There are times when I get into these periods of discouragement at work and I bet many do as well. Your mind gets so clouded (be it from personal or work factors) that work performance deteriorates and only seems to worsen with each attempt to remedy the situation. Negative emotions just keeps pilling on and on until there is no more motivation left. Whatever it is, slumps shouldn't be allowed to continue for long!
1. Stop brooding about past failures!
Every try can produce a different result. Who is to say that the same trick won’t work twice? (Don’t keep banging your head onto a wall though! Be smart about it.) And if they don't, use different approaches to tackle the problem. Sometimes, the most unexpected ones work! Opportunities are everywhere. Just like a matching game, we’ll never know for sure if there will be a match until we act on it and we only really fail when we choose to give up. It’s perfectly normal to feel disheartened but we have to always remember to kick ourselves up, stay focused on the bigger picture and keep pressing on!
2. Stop overthinking!
Where do all these negative feelings stem from? Our thoughts. Our circumstances cannot directly affect our feelings. Imagine this: you are having a horrible day, you lose your wallet, your boss rejects your project proposal, and then your friend comments on how ugly your shoes are. You would probably feel insulted and annoyed. Now imagine a different scenario: you are having an awesome day, you bank in your pay check, your significant other surprises you with takeaway during your lunch break, and then your friend makes the same comment. Would you feel the same way? I think not. You might even laugh it off taking it as a joke. No bad weather or snide comment or pressurising workload can make us feel terrible if we are able to choose and pay attention to the thoughts that empower us instead. Yes, it requires mental toughness to do so. Negative and positive thoughts are all simply just thoughts after all. They can be manipulated. It’s up to us to interpret and make them work in a way for us to improve.
3. Stop stressing over winning!
I am a competitive person. It’s human nature. People get anxious about winning and losing. However, there are times when we let our drive for perfection and victory consume us and thus strip ourselves from performing with clarity and enthusiasm. We become robots, stressed out on making things ideal but sadly, not special. Let loose! As cliche as it sounds, it's mostly about the journey to the destination, rather than the destination itself.
4. Stop isolating yourself!
Reconnect with old friends! Make new ones! People who we interact with and whom we have comfortable chemistry can have an impact on the way we perceive things and our emotions as well. Hanging out with people with a positive drive in life might be exactly what we need as a stepping stone to break out from our work slump. There is a big possibility that we can learn different strategies from one another that might prove effective in the problems we face. Moreover, the sheer moral support is already a massive positive energy that can be channeled into our thoughts.
Getting out of a slump is a slow process. The snowball effect is evidently present so it is really important to get started and keep the momentum going! I've started.
