Are you bored with your job?
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Future of Work
Something’s off. You’re no longer excited to go to work everyday as you once were.
At the screech of your alarm, you unwillingly roll out of bed, get ready, and drive to work in a zombie-like state. At this point, you’re just going through the motions — your actions are no longer driven by your heart or any sense of purpose.
It wasn’t always like this. Remember the days when you’d jump out of bed, ready to tackle a day full of client meetings, tech troubleshooting, and planning?
You might wonder if you’ll ever feel connected to your job like that again; I assure you, you can rekindle the flame. Here’s how:
1. Get To Know The People You Work With Better.
Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace report found employee engagement drops off by 44 percent after six months through ongoing research conducted 2010 through 2012.
In exploring the disengagement problem more deeply, Gallup found an opportunity to help stop the drop off. “While these new employees might feel positively about expectations and opportunities to learn and grow, they may be less likely to have a best friend at work, to believe their opinions count, or feel their contributions are recognized,” the report stated.
That might explain why it’s easy to feel engaged initially, but after some time with no one around to validate your ideas, you might start to feel invisible.
The solution is to start building relationships with the people you work with. Identify members of your team whom you might get along with or would like to get to know; ask them out for coffee. If you need a reason why, ask to pick their brain around a topic you know they’re an expert in, or to simply bounce some of your own ideas off of them.
2. Change Your Space
It’s not terrible to admit staring at white office walls every day can be less than inspirational. Propose an office decorating session to bring some life back into the office. Ask your boss if he or she would consider giving employees a budget to fill the office with color and items to inspire creativity.
Liven up your space with some color. Bring in some live plants, colorful desk sculptures, or photos of your favorite hobby. You may also be able to paint walls, hang artwork, or even change lighting to improve the office’s overall mood and feel.
If that doesn’t work, talk to your boss about telecommuting or working from your favorite cafe for a few hours each week.
3. Tweet One Great Thing That Happens Every Day
Writing notes of gratitude has been proven to improve happiness and life satisfaction, which could absolve you of any work-related depression you may be experiencing, according to a study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies in 2012.
Since you probably won’t have time to write an entire letter every day, write down statements of gratitude the more modern way — use Twitter. Recognize one unique, exciting, or even simple positive thing that happens every day and tweet it.
The good things don’t need to be directly related to work, either. Maybe you had lunch with a friend or passed a flock of ducklings on your morning walk. If you really can’t think of anything positive, let someone else do it for you. Follow people who tweet inspirational, positive things and re-tweet them.
4. Fight Stress Proactively
Plenty of studies show the positive effects exercise has on mental, emotional, and physical well-being. However, a recent study from the University of Basel, published in August, found people who exercise vigorously reported fewer mental health issues when exposed to high stress.
Fight stress proactively by incorporating exercise into your daily routine. Take a walk, take a lunchtime yoga class, or do the “7-minute workout” recommended by Chris Jordan, the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute.
5. Take On New Challenges
When you began with the company, your day may have been filled with many obstacles you saw as challenges or problems to solve. But after some time there, those obstacles become commonplace and frustrating more than exciting and new.
If your usual tasks no longer excite you, talk to your boss about joining a new project or cross-training into another department. Volunteer to help a team member with a difficult project. Helping someone else might help reinstill your sense of purpose, making your input valuable.
So, is it really possible to love your job again? Or, is it time to quit? I think you can undergo a change of heart by simply changing your attitude or the way you think about what you do everyday — like you did when you first started. Jesse Sostrin, author of Beyond The Job Description, was reported writing, “The reality is you don’t have to love it. You have to love the idea of working at it.”
This article is published in collaboration with LinkedIn. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
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Author: Ilya Pozin is the Founder of Pluto TV, Open Me, and Coplex. Writer for Forbes and Inc.
Image: A stockbroker looks at stock index numbers on his computer screen at a brokerage firm in Mumbai August 6, 2007. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe.
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