How to find more joy in your work
A question I get asked a lot by my coaching clients or the people I chat to over on Instagram is this: how can I find more joy in my work? And I get it - we spend an awful lot of our waking time at work, and we often see our colleagues more than we see our own families.
Given that, finding more joy in our work can be a super effective way of boosting the overall levels of joy and contentment in our lives. And so I thought I’d dedicate a whole post today to all of my very best tips and tricks to help you do exactly that...
Focus on the good
Let’s start with a simple question - what do you like about your job? Do you have a good commute? Do you work with nice people? What tasks do you enjoy most? Does it help you to afford the things that are important to you?
It’s easy to focus on the negative aspects of our work (and every job has them!), but by forcing yourself to think about what you like about your job, you’ll instantly start to shift your mindset to focus on the good.
Celebrate your achievements
We work so hard towards our goals, but how often do you actually stop to celebrate your achievements after all that effort? Instead of taking the time to give ourselves a pat on the back we rush straight on to the next milestone, but pausing to celebrate can massively improve the amount of joy we find in our work.
Try to make the effort to mark those achievements - whether it’s treating yourself to a fancy cup of coffee or celebrating with your team. You could also consider keeping an achievement log, writing down everything you’ve achieved at the end of each week.
Notice your productivity patterns
Another way to greatly improve the amount of joy you find in your work is to identify your productivity patterns and plan your day around them. For example, if you’re a morning person, can you rearrange your schedule so that you do your trickiest work earlier in the day?
This is something I started doing a few years ago and it made a huge difference to the enjoyment of my work. Everything feels a little easier when you’re working with your productivity patterns instead of against them.
Get some balance and set some boundaries
When you do work that you really enjoy, it’s tempting to fill every spare hour with that work. I’ve certainly been guilty of this in the past, staying late at the office, checking my emails while I was on holiday, or working on projects at the weekend. But the truth is, you need to spend some time away from your work to truly enjoy it.
Try to draw some boundaries between your work and your life - maybe it’s committing to weekends away from your laptop, or deleting your work emails from your phone so that you’re not tempted to check them. Having that time away from work will improve your productivity, stay focused and keep enjoying what you do.
Separate your self-worth from your job
My final tip to help you find more joy in your work is to make a conscious effort to separate your self-worth from your job. It’s so easy to tie your identity to what you do for a living, but the truth is you are so much more than your work.
You are a dynamic, unique, individual human, with hobbies and relationships and achievements that have nothing to do with your career. Try to think about yourself as a whole human, rather than just your job title. Easing that pressure will help you to enjoy your work all the more.
There you have it - my best tips to help you find more joy in your work. Do you have any other tips to add to the list?
