With Valentine’s Day and the focus on romantic love behind us (not to be downer), let’s take a few minutes to tackle the topic of loving our work. We spend more time at work on any given week than we do with our partners, so as they say, love it or leave it!
Here are 4 quick tips to increase your job affinity:
1. Think about where would you be without it? You can work towards something bigger and better elsewhere, but your current job is probably at the very least a catalyst to obtaining a larger goal. Of course let’s not forget that it’s nice to be able to pay the bills, so even if that’s all your current job allows, it’s a pretty important thing to be thankful for.
2. Don’t call it work. The word “work” can inherently carry a negative connotation, so finding some purpose in the day-to-day could improve your outlook. The purpose could be a paycheck (for now), it could be to gain experience as a manager so you can get a director role with another company or maybe you’re able to master new skills you’ve been wanting to learn. Call it something else so it can be something else… which leads us to number three.
3. Change your outlook. Instead of dreading a certain task or procrastinating on a project, look forward to the challenge of improving the way it’s done. Put your own stamp on it. Just a small shift in the way you approach daily tasks or larger projects can make all the difference.
4. Give yourself a title change. While this might only work in certain organizations… I suggest giving yourself a title change. I don’t mean officially updating your LinkedIn profile or on your resume, I mean change it in your mind and if you’re in the right environment, on your email signature. Although you are not defined by your title, it might be limiting you and you don’t even know it! True story…I was feeling a bit (well ok, a lot) limited by my role in a previous job. But I knew I had impact on other people and that I was someone the company relied on… so I changed my title in my email signature to Smile Maker. Not only did this make me happier, it also caught people’s attention and the feedback was great. So whether it’s in your mind or in your signature, this simple change can be the start of newfound affection!
