Some of us are blessed to do what we love at work every day. If you’re not doing what you love, can you still love what you do? If you’re unhappy at work, you have three choices:
- Accept the situation
- Change the situation or
- Leave the situation.
Before you start searching for another job, however, remember wherever you go, there you are. If your work environment is unpleasant, or even toxic, ask yourself how you contribute to it. Do you complain? Do you gossip? Do you put people down? Are you disengaged? Are you sabotaging other people’s efforts?
It’s easy to blame your manager, your colleague or company culture. It’s much harder to own your contribution to the unpleasantness. So, my challenge to you, is to be the change you want to see in your workplace. If you want an inspiring, engaging, cohesive workplace it starts with you. If you make some fundamental changes, then you might well end up loving what you do.
Because what you do goes way beyond the mechanics of your job. It’s how you treat people. Lifting them up rather than putting them down. Inspiring them, supporting them and helping them. Doing your best for them.
Like a pebble in a pond, the changes you make will ripple outwards affecting those around you. You may just start a revolution – in the nicest possible way.
Here are some simple daily habits to be the change you want to see in your workplace:
- Believe people are doing their best and have good intentions. As Jean Kintampo Latting stated in Brene Brown’s book, “Rising Strong”, “What is the most generous assumption you can make about this person’s intentions or what this person said?”
- Be compassionate rather than judgemental, not because you believe a person is worthy of empathy, but because they are a human being. You don’t know what a person is going through. You don’t know that something has just triggered them. Instead of asking, “What is wrong with this person”, ask “What has happened to this person?” and “How can I help this person?”
- When you see someone struggling, help them. No ulterior motive. No gain to you. Simply help them as a fellow human being.
- Rather than bitching and complaining around the water cooler, celebrate your colleague’s win or your team’s achievement.
- Be kind to someone without them knowing. Don’t tell anyone but keep this delicious secret to yourself. You may find yourself smiling to yourself throughout the day.
- Find joy in the little things during your workday.
- Tell a colleague you’re grateful for their assistance.
- Surprise someone with a coffee for no reason at all.
Be the change you want to see in your workplace. And you might just end up loving what you do.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.
Di Krome is a Champion for Good Mental Health in the Workplace and founder of Wildfire Business Consulting. Di is on a mission to inspire business leaders to prioritise the mental health of their people and implement strategies to reduce stress and overwhelm so they can experience peace, joy and fulfilment at work.