Neither are ideal situations, of course, and most jobs have their mix of normal, boring, and stressful times. But — between boredom and stress — which do you think is worse for your career?
Photo by sun dazed.
US News Money’s poll of a few career experts points to boredom leading to more damage for employees than stress. There are some good kinds of work stress, after all, whereas boredom can lead to a lack of energy and dissatisfaction.
If you had to choose, though, would you pick the boring job or the high stress one?
What’s Worse for Your Career: Boredom or Stress? [US News Money]
Comments
11 responses to “Would You Rather Have A Boring Job Or A Stressful One?”
I will start looking for a new one. Why should I settle for a boring/stressful one?
I feel at a boring job I would be less likely to go postal as opposed to a stressful one.
I’ve got a boring job and it’s more likely that I go postal. Maybe it’s just me though…
Not just you. I am incredibly bored at my job, and I’m almost ready to go postal because of it.
Funnily enough, I don’t cope well with either. But if it’s boring you can at least try and find other stuff to do, even if it’s outside your job description. If it’s stressful you’re stuffed
I think neither are preferable really. I’ve had both and they both evoke a really negative reaction from me. Really boring and unfulfilling makes me feel depressed and useless while high stress usually just makes me angry, and also depressed.
I would prefer a bit of an in between. Where I am not stressed about it but its also pretty fulfilling and I am moving along at a good pace and feeling like I am achieving something.
I think if I knew a job was going to be very stressful or very boring I just wouldnt take it, or would leave it.
Having been on both sides of the fence if I had to choose one of the extremes although neither are good, I would choose stressful.
In a boring job your day goes slow, you feel undervalued and generally work is depressing. It also starts a downward spiral into laziness if you are not careful
If I can meet halfway in the middle that’d be fine. I have had both boring and stressful jobs.
In the end they all point into the same direction. Stress. Having a boring job, having to stress about moving up the ladder or getting a better one without losing your boring one can be just as stressful as having an awesome job you’ve always wanted but then the workload becomes so great that it becomes the same old boring job rather than something you love, plus you get stressed.
Being consistently bored in a job makes me stressed, being busy does not. So it’s not an either/or, unless by boring or stressful they mean boring or busy.
I’d go with stressful.
Most of my jobs have been high stress anyway, and although it affects me, having a boring job is when I would really start getting myself into trouble.
At least with stress, I can unwind with some quality time with the missus and appreciate a slower pace, whereas with a boring job I’d be stuck in low gear all week.
Idle hands and all that..
my job has the awesome combination of being BOTH boring and stressful… conferencing, stress for an hour or 2 dealing with people/tech issues then once the conference kicks off, hours of boredom at the back of the room