More than half of all working Americans (52.3 percent) are currently unhappy with their jobs. Are you part of this group?
Sometimes, when you’re unhappy with your job, it’s a sign that you need to change your workplace or your role at your company. Other times, though, the change doesn’t need to be that drastic.
You might just need to make some adjustments to your lifestyle to start feeling more positive when you arrive at the office.
Read on for some tips that will help you go to work happy every day. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feeling going to work after you implement some of these strategies:
Start Your Day on the Right Foot
We’ve all been there. You sleep until the last possible second, have to sprint in and out of the shower to get ready on time, burn your tongue on your coffee as you’re running out the door — that’s not exactly a recipe for a positive mood, is it?
If this sounds like your morning routine, you might need to make some changes. Try setting your alarm 10-15 minutes earlier than usual. This will give you a little extra time to ease into your day and actually enjoy your coffee (and preserve your tastebuds while you’re at it).
Meditate
Meditation is a great tool to help you find peace of mind and feel more at ease as you go about your day. People who meditate tend to be happier and experience fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.
If you’ve never meditated before, try starting with just five minutes per day. Even one minute is better than nothing at all. There are lots of free apps you can download that will help you get started and learn the basics.
Increase Your Comfort
Sometimes, all you need to do to feel happier at work is to make some changes to your workspace.
Maybe you need to get a cushion to make your chair more comfortable or a new keyboard that’s better for your wrists.
A few decorations from home could help to brighten things up around the office. According to the folks at BloomsyBox for offices, having fresh flowers in your workspace can be helpful as well.
Try bringing in pictures of your family, your pets, or other loved ones, too. This can boost your mood and remind you of why you’re working so hard.
Avoid Negative Conversations
It’s really easy to get wrapped up in workplace gossip. If everyone else is in the breakroom badmouthing the boss, you might be tempted to join in. Do your best to stay away from these negative conversations, though.
Contrary to popular belief, engaging in gossip and negativity likely will not make you feel better about your job. It might make you more aware of some problems that you never knew existed.
Automate What You Can
If you’re feeling burned out at work, you might be dealing with decision fatigue. Decision fatigue, as the name suggests, occurs when you have too many decisions to make during the day and your brain can’t handle them all.
To overcome decision fatigue, try to automate as many aspects of your life as you can.
For example, you can and prep your meals for the week on Sunday so you know exactly what you’re going to eat each day. When you’re buying clothing for work, you can also buy items that are easy to mix and match so that you don’t have to waste time choosing your outfit.
Make a Friend
If you don’t have any friends at work, it can be much harder to look forward to going to the office each day. Making friends as an adult can be challenging, but it’s definitely not impossible.
Is there anyone who works in your department you feel close to or with whom you’ve had fun or interesting conversations in the past? Maybe you could ask them out for drinks or invite them to have lunch with you one day.
It might feel awkward to ask at first, but they’ll likely be happy you reached out and will be more than willing to take you up on your offer.
Help Someone Else
Another great way to make a friend at work is to help someone out.
Is there a new person in your office who is learning the ropes? Maybe you can be their guide while they get the feel of the place.
Even if a friendship doesn’t result from you helping someone else out at work, you’ll still likely feel better and have a more positive attitude regarding your job. Serving others is one of the best ways to feel happier.
End Your Day with Gratitude
Another great way to boost your mood and feel happier is to engage in a daily gratitude practice.
By ending your workday with gratitude, you’ll remember that there are positive parts of every day, even the days that don’t seem so great.
Even if you just think of one thing you’re grateful for before you leave the office, you’ll likely feel much better.
Know When to Jump Ship
Finally, know when you need to just move on to a different job.
Start by implementing some of these other, simpler strategies. If they don’t work and you’re still not feeling as happy at your job as you’d like to be, you might need to start searching for something new.
If nothing else, the process of searching for a new job might bring a smile to your face and give you something to look forward to during the day.
Need More Tips to Go to Work Happy?
As you can see, there are a lot of different strategies you can put in place to go to work happy each day.
By making some simple changes to your lifestyle and your workspace, you can make positive changes and improve the way you feel when you’re at the office.
Do you want to learn some other tips to feel happier? If so, we’ve got lots of other resources on our site just for you.
Check out the Happiness section of our site today to learn more.