In a 2012 study by the polling and management consulting firm Gallup, only 13% of people said they were ‘engaged’ in their work, that they found it meaningful and looked forward to it.¹ Most people though – 63% – were unhappy; they were ‘not engaged’ at work, they felt no real connection to their job. A further 24% hated their job.

Are you stuck in a job you don't like? Perhaps your work is meaningless and dull; you're bored and unchallenged. Perhaps you feel it's beneath you? Or is it that your job is stressful; you feel overworked and unappreciated? Maybe you hate your boss and don't like your colleagues, clients or customers.

Perhaps you can't afford to leave – you're not sure that you could get another job that pays the same or is as close to home. Is it that you're receiving on-the-job training and you don't want to leave until you've completed it? Whatever the reason, much as you want to, right now you can't quit.

Could it be, though, that you're looking at the elephant's rear end?

There's a story about three blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. Each stood at a different part of the elephant's body and described what they thought an elephant must look like, since that's all they knew from their particular point of view. Sometimes a job is just like that elephant – you see it only from where you are and how you feel. You miss what else might be there.