How to get through work when you hate your job

I remember those feelings so well. The Sunday evening dread. The knot in my stomach when another full working week was looming ahead. And then there was the morning commute to get through as well…

It can feel so frustrating when you’re desperate to move on but your current job is already very demanding and takes up all your energy. Discovering a new career path can take time, so it’s important to find ways to make your current day to day work more bearable in the short term.

Here are the things I wish I’d known when I was going through this phase of my own career change:

Tip 1:

Set some healthy boundaries. Are you feeling overwhelmed or burnt out? Then reclaim your time and energy. Are you working long hours? Are you saying yes to endless additional tasks and projects on top of your existing work load? Then review your case load with your manager. Start saying no to extra assignments. Delegate where possible. And leave work or close your computer on time at least one night a week. Then build up to two, then three… Start putting your needs first and see how much more energised you feel.

Tip 2:

Find an ally. It could be a trusted colleague. Or a friend who has been through something similar. Or a coach or therapist. Having someone to unload your worries to can really help you get through a stressful time and prevent it building up and coming out in destructive ways at work!

Tip 3:

Practice gratitude. Try to remember the good things about your job. Imagine that someone was applying for your role and you had to write a job description for them. Think about the 3 best things about it and write them down. Does it give you opportunities to learn new skills? Be creative? Does it offer variety? A chance to meet new people? To mentor younger or new staff members of staff? Cultivating a sense of gratitude and appreciation has been studied in universities and found to be associated with increased life satisfaction, increased happiness and more positive emotions.

Tip 4:

Try re-ordering your work tasks. Think about the tasks you do in your job day to day and see if you can change when you do them. Either do your favourite tasks first and start the day on a high, or leave them until the end of the day as a reward. It’s a simple trick but very effective.

Tip 5:

Our work relationships meet an important emotional need in us, so try to prioritise time with colleagues who you enjoy working with most. In the age of virtual working, it’s not always easy to arrange face to face time these days. However where possible arrange in person meetings with them, or a lunch date, or if you’re in the office then actually get up and walk over to their desks when you need to talk them. And the colleagues who you don’t get on so well with? Try and limit your stressful interactions by communicating more often by email or text rather than face to face.

Tip 6:

Make the most of any training or upskilling opportunities. This could be a perfect time to focus on any gaps in your skillset or deepening your expertise in a particular area. If your current employer offers training or courses then absolutely make the most of it. It’s beneficial for all parties because it will make you better at your current job as well as making your more attractive to future employers. If there aren’t any training opportunities at work, consider signing up for an evening class or an online class which help you feel more motivated and fulfilled in the short term.

So give those tips a try and see if they help to change the way you view your current job. I’d love to hear how you get on so comment below and let me know!

The first thing i did BEFORE leaving my 9-5

So does any of this sound familiar?

• Are your evenings and weekends spent complaining about your work and how life isn’t turning out how you hoped?
• Do you feel like you have no spare time for relaxing or having fun, but just rush around completing an endless ‘to do’ list?
• When you do have free time, do you just crash out in front of the TV or scroll mindlessly through social media?
• Are you staying in a job that makes you unhappy and doesn’t pay enough, but feel powerless to change your situation?

Well I WAS that person. I got so used to feeling stressed out, complaining about my life and making excuses about why I was stuck in a rut, that it became a deeply ingrained habit that I wasn’t even aware of.
 
I had become so negative that it was even starting to affect my health, happiness and relationships.

Usually sympathetic friends would glaze over or change the subject when I started to complain about work.  

I became snappy and resentful, and took my unhappiness out on the closest people to me (my endlessly understanding boyfriend deserves a medal!).  

I had less energy, didn’t feel like going out, and started to wonder where the ‘old me’ had gone…
 
When you are in that mindset, it can be hard to contemplate how you’re ever going to start changing your life around. It all feels too exhausting and scary, and so you stay stuck.
 
Creating your dream career or business takes time, and there are no quick fixes. If you’re well and truly stuck in a rut, then you will have been thinking the same old negative thoughts over and over for a long time, which will be bringing your energy down.

However what started to change things for me was when I came across a positive psychology tool called a gratitude journal.

Once I started looking into it, I realised that I was pretty late to the party! Arianna Huffington features them in her book Thrive, Kate Hudson writes in hers every day, and Oprah has been keeping hers for years.

It requires you to notice what’s good in your life each day, rather than what is wrong, and studies have shown that it increases life satisfaction, happiness, optimism and energy, and staves off depression, anxiety, envy and loneliness.
 
So ask yourself these 3 questions each day, and briefly note down the answers in your journal:

• What is good in your life?
• What are you grateful for?
• What has gone well?  

After just a week, I was able to look back and start to appreciate what I already had in my life:

I felt less like a failure and started to notice my successes.

My confidence and self belief started to grow

I started to feel more creative and think more clearly and positively

Change brings energy, and new ways of thinking. This is the first step to breaking those old habits that have been holding you back for waaaaay too long.

• So if you’re feeling hopeless…
• So if you’re feeling stuck…
• So if you’re feeling overwhelmed…

Give the journalling a try for just 7 days, and let me know how you get on. I’d love to hear if this little tip has helped you get unstuck too.