Signs You’re Desperately Bored at Work
KEY POINTS
- Recognition of Boredom: Identifying signs of boredom like clock-watching and zoning out highlights the need for change.
- Upskilling and Education: Addressing dissatisfaction may involve upskilling or further education, such as obtaining new certifications.
- Considering a Career Change: Sometimes overcoming boredom requires a significant career change to seek roles that offer more engagement and challenges.
No one will ever achieve 100% complete satisfaction in their career. If you’re constantly drumming your fingers, yawning in meetings, and finding every single excuse possible to do anything but work, then boredom could be desperately reaching a dangerous height.
As much as you’re never going to achieve that job satisfaction all the way, it doesn’t mean you have to be bored at work. There are plenty of surveys out there that can tell you how happy and satisfied people are in their careers.
Suppose you’re using and you’re staring at the clock and feeling that every task you are doing is mundane. In that case, then getting a new cybersecurity certification can help, and so can upskill your education in your current role.
But sometimes, you may need to decide whether to segue into a new career entirely.
Perhaps you could go back to school and be a full-time student and start all over again. Either way, you need to think about how you can upskill and change your career.
It starts with recognizing that you are bored at work, and here are five top signs that that is true.
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You’re a clock watcher
Those are the good days when the caffeine hits right in your zoom through your tasks. But if you find yourself staring at the clock and watching the hands go backward faster and faster, then there’s every chance that you are just becoming very bored with what you’re doing. Praying for those minutes to pass? Well, you’re definitely not engaged with your work.
If you find yourself staring into space and dissociating when your boss or your colleagues are talking, or you’re trying to concentrate on your daily tasks, but you really just can’t wrap your head around keeping yourself present, then there’s a good chance you’re bored with your job.
Zoning out is a good indication that you’re not invested, and that should be a signal for you to put your hand up for either some more responsibility or to ask to upskill or retrain in another area of the business.
You look to do the bare minimum
Nobody wants to hire somebody who is begrudgingly meeting the job requirements. However, boredom can make you do that.It can make you feel like even when you’re trying to meet deadlines, you just can’t manage. Instead, you want to exceed expectations and propel your career forward.
You want to prove that you can handle the tedious tasks; otherwise, you won’t be trusted to explore better and bigger responsibilities. So speak to your boss if you are feeling zoned out or unable to do more than the bare minimum, and see whether or not your role needs a shake-up.
You pretend to work
Do you find yourself goofing off rather than actually working? You’re probably not alone. There are probably plenty of people out there who do the same thing, but you should be feeling engaged and excited about what you’re spending hours of your time doing. Yes, it’s nice to earn an income, but if that income is coming because you are bored, it’s not a great thing.
