Food For Thought
I've made no secret of the fact that work has been hell lately. Actually, for quite a while.
This morning, it took 1/2 hour before I said, "I hate my job." That's actually pretty good; it hasn't been taking that long for the mood shift to negative.
I mentioned it to my friend Andrea and she asked, "When was the last time you actually had fun doing something at work?"
When, indeed? I thought back over the past few months, looked at my PDA for insight and honestly couldn't think of an occasion.
That was pretty depressing.
Fun isn't just about joking or playing, either. I have fun when I'm seeing progress on a project, coming up with a solution to a thorny issue and when I have the opportunity to complete a project all on my own. The latter is probably not the best thing to hear from a manager but I really enjoy being able to say I did something good by myself.
So, being a Type A, I decided I need to do something. It's just not productive to continue to be unhappy for so many hours out of the week. I thought of a few things I could do:
1. Look for a new job.
2. Change my attitude.
3. Change my work environment.
Since I haven't updated my resume since I started this job over eight years ago and I really like the company, option 1 is probably out.
Attitude change? That's possible. Sometimes, I just need to actively focus on the good stuff and not let the bad stuff get to me so much. And, there is some good stuff...though the bad does seem to be more prevalent this year.
Since I'm a manager right now, I actually have the opportunity to change the environment. This is probably where I'll focus my strategic moves. I can get back on our team building activities (which got dropped in our big integration project), zero in on employee improvement where it's needed and get the team to work on the low hanging fruit. A few small wins will go a long way towards getting back on a successful track.
OK, so I have a plan. The test will be when someone asks me that same question a month from now. I certainly hope I can find several instances of having fun at work.
This morning, it took 1/2 hour before I said, "I hate my job." That's actually pretty good; it hasn't been taking that long for the mood shift to negative.
I mentioned it to my friend Andrea and she asked, "When was the last time you actually had fun doing something at work?"
When, indeed? I thought back over the past few months, looked at my PDA for insight and honestly couldn't think of an occasion.
That was pretty depressing.
Fun isn't just about joking or playing, either. I have fun when I'm seeing progress on a project, coming up with a solution to a thorny issue and when I have the opportunity to complete a project all on my own. The latter is probably not the best thing to hear from a manager but I really enjoy being able to say I did something good by myself.
So, being a Type A, I decided I need to do something. It's just not productive to continue to be unhappy for so many hours out of the week. I thought of a few things I could do:
1. Look for a new job.
2. Change my attitude.
3. Change my work environment.
Since I haven't updated my resume since I started this job over eight years ago and I really like the company, option 1 is probably out.
Attitude change? That's possible. Sometimes, I just need to actively focus on the good stuff and not let the bad stuff get to me so much. And, there is some good stuff...though the bad does seem to be more prevalent this year.
Since I'm a manager right now, I actually have the opportunity to change the environment. This is probably where I'll focus my strategic moves. I can get back on our team building activities (which got dropped in our big integration project), zero in on employee improvement where it's needed and get the team to work on the low hanging fruit. A few small wins will go a long way towards getting back on a successful track.
OK, so I have a plan. The test will be when someone asks me that same question a month from now. I certainly hope I can find several instances of having fun at work.
