How You Can Find Inspiration At Work

Work can sometimes become repetitive or tiresome. Many of us have found ourselves waking up each day and just going through motions. Getting through your work day and week is so much easier when you’re able to find inspiration in what you do. That may be easier said than done for many. If you’re struggling to find inspiration in your job, consider trying a few of these tips.

De-Clutter

Our thought process can be positively or negatively affected by our environment. Remove unnecessary items from your workspace to clear your mind. By doing so, you may come across a small task or idea you’d forgotten about and want to revisit.

De-cluttering also provides inspiration to create more efficient workflow systems for yourself. If you feel less anxious and more inspired by a clean desk, you won’t want to let things pile up again.

Visualize Your Goals

Take time to be realistic about what your goals are. Develop weekly, monthly and yearly goals to keep yourself on track.

Make visualize products to remind yourself what those goals are. If you have a bulletin board, white board or even an office wall, put those goals on paper and hang them up around you. If you don’t want to broadcast your goals, keep the list on your desk or as the background for your computer. Constantly reminding yourself you have goals to reach may help to inspire you to keep working towards them.

Read

Sometimes finding inspiration in your work happens outside the office. Challenge yourself to read at least a few work or industry related books each year. It’s amazing the ideas that others have implemented within their work. Look to those who have succeeded to provide inspiration.

If you’re not an avid reader, challenge yourself to reading a few magazine articles or blogs every month on any topic of your choosing. Hearing the stories of others often serves to inspire people in all aspects of their lives, not just at work. We can gain a lot from understanding the struggles of others.

Be Creative

Find an outlet to advance your overall knowledge or performance in your work. You might be able to develop a blog or provide content to an existing one. While an outside blog might not directly impact your daily work, it provides an opportunity to sharpen your skills and research topics you may not have the opportunity to look into on the job.

Consider how your role can harness any creative interests you may have while inspiring your own work or the work of those around you. Even if nothing seems to fit this description, take yourself out of your comfort zone and try something new. Any creative outlet (painting, writing, drawing, photography, etc.) can open you up to inspiration.

Talk To Your Colleagues

Reach out to your colleagues for feedback and ideas if you’re really struggling with inspiration at work. Ask them what they think could be improved and ask for honest feedback on how you’re operating within your job.

Talk to your colleagues about how they find inspiration when things are difficult and what resources they utilize. Everyone has a different idea and method that works for them. Not all of their ideas will be applicable to you in your work, but they may help lead to ones that are. Your co-workers can be a great resource if you give them the chance to be.

Take A Training Class Or Workshop

Sometimes lacking inspiration can be directly related to lacking a certain skill or level of understanding. To continue to find inspiration in your work, you need to regularly seek opportunities to enhance your knowledge in your area of expertise.

Failing to find inspiration may just be the result of not knowing how to approach a problem or obstacle in your work. Talk to your boss about available trainings or certifications that you feel will benefit you and your organization to take. Attending workshops, courses and other trainings can expose you to vastly different people and ideas. Your inspiration may not come from acquiring a new skill but just from understanding how others approach their work.

Map Your Future

Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? Look at where you career started and where it is now. Consider all your accomplishments thus far and how hard you’ve worked for them. Sometimes it’s easy to forget why we do what we do. Take the opportunity to remind yourself of why you love your work.

From there, decide how you see your career evolving in the future and where you want it to go. If you want to be promoted within a few years, what can help you achieve that goal? Allow yourself to be inspired by your own drive to improve and grow within your career.

Change Your Attitude

Finding inspiration in your work isn’t all about following a checklist. While there are small things one can do every day to seek motivation and inspiration where they are, they have to be in the right mindset. Approaching your job with negativity will prevent you from finding inspiration no matter what you do.

You have to decide how much time and energy you’re actually going to put forth when seeking inspiration.