Career Corner: Finding Passion for a Job that Has Grown Boring

You have been employed with your current job a long while, and you know what to expect in each workday. With nothing new left to learn, you’re having trouble staying engaged. Before you hand in your resignation to seek more exciting prospects, maybe all you need is a different perspective on your current position.

Dan Cable of the Harvard Business Review writes that while you of course have to achieve what you were hired for in your job description, that doesn’t that’s what you’re limited to. “Job crafting” can give you the fulfillment you crave by changing your behaviors rather than your job.

Find Ways to Use Your Strengths

Maybe you are an extrovert working in a job where you are in an office all day. Rather than resigning yourself to feeling deprived of utilizing what you consider one of your assets, find ways to take the initiative to use your strength.

Cable tells the story of a sales manager whose promotions left him detached from interacting with people. So the manager decided to go outside of the norm and visit clients in person rather than send an email or delegate the duty.

He was still accomplishing what he needed for the job, but now he was doing it in a way that played into his strength as a people person. How could you tweak your routine to play into your own strengths at work?

Nurture the Work Relationships that Inspire You

You can’t pick your leaders at work, which can sometimes result in personality clashes that you’re stuck with. Rather than dwell on this, you can instead make time to cultivate bonds with the people you have synergy with.

Cable recommends perhaps starting by sending some emails of gratitude to the people at work whose help you have appreciated in the past, even if they didn’t realize it. Nurturing the relationships that matter to you will counterbalance those more challenging people at your work.

Find Your Purpose

Your actual job might be filling out papers and forms most of the day, which feels impersonal and not satisfying. But perhaps you just need to take a step back to look at the bigger picture of what your efforts are going towards.

Cable recommends researching who your work is helping. What are they like? How are you making a difference for them? The more you can personalize what’s behind your work, the more it matters and will have a purpose for you.

Job-crafting takes practice and patience, but it could just be what helps you find something to love about that job you’ve grown bored with.

For more advice to help you find the passion for your job, be sure to read the Harvard Business Review’s article by clicking here.

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Wilmington University, the sponsor of BUCKSCO.Today’s Career Corner, is a private, open-access institution that serves the unique needs of more than 22,000 busy adults seeking advancement through higher education.

The most affordable private university in the Delaware Valley, WilmU is committed to the idea that finishing an undergraduate degree or obtaining a Master’s degree can be both affordable and accessible.

The University offers more than 200 accredited and career-relevant degree and certificate programs in flexible online and hybrid formats designed to accommodate any adult’s demanding work, family, and personal schedules.

Learn more about WilmU here or register to attend one of the school’s frequent webinars for an overview of programs, flexible scheduling options, affordable tuition, the admissions process, and more.

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