Pull yourself out of a work slump
Even people who love their jobs can find themselves in a rut. Here’s how to get out of it without quitting.
Sometimes it’s more than just a case of the Mondays. When you don’t want to go to work on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – or any day – you could be in a slump. Luckily, it’s not uncommon and it is something you can fix.
According to studies, 55% of workers feel they have a job, not a career. What’s important to remember is that while a single bad day is one thing, a lingering work rut can be detrimental to your happiness and overall career success.”
The good news is that a work slump is your problem to solve, says Ben Brooks, founder and CEO of the career improvement tech startup Pilot. “It is easy to blame something else, such as your manager, your resources, the culture, the industry,” he says. “Taking responsibility for your slump puts you in the driver’s seat and gives you an opening for action rather than merely suffering through the slump.”
To pull yourself out of a work slump, it’s helpful to do these six things:
• Why are you struggling?
Is it because you’re bored with a specific project? Are there issues with your boss or other team members? Would you rather be working in another field? It’s hard to know how to get out of the slump without knowing what caused it.
• What work matters to you?
What values do you place above all else and where do they show up in work for you? Are you regularly doing work that supports these values or are you constantly being asked to compromise on what’s most important to you? Ask yourself, if you had just 90 days left in your career, what would you get busy doing? This is meant to create urgency and to get out of the ‘maybe, someday, not now’ mentality that is easy to fall into, in particular when you’re in a slump.
• Don’t jump ship immediately
Before you automatically assume a career change will equal a life change, notice how you’re showing up in the other realms of your life. Maybe you need to be prioritizing taking care of yourself. Often when we’re tired and not taking care of ourselves, we can be tired and cranky and not see opportunities right in front of us.
• Focus on good things
Taking a few minutes each week to reflect on what you’re grateful for can help you feel better about your life overall and even improve your health. Due to adaptation, our focus often becomes overshadowed by the more burdensome qualities. Gratitude has been shown to be the most robust antidote to adaptation. Instead of ruminating over what went wrong today, or becoming anxious about what tomorrow may bring, call to mind those aspects of your job that you enjoy.
• Stop comparing yourself to others
It’s natural to tune into who just got the latest promotion or whose working is getting the highest praise from the boss, but redirecting our attention to our own internal standards for success can go a long way for our psychological health, productivity, and motivation.
• Take action!
This might be the hardest step of all. Most people find that the very reason they are in a slump is because they feel unmotivated, and because of that they find it difficult to tackle the tasks that are needed in order to break out of their slump. Without that motivation, they don’t take action, and their slump gets worse, which makes it harder to find the motivation to take action, and so on goes the cycle. www.fastcompany.com
According to studies, 55% of workers feel they have a job, not a career. What’s important to remember is that while a single bad day is one thing, a lingering work rut can be detrimental to your happiness and overall career success.”
The good news is that a work slump is your problem to solve, says Ben Brooks, founder and CEO of the career improvement tech startup Pilot. “It is easy to blame something else, such as your manager, your resources, the culture, the industry,” he says. “Taking responsibility for your slump puts you in the driver’s seat and gives you an opening for action rather than merely suffering through the slump.”
To pull yourself out of a work slump, it’s helpful to do these six things:
• Why are you struggling?
Is it because you’re bored with a specific project? Are there issues with your boss or other team members? Would you rather be working in another field? It’s hard to know how to get out of the slump without knowing what caused it.
• What work matters to you?
What values do you place above all else and where do they show up in work for you? Are you regularly doing work that supports these values or are you constantly being asked to compromise on what’s most important to you? Ask yourself, if you had just 90 days left in your career, what would you get busy doing? This is meant to create urgency and to get out of the ‘maybe, someday, not now’ mentality that is easy to fall into, in particular when you’re in a slump.
• Don’t jump ship immediately
Before you automatically assume a career change will equal a life change, notice how you’re showing up in the other realms of your life. Maybe you need to be prioritizing taking care of yourself. Often when we’re tired and not taking care of ourselves, we can be tired and cranky and not see opportunities right in front of us.
• Focus on good things
Taking a few minutes each week to reflect on what you’re grateful for can help you feel better about your life overall and even improve your health. Due to adaptation, our focus often becomes overshadowed by the more burdensome qualities. Gratitude has been shown to be the most robust antidote to adaptation. Instead of ruminating over what went wrong today, or becoming anxious about what tomorrow may bring, call to mind those aspects of your job that you enjoy.
• Stop comparing yourself to others
It’s natural to tune into who just got the latest promotion or whose working is getting the highest praise from the boss, but redirecting our attention to our own internal standards for success can go a long way for our psychological health, productivity, and motivation.
• Take action!
This might be the hardest step of all. Most people find that the very reason they are in a slump is because they feel unmotivated, and because of that they find it difficult to tackle the tasks that are needed in order to break out of their slump. Without that motivation, they don’t take action, and their slump gets worse, which makes it harder to find the motivation to take action, and so on goes the cycle. www.fastcompany.com
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