By Karen Gately
Do you struggle to get out of bed and go to work on Monday morning? Slogging through work life with little or no passion for what you do? You're far from alone.
Many people simply go through the motions, and yet everyone has the ability to choose a different reality.
Don't do it.Credit: iStock
The most important way to drive "Mondayitis" from your life is to take responsibility for your own spirit and make decisions that will allow you to thrive. Imagine for a moment your spirit as a ball filled with positive energy. The more energy contained within the ball, the stronger your spirit. The vitality, enthusiasm and drive you bring to your work is drawn from this reserve of positive energy. It is also from this energy source that you draw strength to keep striving through challenging times.
The decisions you make about the career path you follow, the people you work with and the conditions you accept, all influence the strength of your spirit and ultimately your success at work.
Here are six steps you need to take to ensure the strength of your spirit drives Mondayitis from your life for good:
1. Choose to thrive
How driven are you to create a rewarding and fulfilling work life? Only you can take the steps that will ensure you love your job and don't mind turning up, regardless of what day of the week it is. Are your expectations what they need to be, or are you simply accepting an ordinary standard of work experience?
2. Choose your attitude
You have the power to choose your thoughts and how you feel. Choosing to be engaged, to be optimistic, to look past irritations can all go a long way to allowing you to enjoy your job and workplace. Some days you simply need to save you from yourself and get on with it. The first step to doing that is listening to the conversations in your mind and the stories you tell yourself.
3. Understand yourself
Reflect for a moment on how well you really know yourself. A lot of people struggle to know what they are passionate about, let alone align their work life with those passions. Observe how you feel; what makes you happy, what frustrates you, what makes you want to keep trying or to give more? What energizes you and what drains you?
4. Leverage your strengths
Recognise what you are good at and look for opportunities to leverage those strengths at work. Of course, it's important to keep striving to improve, but the most likely way you will find passion and success is if you focus on your talents and leverage them. Our preferences are often reflected in the strengths we develop, so pay close attention to your achievements and what helped you to get there.
5. Understand how your workplace is impacting on you
The environment you work in unquestionably impacts your spirit and ultimately performance. How is your workplace influencing the strength of passion and energy you bring to work each day? Reflect on what and whom have an energising influence and equally the things and people who drain you of energy.
6. Take action
Ultimately the work life you create is a reflection of the decisions you make about what you want, what you will accept and what you are prepared to do. Take steps to create a fulfilling work life by first setting the standard of what you will accept and what you won't. Next, invest in yourself to build the capabilities you need to win your ideal job. Finally, have courage and don't let limiting beliefs hold you back from being the best possible version of yourself. Step out of your comfort zone and give things a go.
Karen Gately is a leadership and people-management specialist and a founder of Ryan Gately, a specialist HR consultancy practice in Melbourne. She is also the author of The People Manager's Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Getting The Best From People.