6 Reasons Why You Feel Bored At Work And How To Stop It
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Do you wish your job wasn’t dull? You aren’t the only one who feels that way about their work. A survey from OfficeTeam asked regular workers and senior managers how many hours they felt bored. All professionals said approximately 10 hours every week. Furthermore, about 40% of these workers said they’d quit if they found their work boring
Feeling annoyed or unhappy at your job is never a good idea. Boredom could be the reason why you’re questioning your line of work. However, your boredom might not be as authentic as it seems. You’d be surprised how easy it is to turn the switch and motivate yourself. With the proper technique, you can make your work feel more fun and worthwhile than ever before. Want to know more? Here’s why you’re feeling bored at work and how to stop it from happening.
Six reasons you’re feeling bored at work
You may lose passion or excitement at your job for many reasons. In particular, these six can be found in any office and work environment imaginable. Whether you crunch numbers or write blogs, here are six reasons you’re starting to feel uninspired.
1. You become idle at work.
The last thing you want to do at work is to wait for your next project. The longer you stay idle and inactive, the easier it is to lose your drive. Imagine that you have an upcoming delivery for your house, and you wait all day, only for it to be canceled. Your hopes will fade, and your excitement will fall into disappointment. That’s what happens you stay idle at work. The longer you find yourself without any task, the more frustrated you’ll become.
2. You keep doing the same tasks.
For many office workers, the most significant cause of boredom is the repetitive cycle. You might notice how tiresome it can be to do the same thing every day. You might feel stuck in a rut from logging into work to submitting a daily report.
The problem with repetition is that you risk losing interest in your job. It’s easier to start feeling bored at work when you tend to fall into a rut. You might be so comfortable with the work that you don’t feel any more engagement from daily tasks and objectives.
3. You feel tired at work.
Sometimes, you enter work without the right energy to start. Perhaps you spent all night preparing for the morning. Alternatively, you might’ve struggled to sleep longer than an hour. Whatever causes you to feel tired could also make you bored at work. You don’t have enough emotional fuel to concentrate, so you can’t focus on your tasks. If you have burnout, you might find a job so tiring that you don’t want to return.
4. You quickly lose interest in your tasks.
What you choose to do for a living is essential in making work feel special. Did you imagine that you’d be spending eight-hour shifts in the office? Perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find interest in your job. You might enjoy the challenge of learning about finance or accounting.
However, if you quickly notice you’re not interested in these tasks, you’ll immediately start to feel bored. For you, work becomes a chore that you deal with. The reason why you’re feeling bored at work could be the lack of challenge or progress. When you can’t enjoy your job or the tasks it has, you’ll eventually want to give up or walk away from it.
5. You don’t feel like you’re contributing.
Knowing what your goal is at work is essential for performance. You need to feel that your profession leads to something better. For example, you might be using your job as a chance to explore the world; or maybe you accepted the job because it trains you on how to be an expert in your field. If you don’t know why you are doing your job, you’ll quickly fall out of the honeymoon phase. You wil likely start feeling bored at work when you lose your purpose. In time, you might want to call it quits at work and leave for something better.
Why is it wrong to feel bored at work?
Once you know why you feel bored at work, it’s crucial to understand how dangerous it can be. Your profession could cause serious mental and emotional problems without proper inspiration and engagement. Here are some ways that boredom at work can take a toll on you.
Burnout
When you feel bored at work, you risk entering burnout. Picture yourself sitting at the desk for eight hours. You’ll get upset and unhappy if you don’t do anything productive. You’ll burn your passion and energy when you think negatively about your work. Soon, you might want to avoid work altogether.
ou’ll burn your passion and energy when you think negatively about your work. Soon, you might want to avoid work altogether.
Poor productivity
Aside from burnout, boredom at work can lead to productivity problems. The survey by OfficeTeam asked workers what they wanted to do when they felt bored. Their answers included browsing the web, playing with colleagues, daydreaming in their cubicles, and acting interested in front of their bosses. You might notice how unproductive these activities may be. That’s one issue with feeling bored at work; you might look for fun ways to occupy your time. These activities don’t have any real benefits to your job, so you waste time you could use for your tasks.
Self-esteem issues
Lastly, feeling bored at work could cause self-esteem problems. You might feel listless and directionless in your life. When you have a job you don’t think is necessary, you’ll lose confidence in your abilities and choices. It’s crucial to recognize this because you might believe that work is a bad thing. You aren’t happy because you don’t feel enough engagement at work to do better.
Take short breaks.
Working for four hours straight before your lunch break is not fun. You could quickly grow tired within the first hour alone. Stretching your focus and motivation longer than necessary could lead to boredom and disinterest. Give yourself a break from time to time. For example, take ten minutes to rest your mind or stretch your body after two hours of work. It’s a simple and easy way to re-energize both physically and mentally.
