There’s this tendency to complain about work. We hate our overbearing bosses, that gossipy colleague, and our lackluster jobs. With so much work stress, we tend to forget that there are also things to be grateful for. This may sound like naïve sentimentalism, but it’s true.
The past months, I have been listing down daily the things I’m grateful for at work. I started to do this when I realized that an extreme mental makeover was in order. I was complaining too much and accomplishing too little. I was nit-picking about nit-pickers and being aggressive towards offensive workmates.
The Last Straw?
I was ready to hand in my resignation papers when a well-meaning and very wise friend told me that maybe what I needed was a new mental state and not a new job. She wasn’t just being a perky Elmo. She knew that I liked what I was doing and that this type of job gave me loads of time for my extra-curricular activities.
She hinted that I may be letting my feelings decide for me, instead of approaching the problem in a more rational manner. So that’s what I did. Here’s what I discovered during my spring cleaning:
I’m grateful for all the stressful people I encounter every work day.
Yeah, you read that right. Thank you for all the types of people I meet at work – the complainer, the micro-manager, the professional who’s really a bum but gets away with it anyway. I’m not being sarcastic. Meeting all these types of people builds your character.
How you react when faced with all these stressors says so much about you. Do you react with patience and compassion? Or are you aggressive or passive-aggressive? Dealing with different personalities lets you discover things about yourself.
Find the Value in Work
In the future you might be dealing with more than these people; consider the present as your training ground. In addition, stressors in your life give you the opportunity to become more valuable to the people around you. Instead of complaining and joining the bandwagon of negativity, be the motivator and the optimist. Think of solutions, be excellent in your job, and set the standard for everyone else in your office.
I’m grateful for having a job that adds value to my life.
Think about it: these people hired you because they need your services. You might be the big boss at a huge company or at the bottom of the supply chain; it doesn’t matter. The thing is, you were placed where you are for a reason. Now, it’s up to you what you’re going do with it.
You can do sub-par work and dismiss your work as worthless (“it’s not appreciated anyway!”), or you can make lemonade out of lemons. You can be the best that you can be wherever you are. You don’t know when all your hard work will pay off.
Also, free yourself from the shackles of wanting to get outside appreciation from the big bosses and your co-workers. Why slave for applause when you can be the one to give it to someone else? There’s ALWAYS an opportunity to be valuable. It doesn’t have to be directly connected to the work that you do. Perhaps a colleague needs help or just needs a kind word. Be on the lookout for occasions that you can be of value to the people you’re working with.
An Experimental Work in Progress
The result of this little experiment of mine isn’t phenomenal by world standards. I’m still at my cubicle doing the same work. But there’s less to complain about, and I don’t dread going to work every day like I used to.
Oh I still have that tendency to act all negative, and I still laugh about Dilbert workplace sarcasm, but I can say that all in all, I’ve also handled the stress better. I have more energy for all the other important things in my life, too. If you can’t be grateful about these two things yourself, at least be thankful that you have a job in the first place.
Whatever it is you’re doing, you can choose to be grateful.
| This is a guest post from Nancy Perkins. You can find her on the web on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Feel free to contact her for guest posts – just watch out for links that change once you post it! :) |