How to convert boredom to growth
Be curious and
experiment to eliminate boredom
A Gallup poll says more than 50% employees are not
engaged at work and another 17% are actively disengaged. So, two out of three
of your colleagues are possibly bored today. Are you one of them? When constant
boredom troubles you, it is time to make a change. Why not leverage your
boredom to fuel your professional growth?
Ask:
Boredom is when your brain cells start complaining
about lack of work. Give your brain a kick by getting curious about something
around you. If you are in operations, ask how the technical guys do their
stuff. As a coder, ask the marketing guys how they forecast next year’s sales.
Find out your boss’s career trajectory. Figure out how to format or revive your
colleague’s dead laptop. Endless curiosity equals endless learning equals
endless growth.
Learn:
Is this the lean season for your company’s business?
How do you use the downtime to learn skills to move to the next level in your
career? Like the UN consultant who learnt French to increase her employability
at work. Or learn unrelated skills for a richer lateral shift? Like the print
journalist who learnt digital imaging and then found a calling in making viral
videos for a startup. Decide on what skill you want and find online and offline
resources to help you upskill.
Volunteer:
To be fully occupied is the perfect antidote to
boredom. Raise your hand and be counted amongst volunteers for the new
cross-functional project at office. Volunteer to help a colleague struggling
with a deadline. Join the CSR team of your firm and contribute beyond office
walls. Your volunteering or work experience beyond your immediate job
description enriches you as a professional.
Share:
Not all boredom can be cured by only seeking
knowledge. Start sharing knowledge and a whole new world opens up. Write blogs,
a book, a manual for induction of new hires, a guidebook for serving large
clients or a troubleshooting guide for the team software. Share knowledge by
offering classroom sessions for junior team members. Teaching sharpens your
saw.
Mentor:
Take a junior or two under your wing. Find people
with similar career trajectories or backgrounds who can benefit from your time
and learning. Doing so is professionally satisfying, improves your critical
thinking, communication and motivational skills and earns you loyalty.
Connect:
Start speaking to people. Leave your seat, walk
about, bump into co-workers, find something to talk about and move on. Call
friends and ex-colleagues you haven’t spoken to in a while. As you utilise your
free time to connect with others, not only do you banish boredom but also
rejuvenate relationships. As your communication skills improve, you start
fleshing out your professional network without seeming desperate.
Stare:
Do you day-dream or stare into empty space when
bored? Don’t stop! This is the time your brain unwinds. Keep a pencil and paper
handy to jot down and execute upon multiple ideas that strike you when you have
been staring into thin air for a while.
Plan:
When was the last time you thought about the next 30
years of your life or planned your goals? If you are bored, do not complain.
Think about who you are, what brought you here, where you want to go and what
you need to do to get there. These will be valuable weeks of your life if you
play it right.
Declutter:
Go minimal. Use your spare time to audit your
surroundings, possessions, people in your life and the local micro-environment
you have created at work. Throw away that faded photograph, old pencils and
even old files. Similarly, weed out energy sapping friendships, donate old
clothes and find a new energy flowing through your life.
Lead:
Finally the most fulfilling antidote to boredom.
Become a self-appointed leader and make an impact on the world. Do it because
you want to see change and not for the kudos of your colleagues. Do you dislike
the cleanliness standards of your office toilets? Who do you need to influence
and what policy changes you need to trigger to effect a lasting change? As you
think through solutions and take actions, you will experience the energy that
drives all leaders!
Devashish Chakravarty
ET26FEB18
No comments:
Post a Comment