Help your Job Feel New to You this New Year
In January, there are usually commercials or ads all around us with the theme, “New year? New you.” For many of us after the holiday break, it may be a new year, but we feel we have to return to the same old job.
What can you do to make your job feel new? Or, more exciting and engaging? Here are some tips.
- Make a list of what you love about your job. What parts of your job bring you joy, happiness, and a sense of accomplishment? What parts of your job positively impact others? Think and write about those areas and what you love most about your job. Then, carve out as much time as you can during your work day in those areas. Or, if you can’t spend as much time as you’d like doing those tasks, be fully aware and present in those moments when you are doing those things and take the time to be thankful for those moments.
- Talk to others about what they love most about their job. When you hear from others about what they love about their job, perhaps their ideas can give you inspiration or reminders about what you like about your job. And because emotions are contagious, their positive emotions from talking about what they like about their job may help you feel emotionally positive as well.
- See if you can formally or informally mentor others. Many people think that mentoring only benefits the person being mentored. But you, as a mentor, can also experience many benefits. Your capacity to mentor others can positively shape your work experience and job satisfaction, and can even be positively related to your performance. WFU’s own Allison McWilliams knows a lot about the subject of mentoring, and writes how managers can leverage mentoring to build relationships and be better leaders on Psychology Today and this OPCD blog.
Interested in learning more about mentoring?
- Try this self-paced, digital course on Workday Learning: A Guide to Mentoring Others.
- Or sign up for a once-a-year online course brought to you by the Mentoring Resource Center and the Alumni Personal & Career Development Center at Wake Forest University that is open for enrollment through Jan 24. It is free to any WFU faculty, staff, student, or alumni.
No doubt, it is a new year. And even though your job may be the same, just a few touch-ups or modifications in mindset can really change how you think about your job and set yourself up for success in 2025 and beyond.
Continue your professional development with the PDC:
Visit us online at pdc.wfu.edu
Register for our classes through Workday Learning
Follow the PDC on Instagram @wfutalent
Or, contact our professional staff:
William (Bill) Gentry (gentrywa@wfu.edu) – Director of the PDC and Learning & Development
Missy Campbell (campbem@wfu.edu) – Manager, Learning & Development
Melissa Clodfelter (clodfem@wfu.edu) – Assistant Vice President, Faculty & Staff Experience
Originally published to Inside WFU