Have you started getting that Sunday night feeling? You know the one, it’s where the thought of tomorrow being Monday feels you with dread, as the prospect of yet another week of work looms closer. Everyone has been there, and it is no fun at all. Wishing away five days per week out of seven is not a great way to live, but it is so easy to get stuck in a job, even when it is one that you dislike.
Having the security of a regular wage coming in and the familiarity of a work environment that you are used to may make you reluctant to make changes to your working life.
This is entirely understandable, as the main point of working is to earn money; you certainly don’t want to land yourself in a difficult financial position, especially if you have a family to support. But, working a job that you dislike can take its toll on your health and wellbeing.
Continuing in a role that you don’t like can drain your energy and affect your mood. Finding a way to regain your enthusiasm for your career and take away that feeling of dread on a Sunday evening is essential.
Regaining your enthusiasm for your career may sound impossible, but it really isn’t. You could be surprised how even the smallest changes to your work life can make a difference.
While it may be tempting to hand in your resignation, unless your work situation is truly awful, it is usually best to wait until you have other options lined up.
Leaving your job and taking a complete career change is undoubtedly a definite possibility, but it is not the only option. Before you do anything hasty, it is worth remembering that pausing and weighing up your options should help you to make a far better-informed decision than merely rushing into a knee-jerk reaction.
Read on for practical ideas to help you regain your enthusiasm for your career and fall in love with work all over again.
Re-Frame Your Thinking
Right now, you may find yourself trapped in a vicious cycle of disliking your job but not knowing how to resolve the situation, which makes you dislike your job even more.
If this sounds familiar, you may find it helpful to change your thinking and look at your situation from a different perspective. Thinking I hate my job, over and over again is not going to help you to change the situation. By taking a more proactive approach, you will be able to begin unpicking your feelings towards work and to gain a greater insight into what is going on.
It is rarely as simple as disliking absolutely everything about your job.
There are sure to be some parts of your role that you enjoy, some that you are indifferent toward, and others that you really dislike. Gaining this understanding is vital to changing your work life for the better. When trying to understand your current feelings about your career, you need to ask yourself why?
Try these questions to get you started;
- Which parts of my job do I like the most and why?
- Which part of my job do I dislike and why?
- Is this reason the sole cause of me feeling unhappy with my career?
- What attracted me to start this career in the first place, and why?
All of your answers to the above questions should give you plenty to think about and help to provide some meaningful observations about your career.
From these questions, you should be able to gain an understanding of which parts of your shop you like, dislike, and what the reasons were for you choosing the job in the first place.
This last point is particularly crucial, as sometimes, when feeling a bit lost in your career, it can be helpful to remember why you were attracted to the role.
Remembering why you chose this career above all the other ones available and what you hoped to gain from your role is especially meaningful.
Retracing your steps back to the very beginning of your career and trying to recapture some of the passion and enthusiasm that you felt toward your work is a helpful way to reconnect with your job and get yourself back on track.
Make a Plan of Action
After thinking about the reasons that you chose your career in the first place and which aspects of your job you like or dislike, you should be in a better position to make a decision about your future.
For many people, simply making a few changes is all that is needed to bring back their enthusiasm for work. If you have studied for years to get to your current position, you may feel like you would be throwing away years of hard work to turn your back on your career.
Alternatively, you may decide that your reasons for leaving your job outweigh the reasons for staying and that now is the right time for a change of direction. Whichever option you choose, you will probably feel some relief that you have made a decision that you can commit to and put an end to feeling stuck.
Overcoming the feeling of being trapped in an unhappy work situation can feel like lifting an immense weight off of your shoulders. You may already be feeling much better about things by merely changing your thought process.
Your next step is to keep the momentum going and start making a plan of action to help you progress and to reach your goals.
Establishing which direction you want to take and how you are going to reach it is a crucial part of the process. If you decide that you are sticking with your current career, you will need to think about how things will be different to ensure that you don’t end up feeling drained and tired of your job again in a few month’s time.
If you decide that you want to try something new and embark on a new career, you need to think about what you would like to do and what you need to make it a reality. Will you need to go back to school or take a training course? Now is the time to develop a road map to help your career thrive, whether it is a new venture or continuing in your current field.
You may find it helpful to write down your plan to help you clarify your thoughts and to walk yourself through the process that you will need to take.
For example, maybe you plan to stay in your current career, but you want to make sure that you get promoted. In this case, you could put a five-year plan together to help you set out what you want to achieve over the coming years to keep you on track with achieving your goals.
Introducing Changes
Starting to make changes is not always easy, as it is a big step to take, but one that is so crucial to helping you feel happier at work.
As you don’t want to end up back feeling bored of your job, it is vital to do all that you can to help you feel enthusiastic and full of energy to make your goals happen.
If you have decided to stay in your current job and want to start getting noticed for the right reasons, you may choose to improve your personal presentation. Helping yourself to look smarter and tidier is an excellent way to get noticed at work for all the right reasons.
If you work in a medical profession, you could check out the new styles of scrubs at Uniform Advantage to improve your appearance at work and ensure that you always look professional. While how well you perform at work should be the most important way to prove you are ready for promotion, there is no doubt that appearances help too.
Looking professional and smart can help you to appear more in control and seem more organized, which could give you a competitive edge over your colleagues when a promotion opportunity comes along.
Whether you want to get promoted or change your career, learning new skills is always helpful.
Gaining additional qualifications is an excellent way to advance your career and reawaken your enthusiasm for what you do. Continuing to learn and grow helps keep things interesting and can help you to gain specialist knowledge, which will be a significant benefit to your career.
Whether you decide to change your approach to your current career or opt to switch to something entirely new, it is always best to consider all of your options before committing to anything. Hopefully, these tips have helped you to breathe new life into your work life.
Identifying why you dislike your job right now and establishing actionable ways to change your work situation should help to get you feeling far more enthusiastic about the future of your career.