Try these 3 steps.
Are you sick of looking at your office yet? Chances are if you aren’t, you will be. Studies say over half of working Americans experience burnout in their career, and it’s killing our businesses.
Don’t let burnout rule your life. Try these three powerful ways to fight work exhaustion:
Make the work harder. That’s right – make the work tougher. For many, burnout comes because we get bored. Think about it – how many times a day do you get excited about changing a watch battery? Find something new to challenge you every day. That might mean you enroll in a continuing education course, learn a new language that will enable you to communicate with more customers on the floor, or hire a consultant to help you improve your inventory or marketing situation. Do something to make the work you do something that pushes you and prods you to constantly grow.
Make some thankfuls. Get in the habit of starting your store’s day with a “thankful.” As you set up in the morning, have each person in the store say what they are thankful for that day. This is a great exercise to get in the right frame of mind and remind us why we do the work in the first place.
Make a mission. Take an hour or two this week to really think about what the company’s mission is. Simply, why do you do what you do? Give it some thought and craft that thought into a single sentence. Then print this out, give it to the staff, and have one whole meeting dedicated to hearing their responses on the mission. Do they agree, disagree? What do they see as the mission? What inspires them? If you already have a solid mission, revisit it with your team during a meeting this month. Reminding each other of the mission – and what is most important – is a great way to inspire each other and keep the work fresh and fun.
About two years ago, my dad and I took a week to sit down and craft a new mission. We don’t just sell jewelry – we help create cherished memories. That simple, subtle change in mission made all the difference in the world. We started having inspiring meetings with the staff, emotional moments with customers, and left work feeling like we were a part of something greater than ourselves.
You, too, can create something that is even bigger than yourself. Challenge yourself, find some thankfuls, and make a mission that inspires those around you. Before you know it, you’ll get in the car to go home at the end of the day with more energy than when you started.
KYLE BULLOCK is a fourth-generation jeweler at Bullock’s Jewelry in Roswell, NM. He is also a published bestselling author, playwright and speaker.