A lot of my friends talk about how much they despise Sunday as they have to go back to work after their fun-filled weekend (In Nepal, a work week goes Sunday thru Friday, with Friday being a half-holiday). I, on the other hand, have never found myself dreading the beginning of the week.
It has been a year since I joined Whittaker Associates. Our office in Nepal is located in a very nice and lively atmosphere. I love my workplace, and my colleagues do too.
If you’re employed at an organization, there is one simple question that you must ask yourself. Do you like Mondays? If you answered “no”, you might find these tips useful.
1. Don’t just work to make money, work to make yourself.
If you are attending work every day with a sole purpose of making a living, then only God or these tips can help you! Don’t just concentrate on the monetary compensation that you are getting out of your job. Focus on other wonderful things that you are getting out of your work that may be useful in the long-run. For example, you are gaining experience and adding knowledge to your brain as you learn new things every day. In addition, you acquire new skills that will prove beneficial in the future. Hence, know that you are working not only to make money, but also to make yourself.
2. Be cordial with your colleagues and embrace their differences.
Not everyone is going to be like you and have similar opinions as yours. Your work mates can be of different races, religions, nationalities, etc, than yours. Their political inclination or even their sexual orientation may be different than yours. Learn to embrace their differences as everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Being cordial with your work mates is going to make your and their lives better along with the superior’s, which will eventually help to maintain that peaceful environment at your organization.
3. Accept that your workplace is like your second home.
I don’t mean you can start living there if you pick a fight with your spouse or anyone in your family, but if your workplace comes in mind when you are thinking of a refreshing place to go to, then that is a good sign. You spend a third of your day in your office every day. How can you not like the place where you spend so much of your time and still drag yourself to work every day? You must understand that work is a give and take process. You give your valuable time, expertise, and dedication in order to be able to gain compensation and other useful benefits. Therefore, know and accept your role at your organization. This will help you accept that your workplace is indeed like your second home.
4. Learn to love new challenges.
Everyone faces new challenges at their jobs every now and then. Meeting deadlines, balancing your work-load, meeting your client’s/superior’s expectations, handling a crisis, etc, may be some of the examples that you may have to face at your job. Learn to love these challenges, and more importantly, learn to love the feeling that you get when you have accomplished those challenges. That way, you will find yourself looking forward to facing even more challenges.
5. Balance your personal and professional life.
It can get overwhelming at times when the balance gets out of control and all we can do is try our best to balance our personal and professional lives. Therefore, our goal is to remain content, so that we can make everyone else in our lives content. Taking responsibility and fulfilling everyone else’s needs, be it someone from your personal or from your professional life, is the key. Maintaining this balance is extremely important in order to feel self-actualized later in life.
6. Groom well.
Needless to say, you should groom well and look presentable every day. This will not only make you feel good about the way you look, but also will help boost your self-confidence, hence, making you more secure in your work and abilities.
7. Ignore unnecessary people and activities.
Sometimes, a work place may not be very pleasant, no matter how hard you try, due to some external reasons. There may be some unpleasant people around and some unnecessary activities going on. If you don’t like it, then try to ignore it. Focus on your work and tasks at hand.
In conclusion, a typical 40-hour work week can be as interesting as you want it to be if you are ready and able to grip the above mentioned tips. Good luck!!