Is Loving Your Job Within Easier Reach Than You Think?

While we all have the power to choose our careers, even landing your dream job isn’t always enough to see you becoming one of those people who swear that they love their work. After all, work is…well, work! It’s something you do to make money, but surely you don’t have to enjoy yourself while you’re there? And anyway, aren’t people who make this claim just trying to feel better about themselves? Surely no one can take pleasure from a day job. Or can they?


Realistically speaking, the studies suggest they can, with as many as 55% of US workers reporting that they’re ‘completely satisfied’ in their roles. Luckily, far from making the rest of us feel bad (which might be your initial reaction to this news), this is great for everybody because it highlights one simple fact – job satisfaction is possible, and you, too, could fall in love with your role. Even better, you don’t necessarily need a total career change to make it happen (although if you really hate what you do, why bother doing it in the first place?). Instead, you simply need to consider the following ways to fall in love with your job at last.

Step 1: Find your motivation sweet spot


If you aren’t motivated to do your job in the first place, then the hours that you spend at work will inevitably drag, and nobody loves something that saps their energy and takes ages to pass. Hence why your first step to loving your career is to simply find your motivation sweet spot. Of course, this is going to look different for everyone, but even simple steps like setting up your work environment how you like it best can make a difference. After all, adding a few plants, putting up some personal pics, and even learning how to change background on Mac to any image that puts a smile on your face are all going to make this a more pleasant place to be. And, when you’re happy in your surroundings, you should find that you’re far more enthused about getting to work and staying there. Outside of that, breaking up your day into bite-size chunks or even taking steps to ensure you’re assigned to the projects that you’re most passionate about could all see you more motivated during your work time, and your job as a result. 


Step 2: Learn a little perspective


Regardless of how much you love your career, thinking about work all the time can quickly get on top of you, and is guaranteed to leave you feeling burnt out or struggling to sleep so that you groan inwardly when you have to return to the office. That’s no way to love your job, and it’s a sure sign that you’re losing perspective. Gaining that back, either by picking up a hobby class in the evenings or even by doing a little volunteer work for people in need, can help to change that outlook. As well as buying you physical breathing space, the ability to focus on something entirely not work-related in your free time can especially help you to return to work feeling refreshed and aware that work isn’t everything. Hopefully, you’ll then feel a lot more excited to get stuck into projects that haven’t had half as much opportunity to stress you out. 


Step 3: Become a master of your time


If you’re forever rushing at work then it’s no surprise if even your dream job becomes a nightmare. After all, no one likes having to run around, even if they’re running for a career they enjoy in theory. Not to mention that, the worse you are at time management, the less likely you can achieve the work/life balance necessary to gain the perspective mentioned above. In other words, poor time control is bad news all around, and it’s easier to manage than you might think. Simple steps, like writing out clear to-do lists and ensuring that you don’t accept additional workloads you can’t realistically manage, will certainly make a difference in helping you to be both happier and more productive. Even just slowing down and taking a methodical approach to busy periods will see you more efficient in the long run, and able to produce more satisfying results because of that. Get this in the bag, and you could even find yourself managing flexible hours that means your job fits in with you and thus becomes impossible not to love. At the very least, feeling like you’re better at your job, and better able to produce results, will surely add to your career’s satisfaction factor. 


# 4 - Stick to a cut-off point


In keeping with the other points, it’s also important to stick to a set cut-off point in your day that most definitely doesn’t leave room for checking work emails before you go to bed or, heaven forbid, staying in the office once everyone else has gone home. After all, even the best job is going to get on top of you if it eats up every second of your time. Instead, loving a job is really about keeping it as a part of your life, but not all of what you’re about. And, that means leaving the office at 5, or as near to it as you can get, and not even thinking about work until morning. In a way, steps already mentioned, including finding something to do in your evenings or getting on top of timings, can help here, but work could still keep on demanding from you, meaning that it’s ultimately down to you to get strict and make it clear to everyone else that your evenings are your own. That way, you’ll be able to find more satisfaction in your free time which, in turn, should see loving your job a whole lot more! 


Loving your work might seem like an ambitious goal, but people really do find satisfaction in what they do, and tips like these are a large part of how they make it happen.