Don't work for anyone who takes your job more seriously than you do.

So you've got a job, and you're glad you have it, and you devote yourself to it. After all, you need the money and you may very well have others depending on you. This is a big deal.

Then you get a call from the boss: Where have you been today? Who did you talk to? What about? Did you close any business? When can I come and work with you?

Your heart sinks, and you have to take a deep breath. You answer the best you can, but your boss points out to you that he/she needs more detailed information, and can you have it in his/her Inbox by 7 the next morning?

Now you're really in a panic: you have to account for every hour -- and every half-hour -- of the day before. How you spent your day. And this is the way it's going to be forever?

You're working for someone who takes your job more seriously than you do.

What that means is that there are two ways of looking at any job: from the inside and from the outside. You're obviously looking at it from the inside, the day-to-day triumphs and frustrations, the messy nature of it, the starts and stops, the nos more often than yeses, the imcompetents you work with, the lousy pay, etc.

Your boss, on the other hand, is looking at your job much more simply: either you're productive, according to his/her standards, or you're not. You produce X amount of revenue or you don't. If you don't, you're likely to be fired. Period.

I've heard that there are bosses who look at employees as people, not just revenue-generators.

I don't know if they exist, but if they do, that's who you want to work for. It doesn't mean that you won't be fired if you don't meet the goals set for you, but it does mean that you'll be treated as a whole person, and allowances may be made for you someday when you need more time at home to look after family or to check yourself into a clinic or whatever. This kind of boss values the person above the job.

The boss you don't want to work for values the job above the person. He/she takes your job more seriously than you because he/she takes the job more seriously than he/she takes you. After all, you can be replaced. In fact, you're replacing someone, and someone can replace you.
The job exists long after you're gone.

You can't always avoid working for such a boss, and sometimes it's worthwhile to put up with one, but it's usually best for your mental health to take a job that lets you sleep soundly at night. The right job is a very important part of your life, so don't rush into one you don't want to do, working for someone you hate, that you'll end up doing the rest of your life. And don't stick with one that drives your crazy.

So far as we we know, you only have one life -- and maybe one job -- so give it some thought.

There's always more time than you think, especially when you're young.