As vice president of a Los Angeles film-production company in the 1980s, Ronald Kaufman had nearly everything that he'd ever wanted in a job -- great pay, friendly co-workers and interesting work coordinating product placements in films. Unfortunately, he hated the job.

上世纪80年代，罗纳德•考夫曼（Ronald Kaufman）在洛杉矶一家电影制片公司担任副总裁。他几乎拥有他希望能从一份工作中所获得的一切──丰厚的报酬、友善的同事以及协调影片中植入式广告的有趣工作。可惜的是，他却讨厌这份工作。

'The owner of the company was a master at intimidation and would scream at everybody. An hour later, he would be a great guy. It made everybody unhappy to be there,' says Mr. Kaufman, now an executive coach.

现在已经是一名高管教练的考夫曼说，那家公司的老板极其擅长威逼他人，会向每个人大声咆哮，但在一小时之后，他又会变成一个很和气的人，这让在那儿工作的每个人都觉得不愉快。

But he knew he wouldn't earn the same salary elsewhere, so Mr. Kaufman committed himself to making his situation work. 'You can't really change people's nature, so I changed how I responded to him. I learned to align with his demands, instead of questioning them, and that made my 8½ years at the company so much easier.'

当时，他知道自己在别的公司挣不到同样水平的薪水，于是便努力让自己适应现状。他说，别人的天性确实改变不了，那我就改变自己应对他的方式。我学会配合他的需求，而不是质疑它们，这让我在那家公司的工作轻松了许多，我在那里呆了八年半的时间。

Toxic workplace relationships, failing company fortunes and limited advancement opportunities are just a few compelling reasons to quit a job. But career experts say many workplace problems that employees may think are irreconcilable can be improved or even resolved with some action and a change of attitude.

职场人士会因为很多原因而迫不得已地辞去工作，比如，办公室人际关系糟糕、公司财务状况恶化、晋升机会有限，等等。但职场专家指出，通过采取一些行动或者态度上的改变，你原本认为无法调解的许多职场问题都能得到改进甚至是解决。

First, find out if your problems are unique. Reach out to co-workers in other departments, peers through industry associations or even call colleagues at other companies to compare notes.

首先，确认是否只有你自己遇见了这些问题。你可以与其他部门的同事、通过行业协会认识的同行联系，甚至还可以打电话给其他公司的同行来比较大家的意见。

'It's a very individual perception that leads to people believing that others are receiving better treatment,' says Christopher McCarthy, professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, who researches workplace stress.

得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（University of Texas at Austin）研究职场压力的教育心理学教授克里斯托弗•麦卡锡（Christopher McCarthy）说，正是那种非常个人化的感觉导致人们认为其他人比自己得到了更好的对待。

Separate the demands of work from your own expectations of yourself. If you're unhappy about falling short of your own personal career goals, try breaking your big goals into smaller, more realistically achievable ones. This can improve your morale by reinforcing small successes.

其次，将工作的要求与你对自己的期望区分开来。如果你对自己没有实现个人职业目标感到失落，那就尝试将你的那些宏大目标分解为一个个在现实中更易于实现的小目标。这样可以通过每一次微小的成就来提高你的斗志。

Pitch your boss on a less formal and more goal-oriented workplace. And offer improved results in exchange for more autonomy. 'Most people are generally happier at work when given more creative freedom to do their jobs,' says Mr. McCarthy.

再次，在没那么正式、更为注重目标的工作场合向老板表现自己，交出更优异的业绩来换得更多自主权。麦卡锡说，一般而言，大多数人在获得更多工作上的自由时都会工作得更开心。

If the operational processes of your job are leading to failure, alter your approach, if you can. Spencer Belkofer was an account representative for a telecom firm in Montgomery, Ala., and he didn't like the way the company trained him to sell phone services. Unhappy customers frequently complained about bad contracts. So Mr. Belkofer decided to go off script and spell out every detail of the services offered, and he frequently sided with customers to resolve problems.

此外，如果是你工作中的操作过程导致问题出现，那么就尽量尝试改变你的工作方法。斯宾塞•贝寇弗（Spencer Belkofer）是阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利市（Montgomery）一家电信公司的客户代表，他不喜欢公司培训的销售通信服务的方式。经常会有不满的客户提出这样那样的投诉，于是贝寇弗决定不按既定规章行事，而是自己研究公司所提供服务的每一个细节，并时常站在客户一边去解决问题。

The extra effort didn't improve his sales, but Mr. Belkofer felt better about the work and customers thanked him for being forthright.

这些额外的努力并没有帮助贝寇弗提高销售额，但他在工作时更加开心了，而且他的坦率也获得了客户的感激。

文章来源：华尔街日报 http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20120326/eoe073756.asp