Put the Passion Back in Your Work

This is the second part of our series of articles about putting the passion back in your life. We have covered how to put the passion back in your relationship, and we will look at how to put the passion in your free time, but in this article, we will look at how to put the passion back in your work.

If your work is getting a bit stale, you may need to consider a change of career. If you’d rather not do that, there are a few ways you can put the passion back in your work.

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Begin your day with little tasks you can complete quickly.

Ticking things off a list gets you in a productive mood and can give your day a boost, right from the beginning. You’ll feel more productive, and then you’ll be more productive. You will leave work with a real sense of accomplishment, which means you will be more relaxed and excited by the end of the day.

Fake it until you make it.

One of the coolest things about our brains is that they can often be tricked into feeling different emotions. For example, if you are feeling grumpy, start smiling, even if it’s a super fake smile. Our brains register information gathered from our nerve endings and make decisions about our environment and how we should feel about it from that. So if you are smiling, after a while your brain thinks that, since you’re smiling, you must be doing it for a reason. The reason people smile is because they are happy, so you must be happy. And gradually you will feel happy. Similarly, if you act confident or enthusiastic, eventually you will trick your brain into feeling that way.

Focus on the part of your work that you were first drawn to.

Something about your work had to be attractive to you at first, so try to figure out what that is, whether it was the challenge of doing something new, the creativity of the role or being able to think strategically. If whatever you loved is no longer a part of your job, talk to your boss about how you can reincorporate that into your work. That way, your job will be more fulfilling and exciting again.

Try to incorporate your hobby into your work.

Do you like knitting? Try to organise a knitting circle during lunch breaks, or get your company to knit those little Innocent smoothie hats they do to raise money for Age UK. If you like drawing, see if your company’s website design can incorporate your illustrations. Should you want to write more, you could try to work on the company blog. Whatever you like doing in your spare time, you may find a way to bring it in to your job if you think a bit creatively.

Turn the mindless tedium into a game.

Many people work in areas where the work tends towards the repetitive – especially in this economy, since people will take any work they can get. If you work at a till in a shop, try to guess how much someone’s purchases will add up to, or tell yourself a story about what they will be doing with the groceries they’re picking up. If you are entering a whole bunch of data, try to do it in time to a song, so that the work passes by more quickly. If you are folding clothes or stacking shelves, try to turn it into a dance move. Do what you can to turn the tedious tasks into fun ones, and you will enjoy your work more.

See what new opportunities there are at your work.

Try to move up or into another department if you really need a big change. Volunteer to help with office parties or charity events to give yourself something new to work on. Sometimes, all you need is a change of pace, tasks or scenery to feel perked up about your work.

 

These tips should help you put the passion back in what you do for a living, but what do you do to keep work fun?