How Do You Deal With Cognitive Dissonance at Your Job?

[PepperBlossoms]

So, some of y'all may have found that as you grew in awareness, your realizations about your job's impacts may have grown and you may have had a hard time reasoning with yourself to be able to keep on doing the job because your values no longer aligned with your actions.

Did you quit?  Did you stay?  Did you have to rationalize quite a bit for your decision?

Did you ever get over the cognitive dissonance?  Did you revert back to compartmentalization/doublethink?

Are you jobless and just waiting it out till you run out of money?  Were your coworkers experiencing the cognitive dissonance too or were they too unaware/unconscious to even think about it?

Edited February 11, 2022 by PepperBlossoms

[puporing]

Not a sustainable situation, it should motivate you to double down on something that does speak to you and make the switch as soon as you possibly can. That also could mean you work more hours to get the cash you need for that next thing you do want to work on.

[vizual]

If you want to be comfortable around people look for friends, get married,  start a family, don't get comfortable around bosses and co-workers. When you are in business you always have to be on your toes, don't ever get comfortable. Be ready to walk away to something better when the opportunity arises. Keep scanning the world to further yourself.

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by vizual

[hyruga]

I think there's not much you can do. Either you change the company's philosophy and focus or you change to another job?

Edited February 13, 2022 by hyruga

[Lyubov]

stayed, but tried to do a more honest job 

gotta pay the bills 

[elizabethh]

I am in a job that doesn't align with my values but it pays the bill, and I am planning for a better day job that aligns with my values. This would allow me to enjoy my days more, as well as let me have more energy/motivation to work on my life purpose on the side.

[Yarco]

On 2/11/2022 at 6:57 PM, PepperBlossoms said:

Did you quit?  Did you stay?  Did you have to rationalize quite a bit for your decision?

I quit. Yes I had to rationalize it and do a risk assessment. Also for some people I think staying in a job is the better short-term solution as a means to an end. To invest their income into repositioning into something else at least.

On 2/11/2022 at 6:57 PM, PepperBlossoms said:

Did you ever get over the cognitive dissonance?  Did you revert back to compartmentalization/doublethink?

Are you jobless and just waiting it out till you run out of money?  Were your coworkers experiencing the cognitive dissonance too or were they too unaware/unconscious to even think about it?

I don't think you can make the final decision to quit without getting over the cognitive dissonance.

I'm not jobless and waiting to run out of money. I discovered the world is full of infinite abundance and tapped into it. People are emailing me begging to give me money and I've had to turn down at least 3 since the start of the year.

Most younger coworkers are just as disillusioned as I was. Those that stay are just too afraid to take a risk (which I can totally understand, it's a big risk.) The older an employee is, the larger the cognitive dissonance is. They develop Stockholm syndrome and find more and more ways to justify their lifestyle and create more reasons to not leave.

I do think that the pandemic has created a tidal wave that is just starting to unfold. We're just starting to see the start of things like the "anti-work" movement. People are realizing how little their employer really cares or looks out for their best interest. How having a job isn't really as stable as they thought, or any less risky than being self-employed. You might see the cognitive dissonance break in even the older generation and the whole system start to crumble over the next few years. Maybe. Combined with automation potentially rendering a lot of jobs useless in the next decade or two, it could get ugly.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Yarco

[AuroraDream]

most jobs are bs anyway, my opinion is we should ditch the whole thing. i dont want to learn to cope with something that drains my life, the whole underlying system needs to be changed

[PepperBlossoms]

7 hours ago, AuroraDream said:

most jobs are bs anyway, my opinion is we should ditch the whole thing. i dont want to learn to cope with something that drains my life, the whole underlying system needs to be changed

Yeah totally agreed.  People who have lots of money tend to be super dissatisfied with the corporate world and their job but feel stuck - - as my boyfriend said: some people can't afford to not have money; well some can't afford to have a job because it is just too psychologically numbing/depressing.

On 2/13/2022 at 2:17 PM, Yarco said:

I quit. Yes I had to rationalize it and do a risk assessment. Also for some people I think staying in a job is the better short-term solution as a means to an end. To invest their income into repositioning into something else at least.

I don't think you can make the final decision to quit without getting over the cognitive dissonance.

I'm not jobless and waiting to run out of money. I discovered the world is full of infinite abundance and tapped into it. People are emailing me begging to give me money and I've had to turn down at least 3 since the start of the year.

Most younger coworkers are just as disillusioned as I was. Those that stay are just too afraid to take a risk (which I can totally understand, it's a big risk.) The older an employee is, the larger the cognitive dissonance is. They develop Stockholm syndrome and find more and more ways to justify their lifestyle and create more reasons to not leave.

I do think that the pandemic has created a tidal wave that is just starting to unfold. We're just starting to see the start of things like the "anti-work" movement. People are realizing how little their employer really cares or looks out for their best interest. How having a job isn't really as stable as they thought, or any less risky than being self-employed. You might see the cognitive dissonance break in even the older generation and the whole system start to crumble over the next few years. Maybe. Combined with automation potentially rendering a lot of jobs useless in the next decade or two, it could get ugly.

Interesting points.  On the disillusionment for the young people - well school doesn't talk about cognitive dissonance AT ALL really (mine didn't) and so it isn't until we get to the job and are there for several years to where, once we have learned how the job works, we start to learn the impacts and then shit - HOW THE HECK DO I allow myself to keep on doing this job?!?!?  There is so much more to it than just working... the psychological/emotional impact is HUGE.

Interesting idea on stockholm syndrome. I like that idea combination.  I've heard that one applied to pets. 

"I am stuck here, I can't leave, I need to love the job, I love this job - you should love it too.

"I hate working but I am going to act like I love working and hey you, you need to get a job and get to work."

"I am going to act like I love my coworkers even though I kinda hate them!!"

Agree that cognitive dissonance is going to be talked about more and more and that this anti-work movement could be just the beginning.  As people start becoming more aware of things and realizing the impacts of their job and struggle with the value clash, work is going to get harder and harder to rationalize for oneself to keep doing..........

On 2/12/2022 at 7:54 PM, hyruga said:

I think there's not much you can do. Either you change the company's philosophy and focus or you change to another job?

Yeah, I ended up quitting and am still processing the cognitive dissonance ha.  it isn't the company though - it is the entire industry.

I am unsure of how many people actually feel cognitive dissonance in the industry or if they are too unaware.. being unaware can be a blessing but also I would rather be aware than unaware.. (but meh what is awareness anyway...)

On 2/12/2022 at 0:13 AM, puporing said:

Not a sustainable situation, it should motivate you to double down on something that does speak to you and make the switch as soon as you possibly can. That also could mean you work more hours to get the cash you need for that next thing you do want to work on.

I am currently writing a book and doing some research about cognitive dissonance in that field.... not sure what will happen next though.

Edited February 15, 2022 by PepperBlossoms

[Nahm]

Cognitive dissonance, by definition, can not be ‘at your job’, but addresses the interpretation of.