Losing the spark for work you once loved is easy. There are ways
to re-ignite your fire.
The drive and curiosity you have when
tackling a new challenge can be enough to rekindle your passion for work.
A study conducted by Gallup across 142 countries suggests, only
13% of employees are engaged at work. This means if you are reading this now,
it's more than likely that you’re not enthusiastic about your job, much less
passionate about it.
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Fortunately, there is hope for those who find themselves in this
kind of turmoil and want to get rid of it. Especially when it comes to people
who once valued their work but somehow lost that value. If you are one of those
people who want to regain the long-lost engagement at work, read this entire
article to know the recipe.
How to Rekindle Your Passion?
If you face problem to get out of bed for work every morning or
have a bad day at work every day, the first step is to admit that you are not
as excited as you used to be.
Sit down and think about what is causing these problems at work.
To create positive change, you must first examine what is wrong with the
workplace or yourself.
Once the cause of the problem becomes clear start making small
changes to yourself and your work environment to help you cope with this difficult
time in your life.
For some, a lack of passion can cause them to change careers. But
this is not always easy for everyone to do. Fortunately, recent studies show
that some people naturally apply "cultivation strategies" to reignite
their passion and motivation. There are many ways to apply these strategies.
A Matter of Mindset
The first study comes from Patricia Chen, a professor of
psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, US.
Chen’s research examined the influence of two different mindsets
about passion. So-called “fit theorists” are more likely to endorse statements
such as:
I believe that there is a perfect job fit for every individual,
and finding the right line of work will determine one’s happiness and success
at work.
The “develop theorists”, in contrast, are more likely to agree
with statements such as:
I believe that passion is developed through a learning process
within any chosen line of work. The better one gets at one’s type of work, the
more one will start to love the profession.
Chen's findings suggest a few more ways to restore your passion.
Two very useful techniques are "proximal goal setting" and
"self-consequating." These are especially useful when you feel
overwhelmed by a new project, where the challenge is so great and the reward so
far away that you struggle to get excited about it.
Realize the Problem
Reflect on your performance at the end of each day. If possible,
try to write the whole day down on a piece of paper. Analyze your behavior with
people and work. Your lack of interest may be due to your short temper that
drains some of your energy away each time. Writing about it helps you release
your frustrations and keep your stress under control.
A very common phenomenon is the fear of failure, which makes
people reluctant to take on new challenges and fear change. Ask yourself if you
have missed many opportunities to take a step forward in your career because of
such irrational fears.
If you succeed in discovering that the problem is actually your
doubts about your own abilities, remove them. In this way, you can gain
much-needed self-awareness to feel passionate about your work again.
Explore Different Aspects of Work
One of the reasons why you are not passionate about your work may
be that what attracted you to it some time ago no longer attracts you. This is
not unusual as our priorities change as we enter different stages of life.
However, any job can have many aspects that can be used to maintain interest in
the job.
For example, a web developer may begin his career with a specific
interest in web development, but gradually adapt his interest to serve as a
trainer for future developers. Thus, the love for web development remains, but
the focus has now moved away from doing the development himself, to imparting
knowledge and experience to new learners.
In other words, when people play different
roles in their area of expertise, their work can take on new forms.
Identify Your True Motivation or Goals
In every job, there are things we like to do
and things we hate. Unfortunately, in many cases, the latter takes up a
significant portion of our time and energy in our daily work.
We all have work, business and household
responsibilities. And we often engage in "firefighting," or dealing
with urgent matters and dealing with crises. When this "firefighting"
phase persists for too long, we usually feel tired and disinterested.
The solution is to reframe your purpose and
role in your work and divert your attention from miscellaneous issues that are
not primarily part of your work. If you are able to identify your true
motivation or goals, it helps to maintain your interest and passion in the
work.
Once you realize that these are the actions
that will actually contribute to the goal, you will find that not only are
painful things more bearable, but they are also a pleasant feeling to endure.
Let Others Do the Extra Work
Another way to deal with things you don't
like doing is to delegate them to other people on your team who can do them
better. If you are the boss yourself and have some subordinates, it will be
easy to delegate work to them who can handle such or other menial tasks like
form filling, filing and other administrative matters.
But if you're not the owner and don't have a
team under you, talk to your supervisor or team members so that the work you
can't do well can be delegated to other members and you can use your skills and
energy on other tasks.
Take Vacation for Rest
Even if you love your work, you cannot be
without being affected by the physical and psychological effects of stress.
Prolonged stress depletes your body's resources, weakens your immune system,
and eventually manifests in physical ailments and mental disorders.
The logical solution is to get enough rest to
restore yourself. Take your mind off work for a certain amount of time. Even
successful people take time for regular vacations and value time away from
work.
It is certain that if your health is poor,
you cannot continue your favorite work. Thus, lack of energy and consistency
leads to loss of interest in work.
However, vacationing for vacations is not a
wise attitude. So you have to end vacations after you get rest, because too
much time spent on vacations leads to more fatigue and lack of interest in
work. Vacations are meant to get you excited for work, not to get away from it.
Create a Work Balance
Sometimes a man loses his passion due to
intense pressure of hard work and sometimes the work can become so routine that
he loses interest. The solution is to strike the right balance.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
believes, optimal mental performance can be achieved when the challenge is just
right - neither too hard nor too easy. This state of mind is also known as
"flow". Such a state is achieved when one can fully concentrate and
fully enjoy the task assigned.
You can stimulate your mind a bit by breaking
out of these routines to experience and do your work in different ways. Alternatively, try asking your boss for new projects and
assignments, or find them yourself if you work alone.
The drive and curiosity you have when
tackling a new challenge can be enough to rekindle your passion for work.
Meet People, Talk to Them
Once you start to lose interest in your work,
you become lonely and this lack of social interaction increases your work
aversion. Instead of shutting yourself off, make an extra effort to talk to the
people around you.
Fostering camaraderie at work ensures more
motivated workers and better productivity. If you don't currently have a close
friend at work to whom you can share your disinterest, be around other people
at work engaging in networking with them. This can help you make close friend.
It is possible that your friends have gone
through the same situations that you are facing right now. And they can give
you the advice and guidance you need in the light of their experience.
Start Teaching Others
In such situations, you may have forgotten
how dedicated you were when you first started. Don't worry, because memories
like these will probably come flooding back when you mentor someone new in your
work.
This is when you will discover what it was
that got you started. Once you are able to recognize these things, you may be
able to regain your enthusiasm.
Seek Mentorship From Experienced And
Inspirational Person
While serving as a mentor to a junior can be
a useful source of self-discovery, getting guidance from an experienced and
inspiring person can provide the direction you need to love and hate your work.
Such mentors have experienced a lot of ups and downs in their careers and can
see your situation from a wider perspective than you.
All you have to do is arrange an informal
meeting with a role model at your workplace. Of course, you'll need to find
someone you can trust enough to uncover problems with your work before you
choose them as your mentor.
Recall Happy Experiences at Work
We must see everything beautiful in our work
as we always have time to appreciate the fragrance of flowers and small blessings.
Jotting down anything good that happens to
you at work is a good way to also notice all the things you might have taken
for granted. For example, the freedom of freelancing which can be an outlet for
your unlimited creativity in your designing projects, the ability to further
refine your craft and even the idea of reshaping the world through your hard
work.
Remember the feeling that meant so much to
you when you presented your completed design project to your client or even the
moment you found the right words to express yourself in your writing.
You will soon realize, these are the aspects
of your work that resonate with you, and are supportive to get reacquainted
with your passion and re-ignite your fire.
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