Do you feel like you’re losing interest in your current job? Do you lack an incentive at work to continue doing what needs to be done? In this article, we will discuss how to find the motivation to fall back in love with your job.
Photo credit: Freepic.diller
We recently conducted a poll asking people what they found to be the most challenging aspects of their job. Most of them found it hard to stay engaged and motivated at work, which is common whether you have been there for years or just a few months.
It could start as a nagging feeling in the back of your head, and sooner or later you start feeling like you are living to work. Even with the comfort and convenience of remote working, you can still find it hard to stay motivated at work. If I have described you, then it might be time to fall back in love with what you do.
If you are not happy in your role, it is going to show in the work that you do. When you are unmotivated, you will underperform in your duties. When you are interested in your role, you will be more focused, energized, and more motivated to work. However, you won’t feel this way all the time. No one does. A lack of motivation and interest in your job can come from high stress levels, burnout, or even boredom. You may think that looking for greener pastures can solve this issue. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you won’t experience the same thing at your next job. Instead of looking for an exit strategy, you should consider finding an approach that reignites the spark. Ultimately, it all boils down to rewiring your thinking, spending your time wisely, and rebuilding your inner circle.
Rewiring your thinking
It helps to change your current way of thinking and your view of the situation if you want to get a positive mindset on things.
Look at the big picture
All work is good work, regardless of what it is. Think about your colleagues who are also depending on your results and relying on your output. Think of all the people you work with externally and internally who benefit from your talent. Consider how your performance is impacting everyone else and claim responsibility for your personal and shared success.
Remind yourself why you work there
Think about why you are sitting at your desk at work right now? Write it down and make it your daily motivational quote. You can easily forget why you love your job sometimes, so try to remember why you wanted it in the first place. Maybe you wanted to learn a specific skill, achieve a goal, or develop a network. If you have already accomplished what you aimed for, then that is probably why you feel bored. You can reignite the spark by adding a new goal to your list or redirecting your energy to whatever attracted you to the job.
Establish goals
Speaking of setting goals, it might be time to set some new ones. Ask yourself if there’s anything else you want to achieve in this job. Celebrate or reward yourself every time you meet a target. This helps you challenge yourself to keep developing continuously, and it can prevent boredom in your role. Working towards personal goals can help relieve stress and break the daily monotony.
Try an impact filter
Sometimes all it takes is an attitude adjustment. So if you feel discontented, frustrated, and overwhelmed, take some time to try this exercise. Make a note of anything that went wrong, how you can fix or improve it, and any positive aspects of the situation. This helps you turn a bad situation into a good one, and learn how to do better next time. Luckily this exercise works for any part of your life and not just for work.
Acknowledge and appreciate
A good way to feel better is to appreciate the co-workers who make your job better and easier every day. Recognizing the things you are grateful for can motivate you to pay back and help people out in return. Cultivate your own way of expressing gratitude even if your boss doesn’t show it often. Give yourself a chance to feel good about one thing you achieved that day, no matter how big or small.
Pro tip: Dish out compliments as much as you can. It usually feels as good as it does getting them.
Spending your time wisely
What you do with your time at work can make a huge difference, so curate your schedule for activities that sustain or inspire you.
Curate your schedule
With the endless deadlines, you can become overwhelmed easily and experience burnout. Take time to organize a to-do list and a schedule of activities for your day. Organizing things helps you pace yourself and plan for regular breaks to recharge. Ticking items off your checklist also gives you a great sense of contentment. On that note, try not to over-schedule your time. Shorten your to-do lists if necessary. If you always have more than 20 items on your checklist and only find yourself ticking off 5 to 10 things every day, you may feel like you are constantly flopping and stress out. Choose the most important tasks you need to complete daily and work on them then add more tasks to your list if there’s time left over.
Volunteer
Disengagement is usually symbolized by a shortsighted and narrowed perspective of life, where you are focused mainly on yourself. A solution for this is to shift your focus outside of yourself and direct it to others. You can do this by volunteering for new projects or helping people at work. Reaching out and helping your community with your talents can do wonders for your career, your paycheck, and your engagement. Hospitality can boost your peace of mind and positively impact your determination and energy.
Do something different
Sometimes, when you aren’t being stimulated or challenged enough, you start losing motivation for what you do and put in less effort. When you find yourself doing the same thing daily, you can easily get stuck in a rut. Surprisingly, doing something different outside of work can help you feel more satisfied in your role. It can be a new hobby or an exciting adventure with a friend. Adding to your skillset increases your drive, confidence, and self-esteem. Shaking up your routine by doing something new like taking another route to work can help spark your brain.
Come up with new ideas
Another way to make things more interesting is using your creativity to suggest new activities and ideas for the workplace. It could be organizing a paintball game for the team or starting a new book club in the office. Developing and implementing new ideas can help you feel more involved at work and eventually more motivated and engaged.
Engage in self-care
Self-care has to be the most important thing you take away from this article if nothing else. For you to be interested in what you do, you need to be emotionally invested in it, and this requires a lot of energy. You get this strength from other areas of your life, so you need to make time for things that replenish your energy instead of draining it. Every person has something specific that energizes them, whether it is working out, being out in nature, or spending time with loved ones. Find out what your thing is and channel it. Also, take breaks when you need to. Take advantage of your break to spend some time outside in nature. This will help you appreciate the beauty of it and breathe in some fresh air, ultimately stimulating your brain and giving you a new point of view.
Rebuild your inner circle
Let me guess, your network of colleagues and friends has probably gotten smaller since the pandemic started. Before all this, we could just go out and mingle with our friends regularly and it was easier to spend time with everyone. But with the new limitations of socializing, we have to be more selective about who we spend our time with.
Develop new friendships
We spend more time with our work colleagues than our friends and family. Even though most people are wary about making friends in the workplace, work-friendships can also motivate you in your role. In fact, having a best friend at work can help you produce high-quality work and increase your engagement in your job. The people you keep around can contribute to your state of mind at work and outside of it. Good friends can support you and help you commit yourself back to your work while motivating you to take action in your life.
As you rebuild your inner circle, think about quality, not quantity. Seek out people who energize and inspire you. Such people will make you feel good about yourself and bring out the best in you. They help you grow and motivate you to think about how to better your personal and professional future. Keep these people close and cultivate your connections with them by finding ways to involve them in your projects and your life.
Be yourself
The final piece of the puzzle is to be your authentic self at work. Being one person at work and another at home can be mentally exhausting and even lead to burnout. When you stay true to yourself, you will know what you want to achieve in your role and this will motivate you to work towards it.
Staying motivated and engaged when you’re feeling overwhelmed, under-stimulated or overworked is challenging. However, you are the only one who can take charge and shift things around to fall back in love with what you do.
