Find Your Joy at Work

Feeling Blue at Work? Find Joy in Your Job With These Techniques

 

Despite what anyone tells you, it's rare to love a job! Your work can come with its own challenges, even though it helps to sustain you throughout life. And sometimes those challenges seem to pull the joy out of you. But you can change all that!

 

You can get more joy out of your job and return to having a positive career. By making a conscious effort, you'll soon start to view your job differently.

 

Try these strategies to find more joy at work:

 

1.      Treat yourself for achieving goals. You probably find yourself dragging through day to day tasks. As they come up, you groan and unwillingly start to tackle them. But how different would it be if you start to treat yourself for completing tasks? Much different for sure!

·        As you move through one task at a time, take a few moments of downtime for yourself. That may mean walking away from your desk or playing a few rounds of solitaire. Whatever it is, treat yourself to something you like.

·        Bear in mind that it can become more of a crutch if it's overdone. Be conscious enough to characterize tasks well. Answering a ringing phone isn’t a task!

2.      Choose to be positive. Human beings are the only creatures with the power of choice. If you use that power to encourage positive thinking, your job can seem more bearable.

·        Each morning, express thanks for waking up to a new day. Truly be grateful for that opportunity and recognize it as a blessing. Focus on that blessing throughout your day at work. It's unlikely that you'll take your job for granted.

·        Each unpleasant task at work has some positive element to it. Consider the fact that each task you do gives you more work experience. Later on, you can use that experience to land the job of your dreams!

3.      Focus on success. Just like many other things in life, time is best spent focusing on where you want to go. For everything you do at work, your aim is to complete it, and do it well. Try the approach of focusing on the successful end result instead of the journey.

·        Consider how well your next evaluation is bound to look if you are successful in everything you do. The thought of positive recognition is enough to give you some amount of joy.

·        Forget the fact that it's not your dream job. Make it the job that you knocked out the park. Make it the stepping stone to a job more aligned with your professional desires.

4.      Become a mentor. Sometimes experiencing work blues is worth it when you impart knowledge to someone else. Is there an intern at your office? Or do you know someone else in need of professional guidance? Why not become their mentor?

·        Helping someone else succeed can bring you satisfaction. What you're gaining through daily experience can make a positive change in someone else's life. Knowing that is victory in itself!

It's difficult to find scenarios that always work in your favor. A lot of times, you're left doing the best with what you have. But that isn’t such a bad concept if you make an effort to find the joy in what you do.

 

Make today the day that you find joy in your job!

Take a Break

Feeling Overwhelmed? Take Back Control with this 6-Step Process

Oh, how trying the stresses of life can be! Having situations that affect your peace of mind can be challenging. And sometimes you feel like you've gotten way more than you can handle. Yet still, you find a way to keep going.

It's great when you can find the determination to keep going. But are you doing so to your own detriment? Perhaps the way you're responding isn’t always the best.

Coping mechanisms help to keep you in the game. But after a while, you may end up crashing. The most beneficial approach involves using well thought-out strategies to keep you in control.

Try this process to respond to an especially challenging situation:

1.      Stop in your tracks. If you feel overwhelmed now, it’s likely to get even worse if you keep going the way you are now! Stop right where you are and accept the situation for what it is.

·        Look back at what has happened up until this point in time. Can you identify the reasons behind your downfall? Make a note of them.

2.      Embrace your shortcomings. Do you have shortcomings that prevented you from staying on top of things? Be honest with yourself when trying to identify them. It's the only way you'll be able to move on to resolving the situation.

·        Whatever you've identified as your shortcomings, accept and embrace them. It's pointless allowing them to bring your mood down. You're already overwhelmed. The last thing you need to do is put yourself down.

3.      Avoid excuses. Even though you feel overwhelmed, the last thing you want to do is blame it on something or somebody else. Avoid overlooking yourself as the main factor behind your current situation.

·        It's easy in stressful situations to refuse accountability. Just the tension alone is enough to drive your mind in crazy directions. Just accept it for what it is, even if it means coming face to face with your shortcomings.

4.      Open up to others. Share your feelings with someone you can confide in. Simply sharing can often help to ease some of the stress off your shoulders.

·        Tell the whole story. Allow the person to understand your highs and lows. Let them see how your strengths got you this far. But also share what you think you could have done differently.

5.      Organize an approach. Now that you've offloaded, you'll have a clearer mind to organize an approach. You've stopped at this point for a reason. Now’s your chance to change direction and pull yourself out of this rut.

·        Now that you've figured out what went wrong, try to tackle those things first. You'll want to prevent those things from happening again.

6.      Surround yourself with positive people. It's sometimes difficult to take on challenges on your own. As much as you hate to admit it, there are others better at some things than you are! Embrace them and get the support you need to manage stressful situations.

·        Use the strengths of trustworthy people to get you over the hump. Be clear about the role you want them to play. Handing over responsibility can be tough. But be mature enough to understand that it doesn’t take away from your own abilities.

Being in over your head isn’t a death sentence. In fact, it's a perfect opportunity to be creative in your approach. Once you identify an effective approach, you can expect to handle situations more confidently.

Give yourself the chance to be in control. With positive strategies, you'll be able to take matters into your own hands and turn them around in no time!