When I teach leadership development workshops, I love to get to know the participants by asking the question, “If money were no object, but you kept a dream job merely for fulfillment, what would it be?” Many times the question gets turned back on me: “Wait a minute, Jesse!” someone will usually exclaim. “What’s your answer?”
And my answer is always the same: “I love the work that I’m doing now!” Because I draw so much energy from my work, especially from the extraordinary people that I get to meet and interact with, it’s easy for me to show up with such genuine enthusiasm. And I further believe that it was this genuine enthusiasm that allowed me to craft and attract the exact kind of work I wanted to be doing.
You see what I’ve discovered through my own experience, as well as through the lived experiences of the leadership clients I work with, is that we cannot wait for fulfilling work to find us in order to then become enthusiastic. Rather, if we find enthusiasm for what we’re doing now, we place ourselves in a position to establish positive habits of thought that can propel us to new and thrilling opportunities both in our current job and beyond! Furthermore, if you can find enthusiasm within yourself, you can naturally and effortlessly serve as a role model for others. They will notice your enthusiasm and ask for your secret! And by sharing your insights and perspectives you can help them discover (or re-discover!) the passion and fulfillment that prompted them on their current career path. Furthermore, you can inspire them in a never-ending trajectory of energy, excitement, and enthusiasm!
Here are just a few positive practices that I share with clients and audiences to help find energy, enthusiasm, and enjoyment even in incredibly challenging work environments.
Remember your real purpose and keep your attention there.
You chose the work you do for a reason. You knew that it would make positive use of your talents and that there would be opportunities to make a difference for real people in the real world. That’s a privilege, for sure, but sometimes that comes with a lot of stress, complication, bureaucratic detail, people problems, and an endless supply of problems. Because our brains love to focus on the negative, we can often forget to acknowledge and enjoy the positive. Here are some powerful questions to ask yourself:
“What drew me to this work in the first place? What did it offer me?”
“Earlier in my career, was there a time I had more energy and enthusiasm? What was my work giving me then? Is it still giving me that? What have I forgotten how to enjoy?”
“What problems don’t bother me as much anymore? If I’m free from the bother, what can I find to enjoy?”
“What are the good things that I can keep my attention on?”
Turn frustration into fascination.
Have you ever been frustrated at work? Yes, I can hear your answer! Frustration happens when we make a prediction about what we want to see happen and we are met with a negative surprise. Whether a promising new employee stops showing up, or a new software program that was meant to solve problems ends up creating more, or when all the effort we invest in a particular project doesn’t result in the gains we were hoping for, frustration comes about when we expected good and got bad instead. And that means we made a misjudgment. But don’t worry! It happens all the time! Instead of instinctively falling into “Why me?” hopelessness, we can simply ask, “What did I not see?” or “What do I now know?” or “What is the world showing me here?” If you can get curious about the answer and view the situation as a chance to expand our skills and experience (no, really, I mean it!), it’s possible to stop seeing frustrations as problems and start seeing them as nudges in a positive direction. Remind yourself “If I can solve this, I can do anything!” and declare that a reason to celebrate! Every challenge that you lived through makes you more valuable to others.
Question and dispel negative beliefs you’ve picked up.
Frequently, even the most inspired professionals pick up attitudes that are not only not their own, but are also not aligned with what they want to be experiencing. Watch out for unpleasant-feeling stories that can creep into your thinking like:
“Work is inherently awful.”
“In order to be successful, I have to be serious and stressed out all the time.”
“I can’t relax or enjoy myself until . . .”
“In order to be seen as a hard worker, I have to be seen as joyless and drained.”
“I need to accomplish . . . in order to feel productive or good.”
“No one around me is happy or enthusiastic so I had better blend in with the dominant attitude in order to be accepted.”
When you notice yourself holding these beliefs, confront them and say “In what ways is this not really true at all?” and acknowledge what the belief is preventing you from seeing. Then, you can further ask “If this isn’t true at all, then how can I be feeling instead?”
Positively engage with people.
When you first wake up in the morning and find yourself dreading going into work, one of the few thoughts that can still get you motivated is looking forward to the people you’ll see that day. If you make it a point to positively interact with the people you come in contact with, even with strangers, you can transform what you’re feeling and thinking. And, if someone seems cranky, hostile, or impossible, consider making an attempt to turn that around. If you can, let yourself feel great about it! If you can’t, allow it to be not your problem and find something to laugh about with someone else. Remember that even a brief encounter with the right person can transform our mood, so see how you can be both on the receiving and giving ends of a joyful exchange!
My parting message here is that you deserve to enjoy the work that you’re doing. I love to endlessly repeat that we are at our best when we are feeling good. You don’t need a reason or an excuse, you can simply decide that you owe it to yourself (and perhaps to the people who are counting on you!) to find joy and experience its renewing effects every day. It is possible! And it’s necessary!