People Don’t Know What They Want

Preach.

People don’t know what they want.

You hear this a lot. Probably the biggest context in which it’ll come up is relationships, usually around the male. (Although let’s be honest — females have many of these same issues with “people don’t know what they want.”)

This concept is probably less applied in a work context. That’s only logical. If you live in a capitalism, there isn’t a ton of choice around if you’re going to work. You are. (In 45 years, that sentence may not be true.) Right now the only way out of it is maybe having a trust fund or going into the family business, which is cool — but let’s be honest, ain’t much choice there either.

But work is challenging. You come in with one set of ideas on what it might be like, and then within six months you catch your first terrible boss. Then you move through roles and jobs and kinda sorta maybe keep thinking it’s gonna get better. It really never does, until you end up at a place that’s largely passable (with a good boss or two) and stay there. This is the cycle for a lot of people.

But when you’re down in the weeds with a terrible manager, you gotta ask yourself what the hell you’re even doing. We’ve all hit that moment/nadir. On the general employee side, that’s where it feels like “people don’t know what they want.” You’re…