No job is perfect. The trick is to find a job with imperfections you can tolerate. You may be willing to work from nine to five for the opportunity to be involved in an exciting project or to  have the protection of a top notch health plan. You may put up with a mountain of bureaucratic bull so you can work with people you respect and admire. You may manage to get along with a nitpicking, anal retentive, narrow minded knownothing pipsqueak of a boss in exchange for the gratification of producing work you can be proud of.

Action:

List the things you tolerate in your current job. Then, beside each item, list the trade off (the thing that makes you willing to put up with it).

Take a look at your list. Do future or possible benefits outnumber the here and now benefits? Do the negatives outweigh the positives, or have you achieved a balance? At what cost?

Most of us make unconscious choices about what we can live with. Sometimes you make the wrong choices, and these are damaging your spirit and your future. Go back to your list again and choose. Think about it. You will always have to tolerate things you don’t like in this life, but you don’t have to tolerate everything. Pick your battles but don’t be afraid to fight when you need to.