The Pathways Series: Positive Journeys

Positive Journeys

Are you satisfied in your job? Do you feel appreciated, respected and appropriately rewarded for your efforts? Sadly, there are many who do not have such a luxury. After all who dreams of sitting at a desk day after day drowning in paperwork or dealing with members of the public, swiping grocery barcodes and ending most transactions with the immortal robotic words “Would you like cash back?”

A dream career is not always the possible choice but is is possible to work at job satisfaction. The key resides in both your expectations and attitude and these vary depending upon whether you have a job (the appeal predominantly financial) or a career (the appeal often progression and promotion). What is important is to identify the expectations you require to feel satisfied at work. The foundations for a satisfying job can include self-awareness, variety, your attitude, challenges and a sense of purpose.

Your self-awareness depends on identifying your strengths and weaknesses and choosing a job that will be geared to what you are proficient at. Your personality traits are also a factor to take into account – what motivates you and what de-motivates you? What do you value most? Your preferences and what the work will entail will reveal how much satisfaction you can achieve

Challenges are a strong motivational force even within a mundane environment. For example: improving your performance by trying to exceed your previous “best”, stretching yourself by requesting additional responsibilities and taking advantage of staff training days to glean ideas and new skills (rather than just mentally playing “Hackneyed Phrase Bingo”).

Being without challenges leads to lack of interest and inevitable boredom. Boredom is probably your own worst enemy so deal with it! Maybe ask to switch to a different department that requires your skills or learn new skills but at least change your attitude! Sitting there silently repeating “I'm bored” will only lead to a sense of low morale. Find something to alter your perspective – change where you sit, go out for lunch instead of going to the staffroom – expand your contacts by striking up conversations with those in other departments. Remember, even if your job is pretty boring, think about the purpose it is serving others.

Ultimately it is PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) that will make the greatest difference. Anger, frustration and depression lead straight to dissatisfaction in everything. PMA requires a lot of mental work but, as time goes by, you can alter your perceptions. Put the things that happened that day into context and do not dwell on setbacks! Change negative thoughts by finding the positive element of an event remembering that mistakes are ways of learning and that an obstacle is in fact a challenge to be won!

 

By Sig Nordal,Jr.