Change your routine or quota.
Monotony at work can cause you to feel bored and unhappy with your tasks. Don’t let yourself get stuck in a rut. Instead, consider doing different challenges or tasks on occasion in your workplace. Perhaps you can talk to your boss about helping with other jobs or activities.
How to avoid feeling bored at work
Now it’s time to help you fight back against the feeling of apathy in your workspace. Finding the right way to overcome boredom can help reignite your passion. Here are seven useful tactics you can use to stay inspired and motivated:
- Take short breaks.
- Change your routine or quota.
- Team up and delegate with your colleagues.
- Organize your workspace and desk.
- Relax with music and meditation.
- Walk around the room or the street.
- Re-examine your work motivations.
For example, a writer who makes five blogs a week could suggest spending a day or two on email campaigns and SEO research. It freshens up the routine and allows them a short rest before they redo their previous tasks. Alternatively, you could challenge yourself to do more outputs than usual. Going back to the example, a writer could aim to make ten blogs weekly instead of five.
Team up and delegate with your colleagues.
You’re not the only one at the office who might feel apathetic. Your coworkers might also need some motivation to reignite their interest at work. Consider teaming up with your colleagues to do tasks or small projects together. By having a second or third opinion, you can all learn new things about your roles at work and how they affect one another. You could also delegate tasks to new team members to teach them how their outputs will look. It’s an excellent way to stay productive and bond with your colleagues over time.
Organize your workspace and desk.
If you feel that you don’t have any work to do, why not use your time for something more productive? Take a look at your workspace and see if it’s a mess. You could use your work time to improve the look and structure of your office into something more organized. For example, you can discard old papers or arrange files on a single shelf. You could also buy whiteboards and calendars to help you visualize your upcoming projects.
Relax with music and meditation.
Sometimes, you need more than just a break. You might need some time to shut off your mind to recharge. That’s the beauty of meditation at work. There are many videos on YouTube that you can use to recenter your focus. These guided meditations help you relax and concentrate on things outside of work. Doing so allows you time to refocus and remember where you are in life. You could also relax by listening to your favorite songs; by hitting your playlists, you could unwind and feel the music’s nostalgia before diving back into work.
Walk around the room or the street.
Another way to energize yourself is by exercising your body. A bit of movement in and out of the office could be what your mind needs. An excellent short exercise could help you release all the emotional frustration and stress. In addition, taking time to work out at work enables you to stay fit and healthy. One recommendation is to walk around the office building or the block. It’ll help you stretch your legs and give you time to enjoy the sights beyond your cubicle.
Re-examine your work motivations.
This last tip might sound more complicated than the others, but it’s pretty easy to accomplish. You need to write down what pushes you to work every single day. Perhaps you are building your skills or providing for your family. Whatever the reason, write down the top three things that motivate you at work. Use a sheet of paper and, once you finish, pin it by your desktop or cubicle.
Now you have a visual reminder about why you are working. It’s easy to lose focus and wonder why you’re still working. By seeing what pushes you to do well at your job, you can build enough energy to get through the day.
Motivation is driven with energy and lacking energy also correspond to lack of motivation, here’s a video on how to keep your energy high and avoid feeling bored at work.
In summary
Boredom at work can cause you to lose motivation and productivity over time. It’s not easy to push through your daily tasks when you aren’t inspired to do so. You might feel bored at work because of too much free time, lack of interest, and the feeling that your task isn’t significant enough. If you feel bored at work, you risk burning out your mental energy and doubting your role in the team.
To stop this, you can follow the recommendations above on how to relax and re-inspire yourself. Examples of these tips include relaxing with music, teaming up with coworkers, and writing down your motivations for working. By following these tips, you can overcome the feeling of boredom and get back to work in a healthier, happier mindset.
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- CPA Practice Advisor. (2017, October 30). Are Your Workers Bored? Survey Shows Workplace Boredom Hits 10 Hours Per Week.
- Edwards, D. Accessed on July 22, 2022. The Top 10 Benefits of Exercise At Work. Primal Play.
- Ho, L. (2022, March 15). Bored at Work? Here’s Why And What To Do. Lifehack.
- Hughes, A. Accessed on July 22, 2022. 7 Things You Can Do to Avoid Getting Bored At Work. Coburg Banks.
- Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, March 2). How To Stop Feeling Bored at Work. Indeed Career Guide.
- Scoro. Accessed on July 22, 2022. 7 Reasons Why You Might Be Bored at Work.
- Zen Habits. Accessed on July 22, 2022. 30 Things to Do to Keep From Getting Bored Out of Your Skull at Work.
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