“He who has a Why to live for, can bear almost any how”
Viktor Frankl (from Nietzsche)
(1) Learn something new
Even if you’re at the seemingly, most monotonous job devised in the entire planet, try to create the possibility of learning something new within it. There are a myriad of ways to do this. At the simplest, it’s honing a work task you are already doing, or improving your personal pace in which you complete this task.
If work time absolutely doesn’t permit learning while at work (insert facepalm emoji), use your lunch break to study something of interest. Coursera is an example of a website where you can access hundreds of diverse professional development or simply personal-curiosity courses. From the Indigenous History of Canada to AI Machine Learning, plenty of the courses listed are free unless you want certification at completion. Block out your Wednesday lunchtime every week for study and you’ll look forward to the time every week instead of dreading it.
(2) Set Wednesday as intention day
Just like the study idea above, Wednesday is now your intention day.
Every Wednesday before work for example, add something new to your exercise routine. What’s that? You don’t have an exercise routine!? Well, Wednesdays are a great place to start!!! Even if you hate exercise or are limited in what you can do, try a walk around the block every Wednesday morning before work. Even mild exercise triggers the release of serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that are associated with more positive mood. Numerous studies also demonstrate that optimism is positively correlated to the amount of exercise you do. If you can start the day feeling more positive and optimistic, surely that 2 hour afternoon update meeting will be more bearable.
Whatever your intention is, It should leave you feeling genuinely good about yourself or, if it’s set for after work, something you are going to look forward to every week. Remember, as Da Vinci is famously quoted, “Being willing is not enough, we must do”. So, don’t just have the intention, implement it!
Image courtesy of Pixabay
(3) Change your mindset
Okay, easier said than done I know, so let’s be more specific.
You are responsible for your feelings. Your environment / your boss isn’t solely to blame. One way to change your feelings is to change your thoughts. This is the foundations of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) adopted almost universally in one form or another by psychologists. So…,what are you telling yourself about Wednesdays that make them feel so damn long? I’ll give you some examples to consider...
(i) Is it that you are thinking that the weekend is so far away? In this case, you must have something amazing to look forward to on the weekend, right? Well, this is a great thing neurologically speaking, as you have excited cognitive energy to burn. Try and find something within your workday that you can apply this excited energy to, and your day will fly by. Note that you don’t need to find something as exciting as what the weekend will hold, just something you can apply your excitement to.
(ii) Maybe it is that you think that your work is boring / unstimulating? Humans have a tendency to generalise our perceptions of reality in order to navigate the world more efficiently. This generalising, though, is a cognitive flaw that can leave you believing that the whole of your work sucks when really it is just few things about it. Okay, maybe it’s 90%, I don’t know. In this case, seek out that 10% that doesn’t and be sure as hell to reflect on, or do these things on a Wednesday.
(iii) Or, is it the most frequent of complaints of dissatisfaction at work; your boss? I’m sorry you have a horrible boss, I really am. I can’t change this and maybe you can’t either right now. So what is in your control here? Remember, your thoughts affect your feelings so take control of your thoughts. As surprising as it might seem, no-one can make you feel anything. I must say this to almost everyone of my clients at some time or another. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of believing that it is someone else’s fault that you are feeling inadequate, disrespected, unimportant, or even unloved at work or elsewhere. The slap in the face is that it’s not. It is your perception of other people and events that leave you feeling a certain way. So change the unhelpful thoughts that you are thinking about your boss. Take personal responsibility for the value that you are placing on what your boss says. Is it really as important as you are making it out to be? Will what they just said matter as much in a year’s time?
Take personal responsibility for the choice that you are making to stay at your job (see 5.). It’s not your boss’ fault that you continue to work there if you don’t want to (often quite the opposite in fact ironically). Face any resentment you feel head-on.
(4) Take a plant to work Wednesday
Preparation is the key to success. So, arm yourself with everything you have if you know midweek is going to be rough. Chances are if you’re reading this you’ve been at your same workplace a while and your desk is set up just-so from the first week you started. Unfortunately, the brain stops attending to repeated information after a while as it’s not beneficial to your survival. So give your brain some new material to process. Take a new drawing that one of your kids did each Wednesday to put up next to your computer or a new photo of someone important to you or somewhere special. Alternatively, bring in a diffuser and get some essential oils to freshen up your senses. Trial some different oils to see which brightens your mood.
Alternatively, buy four new pot plants from home and bring in a new one each Wednesday. Create a cycle of the four plants so that they get sun at your home for three weeks so they can endure a week of dungeon living at your desk. Plants release valuable oxygen to your environment and as a result of this and perhaps just their visual appeal, are reported to improve cognitive skills such as concentration, and also reduce stress and anxiety.
(5) Ask the question...
Now..., there is a premise somewhere in this article, and actually in the whole concept of Wednesday-humpday, that you don’t like working in your current job, right? Or is it simply that you prefer your life outside of work to your life at work?
Well, if either of these ring true to you then you’re not alone, though this doesn’t need to be the case. Here is a question I suggest you ask yourself; Are you, in some way, in some capacity, acting towards making your work-life more enjoyable or making it AS enjoyable as your non-work-life? And, if you are not, then why not? We live in an age where career changes at any age are almost a necessity rather than a choice, and there are more avenues for alternative income production than at any time in the past. The days of 9-5 are past for many. Why are you not pursuing something that you have always wanted to do? Money? Fear of failure? Of judgment? Something else? I encourage you to speak to a good friend/ psychologist / mentor / whoever about these. These are not insurmountable barriers to you being happier at work and in life.
Job satisfaction is a fascinating topic that has plagued economists and psychologists in the face of dissatisfied employees. The predictable doesn’t hold true in the research results. Money doesn't improve job satisfaction after a point, working as a garbage-man isn’t the least satisfying job, etc. What does predict job satisfaction more than anything else is the meaning that you place on your work. So, finally, find your why. Take personal responsibility and find or make meaning in your employment, current or your next.
Take care people.
Tristan