According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on work days, employed persons between the ages of 25-54 spend an average of 8.9 hours working or engaged in work-related activities.

That’s about 53% of our wakeful hours spent working!  If you don’t like or love your job, that can seem even longer!

Here are things you can do NOW to shift from a place of dread and discontentment to a place of contentment at work:

1.  Take a short break every 45-50 minutes.  Your brain will appreciate it.  Now, I’m not talking about a 30- or even 15-minute break, necessarily.  Five to 10 minutes of standing up, stretching, grabbing a drink, or taking a few deep breaths can go a long way in helping you maintain focus, productivity, and interest.

2.  Take a moment each day during your commute to connect with “why” you’re working.  Perhaps, it’s to provide for yourself and/or your family as you work towards your dream job, or working at your current position is allowing you to gain experience for the position you really want.  Keeping your “why” in your awareness can help provide you with motivation to make the best of your current situation and perhaps to take action towards making your work more fulfilling.

3.  Acknowledge at least one accomplishment per day and celebrate it!  That could be, “I completed two tasks on my to-do list today!” or "I spent 15 minutes working on my passion project." Whatever it is, acknowledge it, and celebrate it.  The celebration can be a quick reflection, a pat on the back, or dancing your "happy dance." This will also help to keep the momentum alive and improve your mood.  Sometimes, we can get so caught up in our day-to-day activities that we lose sight of the positive things that we’ve done and over-focus on the negatives.  While awareness of negatives can be adaptive and contribute to our learning and growth, it can become depleting if that's all we focus on.