Nothing would drive me crazier than being right, telling people about it and having no one listen. I would be forced to sit there watching events play out as I had predicted, yet the negative implications became clear to everyone else after the fact.

And all of it could have just been avoided if people had listened to me. What idiots!

Stress

I used to be an in-house HR professional. In HR, this stuff happens all the time.

We spend our time crafting beautiful handbooks, timely announcements, legally appropriate postings and then some manager comes along like they have seen none of it (and oddly, somehow they usually haven't) and does the opposite of what is so clearly the right thing to do. HR is left to clean up the mess.

But really, every job can be like this. Every diligent worker has the ability and opportunity to see how things can be better or problems can be avoided, but who is listening? It can be frustrating, maddening and even quite isolating.

It's not you, it's me

Most employees like to just go to work, do their thing and go home without exerting much extra effort. Other employees are comfortable with the way they have always done something and see no need to change. And still others — without any monetary compensation or other incentive to do so — have no motivation to change. That is why, as tough as it may be, it may be easier to change yourself than to try to change everyone around you.

It does not mean you should give up and stop being you. However, what is necessary is to make an honest assessment of what frustrates you and what it is in the work environment that sustains it. That is often easier by talking to someone outside of your industry.

In my case, I talked to my sister who is a teacher and thought HR was just about benefits. On a walk one day, I told her what was driving me nuts: "People only come to us when they have done something stupid. I want to build a positive, productive culture, but I am just so tired of dealing with idiots!"

After giving her examples ad nausea, she turned to me and said: "It's like you're the principal’s office, and all the problem children are sent to you for punishment."

Ugh, she was right. It made me realize I was focused more on discipline and punishment than the system change I loved and was good at. No wonder I was burning out.

Next steps

We talked more, and it started to become clear to me: Unlike the principal's office, our work was not just about discipline. Employees came to us when there was a crisis brewing, an issue needing resolution or complex question begging for an answer. And as HR we had the power not just to address the challenges but to change systems and policies that could make a real difference in the culture.

So instead of trying to change everyone into compliant little robots, I started to embrace their idiocy and used it to build my team into a bunch of calm, collected problem-solvers. By switching my perspective, I was able to help myself and my team become stronger and less stressed. I started to look forward to all the inevitable bad decisions as an opportunity to do the culture building and system change I loved.

Find someone outside of your professional world to talk to, articulate what is driving you nuts, and see if there is a way to look at it differently. It could add a number of happy years to your career!