How to get through the work week
Going to work on Monday can be tough. After a long weekend spent freely enjoying family and friends, there is nothing worse than being forced to sit in a particular spot and being told how you are going to spend your day. I am fortunate to actually enjoy working most of the time, but even for someone like me – settling in under the fluorescent lights on Monday can be a very depressing moment.
Lets face it – work is not always fun. I’ve written before about how nobody does what they actually like doing for work. I don’t hate my job, but it certainly is not how I would choose to spend my time. So how do I get from Monday to Friday each week?
Work does not need to be your passion, work enables you to do what you are passionate about.
People need to understand that work is not their life and as such they don’t have to love what they do, they just have to not hate it. Work is an enabler for your life. Work allows you to do the things you love. I love travel. Without my salary, I would be confined to mid-western camping trips and weekends with the folks. With my salary, I am able to save enough money to escape a few weeks a year and do what I truly love doing.
What is work enabling you to do? If you would rather be a teacher than go to your corporate office every day, what is the difference in your salary enabling you to do? Does it enable you to live in a better apartment, save more for your retirement, buy more Southwest tickets to visit friends and family, buy bottles at tables, maintain a large shoe collection? What does it enable you to do?
What is the next thing you are looking forward to that work has enabled you to do?
Knowing that work enables me to do things, isn’t enough to get me through the week. What are “things”? I certainly don’t get excited about things – I need to have something tangible in the future that I am going to do that work is enabling for me. Whether that is my next venture overseas or a big electronics purchase – what is that next thing that I am planning for that is going to make me happy. What is the “thing” that gets me out of bed when it is dark outside and my alarm is blaring?
You should always have something you are looking forward to that you couldn’t be doing if you didn’t have your job. Pause for a second and think to yourself – “what am I looking forward to?” – if you don’t instantly know, than you need to plan for something. From my personal experience it is nearly impossible to live day to day without having something to look forward to. I suggest going to either google maps and planning a trip or perhaps take a virtual trip over to Amazon to dream up something to buy yourself. Don’t even finish reading this post, go plan for something now!
What could you do differently at work to enable you to do more?
What could you do differently at work to enable you to do more? For me, the harder I work, the bigger my bonus and the larger my raise is. Showing up to work with a positive attitude and working extremely hard, enables me to do more than if I merely go through the motions. Because I work hard I am able to take more trips each year – this is not debatable - it is true.
When you show up to work on Monday and you absolutely don’t want to be there and are depressed, think of that day as being an opportunity to do something great and show management that you deserve more. The more focused you are at work and the harder you work – the more money you will make. The more money you make – the more you are able to do what you are truly passionate about.
Next time you are struggling to make it through the day remember, work is not supposed to be fun, it enables you to have fun. Think about the next big thing that work is enabling you to do. And lastly, if you stopped slouching in your desk chair, sat up straight and focused, imagine how much more you could be doing.
This post started off pretty depressing!
We only get to live life onc, so spending it doing something enjoyable instead of learning to deal with a less than interesting job is a far better approach to each day IMHO. That way, you enjoy your time here 365 days a year, instead of for the couple of weeks you get for vacation time.
@Daniel
The amazing world we live in did not build itself – it is a product of hard work by billions of individuals. We commonly call each person’s role in this complex puzzle their “Job”.
There are a countless number of jobs and only a small minority of them would be something that anyone would “choose” to do every day. Who wants to be a garbage collector? Assemble the same part for eight hours a day in a factory? Clean dishes? Nobody!
The point I am trying to make is that it is IMPOSSIBLE for every person to thoroughly enjoy their job. Everyone from our elementary school teachers to our college guidance counselors has contributed to setting the unrealistic expectation that someday each of us would find something we love doing and that we should do that the rest of our lives.
Rather than live a depressed life because going to work every day is not how you would “choose” to spend your time, I’m suggesting that people should focus on the positive aspects of their life that their job enables.
Like my friend said once: “I work in a job I hate so I can afford the things I don’t need.”