5 Ways To Get Through A Rough Time At Work

One of my clients is going through a rough patch at work and while she hired me to help her with her career strategy, any short term situation will affect the long-term thinking.

Having spent almost 10 years first in the struggling media industry and then in a start-up that lost it’s funding, I thought I’d share my own 5 strategies from those weeks and months at work where I would have preferred to stay in bed all day.

1. Program your brain as soon as you wake up

If you start the day in a bad mood, working yourself up by increasing your expectations of what disasters await as soon as you step through the door or open your e-mail inbox, that crap will be all you see all day.

Instead, as soon as you wake up in the morning, spend 2 minutes in bed telling yourself about the GOOD things you have planned and decide to have some FUN in addition to the whatever else happens.

2. Check-in with yourself during the day

If you feel very worried or stressed out during the day, check-in with yourself regularly, for example every time you go to the rest room.

I look myself in the mirror and ask myself: “All good?”

And then I say out loud what is bothering me right NOW and then try to come up with a concrete plan for the next few hours until the next check-in.

3. Don’t spend all your free time obsessing

There’s a balance between venting after or during a tough day and obsessing about every single thing that was said and look that was given.

Give yourself 10 minutes to de-brief to your partner/mom/cat and then change the subject to talk about something that makes you feel good instead!

4. Remind yourself of the good stuff

When things are tough at work, we tend to be more aware of every little bad thing that happens – as if the universe just keeps inviting more crap into your life.

But it’s not all bad!

Make it a daily practice to end every day listing 5 things that were good at work and elsewhere.

5. Observe the situation from the future

It’s a cliché, but this too shall pass!

Make an effort to observe the situation as if it’s a few months from now to tell your brain that this is a phase and that things will be better at some point.

That way you can see it from a less emotional place and see the positive things that might come out of this process instead of the disaster and calamity you feel like you’re witnessing every day.

So… Do you stay or do you leave?

When things turn south at work, a lot of us just want to leave.

We don’t want to feel stressed out or have to worry about our futures and we tell ourselves that we deserve better.

BUT – it’s experiences like these that build resilience and grit and will become your benchmark for the next crappy situation that will most likely be around the corner, wherever you go.

If you keep showing up to do amazing work while looking for opportunities to step up during the hard times, you will be equipped with more tools and be tougher and calmer the next time around.

Interested in more inspiration and tools to crack the career code?

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