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5 Steps to Thrive in Your Job

Do you feel like your job is a necessary evil? Learn how to transform your view of your current job and truly thrive in it.

Table of Contents

Do You Should Change Jobs?

Let’s first talk about whether it might be worth changing jobs. I believe there are only 2 reasons that should make this an obvious choice.

  1. The company you work for has values that clash with yours.
    This will lead to an inner conflict, and if this is the case, you should change jobs immediately. For example, I could never work for a candy manufacturer, as marketing products I see as harmful to children would conflict with my values.

  2. The people you work with have a significant negative impact on you.
    This is not an excuse to change jobs if you don't like your boss or a colleague. There’s a good chance this could change if you adjust your mindset (which we will return to). However, if the people you work with consistently have a negative attitude, and you are not strong enough (yet) to uplift them, it may be worth finding a new job.

If this is not the case for you, we are ready to move on.

What Can You Do to Transform Your View of Your Current Job?

1. Change Your Mindset

If you have any hope of changing how you view your job, this point is critical. There’s no point in moving on to the other points if you don’t succeed with this.

To change how you view your job, you cannot see it as a dead end; you must dig up the benefits and appreciate them.

Here are some tips on what you might be grateful for:

  • You are learning new skills (think also about "meta-skills" such as punctuality, learning how to learn, sales, and social relationships)
  • You work with nice people
  • You are building a valuable network
  • You work indoors when it’s cold outside
  • You work outdoors and have warm clothes
  • You get to meet nice customers
  • You get free coffee/snacks
  • You get to use your body

Instead of thinking of the job as a dead end, you must view it as a springboard. It can absolutely become one, but it requires that you change your mindset first.

Don’t think of this as the job you will have forever; think of it as a starting point and a platform to learn and build skills and networks that you can benefit from later in your career.

That’s good enough for now.

Steve Jobs took a calligraphy course in college that gave him a unique opportunity to design the fonts on Apple’s first computers.

Maybe the customer you meet every week will become an investor in your startup in 3 years.

Maybe your job as a waiter will give you a unique foundation to start your own restaurant.

Maybe your skills as a carpenter will enable you to build a school for children in South America.

Maybe your job as a newspaper delivery person will give you the capital you need to take an online course that lays the foundation for an amazing career.

We are notoriously bad at predicting the future and will only manage to connect the dots when looking back.

2. Become the Best at What You Do

Too many of us think the world owes us a meaningful job, and that we need to find a job where we can use our passion.

Have you seen how many people have become Personal Trainers in recent years?

There’s a good chance they have followed the advice "Follow Your Passion". This phrase has 751 million hits on Google.

The harsh reality is that very few of us have a passion that is useful in the job market.

Instead, I would argue that you can develop a passion for your work.

Does that sound far-fetched?

It starts with a simple choice.

Most people who thrive at work have made a choice to become excellent at their job and look for opportunities to improve their work.

They are making progress toward a goal.

Passion comes only after you put in the hard work to become skilled at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you work with is much less important than how you do it.

— Cal Newport, "So Good They Can't Ignore You"

No one owes you a fantastic job. We must earn that through hard work.

By building valuable skills over time and becoming the best at what we do, we acquire career capital that allows us to shape our job as we wish.

The challenge is that this requires time and effort that few are willing to invest upfront.

By choosing to become the best at what you do, you will transform how you view your job.

Image of Sebastian Coman Photography from Pexels

Become the best chef in the world.

Become the best plumber in the world.

Become the best receptionist in the world.

Become the best in your field.

Immediately, you might ask yourself, "What would the best in my field do?", and you have a meaningful goal and a concrete path to work toward.

3. Create Your Own Meaning

It’s important for us to feel that our job is of use to others.

This meaning in work is easy to see for paramedics, emergency room nurses, or firefighters.

If you look, I’m sure you can also find meaning in your job.

I’ve seen cleaners who pour their soul into their work every day and shine for those they meet.

I’m lucky to have a bus driver who greets me with a wide smile at 5:29 AM and spices up the bus ride with "tour guide" comments.

I know caretakers who look forward to fixing problems for others every morning.

I’ve been shaved by a barber who takes pride in delivering a perfect shave and experience.

I know receptionists who see their job as a golden opportunity to give someone a compliment or a friendly smile.

A telling parable tells about 3 workers who were laying bricks. A famous architect passed by and asked the three workers, "What are you doing?"

The first replied: "I’m laying bricks."

He had a job.

The second was asked the same question, and replied, "I’m building a wall."

He had a career.

The third worker was asked the same question.

He replied, "I’m building a church."

He had a calling.

Do you have a job, a career, or a calling?

4. Build Better Relationships at Work

The people we spend time with every day have a major impact on our routines.

We can harness this.

Is there someone at work you would like to spend more time with?

Is there someone you don’t know very well?

Is there a customer you meet daily that it could be worth having a pleasant chat with?

Could you get a good friend to apply for a job at the same company?

By building new relationships or changing existing relationships, you can create a work environment where you thrive.

Image of Artem Podrez from Pexels

This requires you to put yourself out there, which is easier said than done.

Just like most other things worth doing in life.

5. Use Your Strengths More

It’s perhaps not surprising that we feel better in situations where we can use our natural strengths. Research has also shown that well-being correlates with situations where cadets at the Naval Academy were able to utilize their strengths.

Some of the world's leading researchers in positive psychology have developed a free test that has been taken by millions, where you can identify your natural character strengths. This test is available here: VIA Character Strengths Survey

Source: VIA Character Strengths

The test takes about 10 minutes to complete, which can be well-spent time.

The test will give you a ranking that shows which of the 24 character strengths come most naturally to you.

It’s important to remember that these will change over time, and in a few years my strengths have changed significantly.

The results of the test can help you become more self-aware of the areas where you excel.

This can be useful for you in two ways:

  1. You can use the test results to change your attitude toward your job.
    If you score high on "Love of Learning," you can become more aware that you can use this strength in your job. If "Self-Regulation" is a natural strength and you work at Burger King, you can appreciate the opportunity the job gives you to exercise willpower by resisting burgers.

  2. You can find new tasks in your job that allow you to use your strengths more.
    If "honesty" is one of your signature strengths and you work in sales, you might try to change your sales pitch to a more personal and honest pitch. If creativity is a strength, you might ask your boss if you can help create images, videos, or other marketing materials for the company.

Conclusion

I hope this article inspired you to refuse to accept going to work every day as a dreary chore and to see that you don't necessarily need to change jobs to reignite your passion for your work.

You can have everything you want, as long as you're willing to put in the effort first.

Keep in mind that fundamentally, it comes back to mindset, and whether you are willing to accept going through life on railway tracks or if you are ready to carve your own path.

Be extraordinary.
🙏💪🧡

Sources of Inspiration