Frankly, it is time to look at your purpose at work, and what is driving you in your personal life as well.
Without purpose, one’s mental health and happiness is truly at stake.
Earlier this week, a good friend of mine called while on a “field trip” from the office. Her job description is that of “office administrator,” but today’s “field trip” involved running to the closest small town and picking up parts the workmen needed later that afternoon. When I asked her if she ran errands like this often, she replied, “Sometimes I volunteer because it is slow, and I just get so bored.”
In the past several weeks, the words “I am so bored at work” have landed on my ears multiple times. In my opinion, often people who say they are bored at work actually have so much to do, they just don’t know where to start. So, if that is the case, then there is a solution to that.
If one is truly bored at work, it is quite possible it’s a warning sign that should not be overlooked. Frankly, it is time to look at your purpose at work, and what is driving you in your personal life as well. Without purpose, one’s mental health and happiness is truly at stake.
At some point, I will admit, everyone gets bored at work, but usually those feelings take flight and disappear within a short time. And for some, work is just plain boring and monotonous based on their job duties, which cannot be changed, and that simply sucks. There is no way around it.
There are many reasons one can feel bored and those need to be looked at. Is there a chance you have too much idle time? When there is idle time, you probably find yourself thinking about what you are going to eat for lunch or why the neighbor mowed his lawn in circles rather than straight lines. With idle time come random thoughts, and that means it is time to perk up and ask for more responsibilities or have a talk with your manager about what you could add to your job requirements.
Are you still interested in your job? Perhaps you have been at your job for years, and it is no longer of interest to you, or your capabilities aren’t fully being utilized. For me, opening the coffee shop restarted the juices flowing my brain. It wasn’t as though I was bored at the job I held for 17 years, but the challenge had disappeared.
Opening a food business from the very ground up allowed my capabilities and potential to be tapped once again, and there was not a single second of boredom, ever. Everyone needs to have their strengths and talents utilized and be challenged at work.
There are a lot of jobs that require the same task being completed day in and day out. Pulling from previous staffing experience, many of our clients were manufacturers of furniture, cell phones, table bases, etc. Those types of jobs do require the same motions, and although that may sound boring to some, it is the perfect fit for others. But again, not the same type of boring.
Lastly, if you are in a job with no clear goals or little opportunity for growth and learning, there is a high chance boredom will set in. Companies need to provide those opportunities to grow and learn, but “bored” employees need to take the initiative to take advantage of these offerings.
In other words, are you creating your own boredom when really your work isn’t that boring? Are you passing up on opportunities to learn more and create a pathway of advancement? Work does not have to be boring, and in reality, it most likely isn’t. If you are bored, take a look at yourself and your job. Is this boredom fact or fiction?