll be able to put a smile on your face even after your seventh hour of stocking shelves at your local supermarket : )