You've touched upon something that made me find work a lot more bearable as well. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what your designated "primary" task is, as long

You've touched upon something that made me find work a lot more bearable as well. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what your designated "primary" task is, as long as you tell yourself that your primary task is to do whatever the business requires. I used to get extremely frustrated whenever I got bogged down by inefficiencies, grunt work, or bad technical/business decisions made by others. Until one day I came to the realization that my employer isn't paying me to do things I enjoy. They are paying me to provide them with services they need. I certainly speak up if I think there's a better way of doing things, but I recognize that big corporations by their nature are bureaucratic, political and inefficient. If I dislike my work so much, I can certainly leave and work for myself, or find a different employer. Until then, they are certainly paying me extremely well, so I have no reason to complain for having to do some grunt work. This subtle shift in attitude has made work so much more enjoyable. Every time I find myself frustrated by something, I remind myself this is precisely the reason I'm getting paid the big bucks. My job isn't to solve all the company's problems, it is simply to do the best job I can within the work hours agreed upon, so why complain. Having low expectations truly does make you happier.