When you wake up each work morning are you excited about what awaits you at work or do you feel a heaviness of heart when you think about having to go there? Not that we all don’t wish that we could have an extended weekend to do extra things that is pretty normal. But have you asked yourself lately if you still have passion and enjoyment from your job? Do you enjoy who you work with and what you can accomplish with them each day? These are important questions to ask so that you can be on top of any underlying problems that may be brewing. For example one of my coworkers, who is very good at keeping her feelings to herself, was struggling with the thought of coming to work each day because of another coworker who was always disrupting her work and chattering making her work environment miserable. Once the problem came to light we were able to work it out and resolve the issue. Later she told me how she just dreaded the thought of being at work each morning and was going to look for another job because she was so frustrated with the situation. Thank goodness we resolved the problem as this employee is very valuable to our practice. My point being is that by asking ourselves daily questions about how we feel overall regarding our job we can be aware when things are not right and fix them before we get to the point of sure dread each day. The following three questions are a good test to see how you are feeling about your current job, take the time to really think about your answers.
1. Am I happy about going to work today?
2. Name three things that you will do today that you are looking forward to doing.
3. Name one thing that you could do today to make your job better for you, your coworkers and those that you serve.
As you ask yourself these questions you will find that if you do really like your job you will feel an excitement as you think about what you are looking forward to doing and what can you do better. If you have a heavy heart about your job it will be hard to make it past the first question, and intervention may be needed as in the case with my coworker. Weekly, if not daily, examination of our heart and how we feel about what we do each day at work is essential to our mental and physical health. Our heart is a good indicator, if we listen to it, about how we feel about our job. I think Eleanor Roosevelt hit the nail on the head when she said “Work is easier to carry if your heart is involved.” You cannot give your best each day if your heart is weighing you down.
9/14
Practical Practice Management A Division of Top Practices 