Keeping the Love Alive
Keeping the Love Alive! Yes, today we are talking about love and how to keep it fresh and alive. No, not in your personal lives, that’s none of my business unless you want to open a bottle of wine and gab, which would be weird to do remotely, but I digress. No, I am talking about keeping the love alive in your career.
We spend a majority of our days away from home at our places of work. Something drove us to our chosen career in the first place and yes, the need for an income was one of them, but does that mean it has to be the only thing we’re passionate about anymore when it comes to our careers? No, of course not. Whether you have only been in your job for a short period of time or for many, many years, if you are feeling stale or unhappy or perhaps just need a reminder of why you fell in love in the first place, this blog goes out to you.
Here We Go Again..
Before we get into keeping the love alive, can I just go ahead and beat a dead horse? Yea, I’m talking about your lunch. Take it, for Pete’s sake! And make sure it is away from the desk. Sure, you could eat and surf the web, but most of us have smart phones these days so why not sit outside and surf the web on your phone? Better yet, ditch the screen completely and get out for a walk and get some fresh air. Get your circulation going and send some fresh oxygen up to your brain.
You could also connect to your personal life during your lunch break. Call your spouse, significant other, your mother (whom you don’t call enough to begin with), heck leave a message for your dog, just connect with your loved ones! Sometimes all it takes is a short talk with someone we love to help us reset our brains. At the end of the day, if you have not taken a break to reset your mind and all you have done is worked through you lunch, you’ll be exhausted, overworked, cranky and chances are, the quality of your work will not be as good as it was first thing in the morning.
So, take your lunch folks. You are entitled to it – make it about YOU! Stepping away is key to keeping the love alive.
What Issues Do You Have?
Everyone has grievances here and there. It’s ok and it’s normal. But do you realize what it is that is making you unhappy in your career? Sit down with yourself and start to jot down the things that have been bothering you lately. Here’s the thing, it doesn’t even have to be the big things.
Here are some examples for you. Have you been lacking in the tools you need to work effectively? Perhaps your computer has been running slow and you are in need of a new one. That can have a huge impact on time with leads to time crunching and ultimately stress. Maybe it’s something even bigger like you have been using a chair that doesn’t suit your back, causing you discomfort, which causes distraction, which leads to stress. It doesn’t even have to be tangible, maybe some of the processes in the office have been discouraging or you have had a tough time working with a coworker?
Once you have gone through your issues, take a look at what is in your control and what is out of your control. Chances are you have the power to change many of them. Now, after you’ve made your list, maybe take a walk since you may need to shake some of those negative feelings away.
Be Communicative
Now that you really can see what is bothering you, you may feel better after having gotten it off your chest and onto paper. But you shouldn’t stop there. You need to be open to having a conversation with whomever you need to in order to discuss these issues. It could be your coworker who smacks her gum to loudly in your ear, but more likely, it could be your boss. Your boss will want to know if you’re unhappy and what needs to be done to get you happier. A boss wants his or her employees to be happy because happy employees are productive employees so don’t shy away from discussing these issues with your superiors.
Remind Yourself Why You Fell In Love
Here I go with my lists again. But really, sit down and remind yourself why you got into your chosen career. What was it about your job that drew you to it? For me, I truly love providing administrative support. I really do, I love to help people and I love learning more about business and technology so this is the best spot for me! Yes, I’ve had unhappy times in my career, but I sat down and saw where I could make some changes to get me back into my love for administrative support.
So, how about you? At it’s core, what was it about your job that drew you to it, aside from the paycheck. What are you passionate about within your job? Keep those reminders with you during the day. Make little sticky note reminders in random spots to surprise you, like in your pen drawer or in a random file. They’ll surprise you and will make you smile. Cheesy, I know, but I’m a sucker for all things cheesy.
If You Must Breakup…
When all else fails and you’ve really tried to make things work with your job, then by all means, look at a change. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you may need a change in venue or even a change in careers. You should make sure that you truly feel this way and you are not making this decision based on anger. It should not be a decision made lightly, but no one should stay in a miserable job because it will just make for a miserable life. Just make sure you are also making a change in a financially responsible manner as well!
The Horse That Will Not Die
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Now, I’m not going to leave you on a sour breakup note, but I am going to nag you about your work/life balance. I nagged you above about your lunch breaks and now I’m going to nag you about taking vacations. For real, everyone. Unless you are a high-level executive or are a decision maker or the head decision maker and absolutely need to be on call, ditch your phone on vacation. Although I think high-level executives and decision makers need to step away, I understand that it’s very hard on that level.
I realize you need your phone so don’t really ditch it, but DON’T check your emails and voice mails. Take measures to ensure that you won’t worry about what is going on in the office by delegating to responsible and trustworthy coworkers or your admin (!) ahead of time so you won’t need to worry. If you must get a daily update, have someone send you one a day, just one, and have them send it to your personal email and not your work email. Do not go into your work email.
And while I’m at it, if it is nearing the close of business while you are reading this, go home! Have dinner with your family, go work out, and go call your mother already!
We are all about keeping the love alive for you and your business. For more information on how VOA can help you gain a little more work/life balance, click here and contact us today!
*No real horses were actually harmed in the making of this blog.