How Can I Overcome a Downturn in My Work?

Dear Lifehacker, I have been feeling frustrated with my job lately. My job is not as good as it used to be, my boss is doing my job, and I just can’t get excited about what I do. I love my job and want to stay it. Any suggestions on how I can get my energy and inspiration back to where they were before?

Regards, Waning Work Ethic

Blast From The Past is a weekly feature on Lifehacker in which we bring old but still relevant posts to life for your reading and hacking enjoyment. We are in a slump at work this week.

Dear Waning, we have all been there and it can be quite frustrating when you lose the excitement of what you are doing. For many people, this is simply because they are working in the wrong place. We’ve talked a lot about knowing when to quit and how to apply for a new job , but if you’re just having a temporary hiatus in a job that you enjoy, the decision is not so straightforward. Here are a few things you can do to make you feel the same again.

Find out what’s causing your recession

The first step is to find out exactly what drove you to this recession – there may be an easier solution than you think. Perhaps something is happening in your personal life that makes you exhausted, or maybe you just don’t eat right and don’t exercise . If something like that, you can attack the problem head-on. If you find it difficult to understand, we have put together a tool to help you schedule your days and find out what affects your mood and what can affect your work.

Try to work on something new

Often times, you could simply get too carried away with the routine and calm down. The best thing you can do is simply shift your focus at work: By breaking out of your routine, even a little, you can get you out of your recession and return to your best results.

If you’ve been working on the same projects for what seems like an eternity, you probably just got a little bored, let alone run out of inspiration. If your boss allows you, see if you can take on a different type of project that doesn’t necessarily fit your specialty, but you can still handle it. Alternatively, if you have time, try to take on new responsibilities in addition to your current workload. Maybe it’s doing a piece of someone else’s job that they can’t handle, or just learning a new skill that is relevant to your job (but which you always ignored because it wasn’t required). If you’re in a more severe downturn, you might even consider whether you can move to another department of the same company. Many companies are looking for internal candidates anyway , so it will be fairly easy to leave your current position without starting from scratch. Photo by Jeff Parsons .

Find a work friend (and start taking notes)

We often recommend finding a partner to keep you motivated in the gym, and the job is no different. Especially if you feel like you’re being bullied a lot at your job, it can help if someone tells you you’re cool and makes you feel good (plus it helps to have someone to empathize with bad things with. – half of your friends at the office probably go through the same thing as you).

However, you should still be prepared for criticism, whether it is criticism from your boss or from your work colleague. If you leave a meeting or project and feel that things are not up to par, tell them that you think things could have gone better and ask them what they think. They will probably have a couple of good suggestions. Take notes whenever you get criticized, and you’ll have a much more tangible list of things to work on the next time you sit down on a project. These recordings can keep you on your toes and return to continual improvement. Photo: Teaaching and Learning with Technology .

Regards, Lifehacker

PS Obviously, there is no one size fits all solution to the problem of widespread recession, so if you’ve ever gone through something like this, share your experience with us in the comments.

Photo by Catalin Petolia (Shutterstock).

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