If you are feeling down and out at work, it is probably from one of three things:
- you don’t like the job you have;
- you don’t like the people you work with; or
- your current work conditions (layoffs, pay cuts, lack of raises) have you feeling blue.
We generally wallow in self pity or blue spirits without defining why our morale is low. Take responsibility for identifying why you are unhappy at work.
If you don’t like the job that you do, then the choices are clear. You either have to find another job or spend time on the educational front learning how to do something new.
If you don’t like the people that you work with, then you have three options. You can either learn to live with it or find another position in the same company on a different team or in a new company altogether.
If you are suffering from low morale due to current company conditions, determine to change your attitude. It is a simplistic concept. Choose to be satisfied with the position and pay that you have. Choose to accept your circumstances and revel in them. Choose to like where you are and make the best of it. Find people at your work with a great attitude and spend more time with them. Surround yourself with positive and successful people. Find positive things about your job that you like and remind yourself of those things more often than you allow yourself to think of the negatives.
Perspective is how you see the world. You can alter that perspective at any given point. Spending a day at a local homeless shelter or the cancer ward of a children’s hospital can help you to instantly alter that perspective. Our low morale comes from a perspective that is centered around us. Spending time in and around someone else’s world helps us to alter our perception of our reality. Our reality is relative. When we visit with those suffering from a harsh reality, ours seems to be much more livable.
Choose to determine why your morale at work is low and choose to change it. Choice is one of the things that you completely control.
Bethany Williams is an expert in business development, personal branding, and healthcare operations. She has held high level positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Perot Systems Corporation, GE Healthcare, and IDX Systems Corporation. Williams shares her stories and helpful tips on career success in her book, Winning Strategies for Women, and a popular motivational blog. She volunteers as a life coach and mentor for employees around the globe through her website and personal one-to-one visits. She currently works as an executive at a big four accounting firm, and speaks on branding, career planning, and women in business. She lives in Dallas with her husband, Michael, and her three children. You can find her on the web at www.bethanywilliams.org.
