Listicle: Seven ways to reinvigorate your job

Make your time at work more effective or make plans to leave

Small, incremental changes to your everyday work can prove transformative
Small, incremental changes to your everyday work can prove transformative

Even exciting jobs have boring days. When you do the same tasks at the same office with the same people every day, you are bound to fall into a rut.

Here’s how to revive your interest in your work.

1

Take action

Don’t sit back and hope things change. Even small, incremental changes to your everyday work can prove transformative. The key is to take small actions, and to do so deliberately.

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2

Think about what you like doing

Spend a few days mapping your energy and engagement levels at work every few hours.

Use that information to pinpoint what tasks motivate you.

3

Think about what you’re good at

If you aren’t feeling good about your contributions at the office, look through your inbox to see what expertise, tasks and input people are requesting from you. Perhaps you can shift some of your responsibilities to be more focused on doing that type of work.

4

Redesign your role

Volunteer to take on a new project to give yourself exposure to tasks and department outside of your normal role.

5

Seek out passionate people

Surrounding yourself with energetic people, whether at the office or in professional networking groups, can help revive a sagging interest in work.

Meeting new people committed to their careers and explaining your own goals to them can reveal aspects of your job that you may not have previously appreciated.

6

Celebrate your accomplishments

Don’t just keep a daily “to-do” list. Start keeping a “did” list each day with all the things you accomplished. It might be as big as acing a presentation, or as simple as responding to a dozen important emails.

Crafting the list can give you a little emotional boost.

7

Know when to move on

If you’ve tried the previous strategies and you still feel like your job is a grind, it may be time to take more drastic action.

Explore different roles in the organisation where you can bring more of your strengths. And if that doesn’t work, seek out other opportunities.

Copyright Harvard Business Reviews 2015