I love my life, and it would be all most perfect if it weren't for one thing, work. If I'm doing something for eight plus hours a day, five days a week, I don't want it to suck. It's not that my current job is horrible, I've had it much worse, but like a lot of people in this world, my job is far from what I want to do with the rest of my life. Refusing to settle I've made it a personal quest to eventually love what I do everyday and be paid enough money to make a decent living. It has been a bumpy road to say the least, but other than feeling like I've managed to choose some of the worst jobs in America -despite my best efforts - I've learned a few ways to cope with aspects of the job that cause more grief than joy.

Look on the Bright Side and Smile

I know, I know, this is a hard one for me too. When people tell me this, I have the urge to say, "I'll smile when you stop blowing sunshine up my ass." I'm a realist, and when I'm not happy I prefer not to fake it. When my boss tells our team "I just really need for you all to be positive," after we've learned our new commission structure will severely alter our pay for the worse, I want to ask how being positive will pay my mortgage. But I try to keep my mouth shut because I know she's right. Being a negative Nellie won't help the already crappy situation, and despite my crass tendencies, deep down I'm a believer positive energy breed positive results. I also try to remind myself that painful situations usually have learning lessons that make me stronger. I do my best to turn my frowns upside down and focus on the good things about my job, like my hilarious team members who make me laugh on a daily basis.

Don't take It Personally

At one point or another it's inevitable that you will have to deal with the client or boss from hell. This is one of the most challenging professional dilemmas anyone can face. No matter how stimulating or rewarding the work might be, dealing with difficult people can be both psychologically and emotionally draining. However, it doesn't have to be.

I once had a boss who was especially critical of me. On one specific occasion I didn't complete an assignment to his satisfaction. When I asked questions to try and come to a better understanding of what he wanted, I was interrupted and scolded for "talking like a baby." Although I was already putting tremendous pressure on myself, he consistently reminded me that I needed to push myself harder and produce better results, all with a reprimanding tone. Most of his talks began with "Don't take this personally," and I often felt as if I was being lectured like a bad student. Fulfilling his demands was also difficult because he often changed his needs with little warning, causing me to constantly shift gears and work long hours. I dreaded going to work and I feared communicating with him because I never knew when his head might spin.

After several months and a few anxiety attacks I finally confronted him about his use of harsh words and tone. I expressed that it made me feel uncomfortable and hopefully I communicated that it didn't help me work any better or harder. I braced myself for the worse. That familiar wild look flashed in his eyes, and I thought to myself as I held my breath, "Here it comes." Coolly he said me, "I'm simply trying to teach you how to be a professional." Then to my surprise he apologized for making me feel uncomfortable. This was coming from the same person who told me, "If you're comfortable on the job, then you're not learning anything." He suddenly became human and I realized his intentions were not meant to be negative.

In hindsight he taught me an important and valuable lesson: don't take it personal. I also realized that I had allowed him to have too much power over me. While his management style was harsh, he was simply doing what he felt was best. He wasn't the last difficult person I would encounter in the working world. Despite the fact I didn't always agree with his line of reasoning, I also knew there was a greater goal to be achieved: getting the job done. After our talk his personality didn't change, but I didn't let his tone bother me and we actually worked in tandem successfully. Eventually my anxiety attacks subsided, and getting up to go to work was no longer dreadful. In the end I think we both learned a lot from each other.

Save Money & Set Goals

When I say I want to make a decent living I'm a simpleton: I want to own a home, put a couple of kids through school, retire comfortable and have some creative fun along the way. Seems easy enough, right? Not really. When I was in college studying journalism, I naively and idealistically figured that working in journalism would probably be enough to sustain me.

After graduating I landed an internship working for Oregon Public Broadcasting as an associate producer. For a couple of years I was making enough money to sustain an early twenty-something life style: cheap rent with a house load of roommates, a ragged car, and enough money to go out on the weekends. My position had no retirement plan and it would never pay enough to save for home ownership. But at the age of 23 I didn't care, I was doing something I loved; making documentaries, and it was great. Then, like with all jobs as I've learned, things changed. Projects weren't being funded, lay-offs were a constant threat and I slowly realized there wasn't any opportunity for me to grow a career with the organization or make any additional income.

Reality set in and choosing my next move was difficult. I quickly discovered other video production jobs paid just as poorly or worse and offered little stability. If I really wanted to make a living in the production field I would have to pick my butt up and move, something I didn't want to do. If I wanted to continue utilizing my journalism degree writing for a local newspaper I was looking at being paid about $9.50 an hour.

After a lot of soul searching and job hunting I was offered a semi-creative marketing position with a publishing company that I felt would give me quality experience, but it paid less than I was making at OPB. Reluctantly I accepted the position. While a lot of my friends were making money hand over fist for not doing a whole lot during the Dot Com bubble, I could barely afford to go to the movies and Ramen became a staple of my diet. Worse yet, I was working my ass off and hating it. Even the early twenty-something lifestyle had become a struggle to maintain and I felt like I was slowly turning bitter, like a withering grape on a rotting vine.

The only thing that saved me was creating a light for myself at the end of a dark tunnel. I made it a goal to go on as many informational job interviews as possible. I wanted to find a well paying job that required me to write on a daily basis. After a year and half of financial frustration, I eventually landed a full time writing gig that actually allowed me to live without roommates, have a retirement plan and save a little bit of money. I had done it! Again, I was doing something I loved (writing), and I was finally in a position where I could meet some of my financial goals. Life was good, for a little while.

The job was great, but it turned out to be highly stressful and the economy took a nosedive. Sadly I was laid off, as my position wasn't one that generated a whole lot of income for the company. Even though I wasn't surprised, it still sucked. I felt like I had given it my all and my reward was the door, for the sake of the good ol' bottom line. At least this time I had a little money in the bank giving me time to contemplate my next move a go back to the soul-searching drawing board. I eventually formulated a financial strategy that would allow me to save enough to buy a house and take a year off. However, this required me to forgo writing full time and go into sales.

Yes, some of you may say I've sold out. I'll admit at times it has felt that way, and I've had a few people openly scoff at me (of course these were people with rich spouses, partners or parents) but I've managed to buy a house, pay off the majority of my credit card debt and I'm a quarter of the way toward reaching my year sabbatical goal. Yes, I've had three lousy sales jobs and I've shed a lot tears, but I've had some laughable experiences along the way and I've learned a lot. I'm not nearly as financially vulnerable as a lot of people I know and most importantly, with every penny I save, I know I'm one step closer toward having the freedom to spend 40 plus hours a week to focus on making a living doing something I love. I'm not giving up.

Access and Re-access Goals

I usually make a list of daily tasks I need to get done. It's often that the things on my list simply don't get done due to unforeseeable circumstances that occur throughout the day. Sometimes circumstances cause a particular task to become unnecessary. Although it's frustrating, I find re-accessing my goals keeps me sane.

A few things are for certain: change is constant, one day your cell phone will die, your car engine will blow, you will get demoted, take a pay cut or your significant other will cheat on you. O.K. that's a little harsh, but life happens. Sometimes unforeseeable changes can cause financial or emotional upheavals that make reaching your goals seem unattainable.

But just like the days I don't get everything done on my list, I continually have to remind myself that some of my goals will simply take longer to achieve than others. I know this sounds a bit cheesy, like obvious advice from the career section of Cosmo, but it's important to take the time to access and re-access your goals on a bi-annual, tri-annual or quarterly basis. I make a list of what I want to accomplish and then I evaluate it every few months to see where I am. Yes, sometimes it's depressing and other times it makes me feel pretty good about myself. But at least it makes me feel less like a slacker.