What should you do if you fall out of love with your job?
There comes a time when people grow tired of their work. No matter how much they love their jobs, there is always a possibility that they will come to a point when they no longer find joy in what they are doing. In fact, according to an annual survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 50% of workers retire earlier than expected as a result of work burnout. This is unfortunate since most of these events occur during the highest earning years of a person’s career.
How to Fall Back in Love with Your Job
To prevent work burnout and help you stay on the job, here are some suggestions that can help you put the love back into the equation.
Surround yourself with your friends. Having good friends at work can reduce dissatisfaction, so nurture relationships with people who make you smile.
Change your environment. It is easy to see why working for eight to ten hours in the same environment day after day can lead to burnout. Instead of letting this happen to you, take the upper hand and do something about it. Roll up your sleeves and paint your walls a different color, rearrange your furniture and update your office decorations.
Be honest. Don’t wait for the exit interview to tell your boss what went wrong. Be honest and muster enough courage to ask for what you want. Don’t expect your boss to instinctively know what you want and don’t let unmet expectations drive you to quit your job.
Take time to recharge. If you are getting too bored with your job, consider taking a vacation. Getting away from it all for a few days can sometimes help bring the passion back into your work. You can even take a sabbatical to give yourself more time to think about your career, and hopefully find yourself falling back in love with your work.
Remember why you first fell in love with your job. There is a reason why you chose this job so try to remember all the good points that made you fall in love with your work. Perhaps you have simply become overly familiar with your job that you forget all the positive things that attracted you to it in the first place. If this is the case, take some time to weigh the pros and cons of your job and decide if the attraction is still there.
