Too often, many people are too afraid to follow their dreams and do what they love the most. When you’re enjoying what you’re doing, you don’t feel like working at all. Not everyone needs a career that inspires deep passion or speaks to their individual values.
Take charge of your own growth by investing in your personal and professional development. I am very particular with continuous professional growth. It doesn’t mean you’re old, you couldn’t learn a thing or two anymore. If you can’t study at school, look for assignments that challenge your full potential. Look for opportunities and connections that you find valuable, even if your current employer isn’t creating those opportunities for you.
Receiving feedback about your work can provide positive reinforcement that makes you feel valued, or it can fill gaps in understanding and key skills that will help you do your job and adjust to your work environment more successfully. But employees who don’t receive this feedback from their managers often feel undervalued, unable to do their jobs, and unhappy at work.
One of the most serious causes of stress and unhappiness at work is failure to keep commitments. In many cases, employees spend more time making excuses for missing a commitment and worrying about the consequences of uncompleted tasks than the time they spend completing their work.
To manage stress levels and minimize unhappiness at work, create a system for keeping track of your commitments and managing your schedule. Stay organized enough to be able to quickly and accurately judge whether you can really commit to a request or new task. Don’t volunteer for side jobs or clerical tasks if you don’t have the time.
If your workload exceeds your available time and energy, don’t accept the unhappy status quo. Working in a toxic environment will increase your unhappiness, no matter how much you enjoy your job. Choosing to be happy at work means avoiding negative talk, gossip, and unhealthy work relationships as much as possible.
No matter how positive you feel, negative people have a profound impact on your psychological well-being. Conflict can be negative, however, when addressed openly, with positive communication, clear goals, and respect for your coworkers and supervisors, conflict can be a positive thing at work.
Practicing professional courage can also create new opportunities for you, whether in your current role or later in your career. And when you stand up for your ideas, goals and dreams, you feel proud of yourself and happy with your choices because you learned to be happy with what you have while working to achieve what you want.