I was miserable in my legal job for four years. And, this year alone, 15 clients have come to me looking for help with a tough time at work and describing their current workplace experience as “difficult,” “brutal” “unhappy” “stressful,” and “a daily drain on my happiness and authenticity.”
I hope that makes you feel less alone in it. Less like you’re the problem (because, I promise, you’re not). Less powerless.
Coping with a tough time at work
I ended up leaving my job because it simply wasn’t the right one for me. But only 1 of the 14 clients I’ve helped with resilience at work this year needed to leave to resolve the situation. The others stayed – but have had a very different experience since. Because they didn’t see a tough time at work as the end of the line. Instead, it was an opportunity to do things differently.
This is what we did to make resilience at work happen:
- Helped them change their perspective and see things in a new way.
- Used tools to reframe their thoughts.
- Got good at setting (and holding) boundaries with the micromanaging boss, the demands on time and their own guilt.
- Focused on helping them to rediscover the joy of what they do and why they do it.
- Embedded the language of assertiveness and saying NO.
- Used evidence-backed strategies for dealing differently with impact of stress on their bodies and minds.
When work is unpleasant it makes us feel powerless. Stuck because we need the income but what we’re having to do to get it is making us mad/miserable/ill.
Every situation is different but 9 times out of 10 you will change your reality simply by changing the way that you think. That’s the basis of resilience at work. It’s that which leads to the ability to communicate those boundaries, move away from negative thinking, pick a new response to stress etc. It’s a life-changing shift to make because, no matter what is going on around you, the power lies with you.
Is your work really getting you down? Book a free intro call today and I’ll show you how you can have more resilience at work – so that your every day experience can be different.
