Back To Work Monday – How To Overcome The Dread Of Tomorrow

Today’s Topic & What You’ll Learn

• How to discover why you dread going back to work
• Steps you can take to make going back to work not so daunting

Mama Robbins

It’s the dreaded Sunday night thought running through your head, “Augh, I have to work tomorrow?”. Let’s be honest with each other, are you thinking it right now? Especially if you are not a fan of your job, this can be a never lasting thought in your mind that keeps occurring daily. Most of us would love not “having” to work at all, but unless you find a job that makes money for you while you are sleeping or not there, we need to find ways to cope with the one you have now or get a different one.

There is usually a reason, the why, we dread going back to work on Mondays or any day for that matter. But until we know the reason for the “dread” we can’t fix it or attempt to make it better. So how can we narrow this problem down?

Get a pen and paper ready and let’s get specific! Do you have one?……..Okay…I can wait…..Go find some paper and let’s tackle this together! Seriously….don’t just keep reading because you want to know what is next…go get a piece of paper and a pen so we can get started….. ….. ….. Okay okay! Fine!!! The nearest crayon on the floor and some tissue paper or Kleenex will do. You ready to go? Alright, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

What’s Causing Your Dread?

• Do you dislike the job itself? What about that job specifically – The hours? The workload? The profession? If this is just a part-time thing to get to through school or something you picked up on the side, these are way harder to fix. However, if this IS a profession or career you want to stay in we need to get to the route of the problem.
• Do you dislike your colleagues? My personal favourite, the intimidation of office politics! Do you ever wonder why adults continue to act like they are still in high school? If you can figure out the phenomenon of this and how to solve this, please let me know. It drives me crazy!

• Maybe it’s your boss? This is the number #1 reason why people quit their jobs. While we work our butts off, they reap the benefits and drive nice cars, take amazing vacations that “I” should be on and have a huge chunk of cash being deposited into THEIR bank account. Sorry, this should also be mine. Kidding, but it would be nice.
• Are you feeling overwhelmed? Stressed? Think about what it is exactly that is making you stressed. I find if I miss a day of work and the workload doesn’t get touched while I’m off, the day I come back I feel that “suffocation” of….how many emails did I get while I was off. Please, please, please tell me someone took that file and dealt with it. Whatever profession you are in, if you are off and the work piles up, this is hard.

• Did you have a lot to get accomplished over the weekend and didn’t get to it all? Now you feel you would rather stay home and tackle that task instead? Surprisingly, even if it’s house chores, I find we would rather do those than go into work the next day.
• Do you have a habit of procrastination? Maybe you work from home and can make your own schedule. (Cough) Blogging….and you KNOW what you should be doing, but other things coincidentally keep popping up? Those dishes need to get done. But my kids need their nails trimmed. I should maybe take the dog for an extra walk later.
• Maybe you have family at home you wish you could spend every waking moment with. (I am not one of these as much as I love my family. I consider myself a working mom – I’d like to give a shout out to all the Stay-At-Home-Parents that love it. Koodos!)

• How about your drive to work? Do you hit bumper to bumper traffic every time you head to work or come home? Are you finding your drive is extremely stressful? Do you get any time for yourself to listen to audio books, call a friend using Bluetooth? How LONG is your drive? Do you find it too far from home? My husband was working a 45 min drive from home last year. He woke up when it was dark and always came home when it was dark. Plus, being exhausted all the time made it extremely hard for him to concentrate on driving.
• The routine in the morning? Even if you made lunches the night before, you still need to get yourself up and functional, get the kiddos ready and off to school, daycare, where ever, and get your butt to work on time. Do you find the morning is where you struggle to get your kids to wake up or get dressed? They fuss over the clothes you forgot to wash or the food you made isn’t what they expected? I feel this too.

Now that you have taken a few moments to think about your day and what causes the dread, do you think there is a way to find a solution?

People Who LOVE Their Job

Take a moment and think about anyone you know who talks about how much they LOVE their job. (Hopefully you can think of at least one. If not, they need to read this post) Have you ever listen to what they say? What about how excited they sound. Sometimes it seems like a majority of your conversations with this person end up evolving around work! Why???? I already told you the answer. Because they LOVE their job.

Okay Mama Robbins. I get that, but WHY? How can I get there?

Things To Look At Adjusting

• Evaluate what you “really” want to do as your profession. Do you actually want to continue nursing if you want to be a doctor? Maybe you are currently doing retail but want to be a psychologist. Maybe you are in network marketing and that is what you love doing, but the job you have right now just isn’t working. The number #1 key – Find Your Passion. Imagine, what is the one thing you would enjoy doing every day for the rest of your life? Find a way to make that your job. Most people that LOVE their jobs are doing what they enjoy.

If you think it isn’t as simple as changing jobs, which it usually it never is, think of this. Can you imagine sacrificing your life to be unhappy with your career for the rest of your life until retirement? I hope not. There have been studies, I’m sure you can Google them saying people who are happy in their jobs take less sick days and are more productive. Why would you not want this? Let’s keep going….

• Working with people you like – Is there a way for you to find a team that you get along with? Is there one person at your job you find you really click with? Often we find ourselves trying to please everyone. We feel uneasy if everyone doesn’t like us. If everyone likes you, you are doing something wrong. Be you, find “your person” and let everything else go.
• Finding a boss you can relate to – This one is tricky. I find they are usually great and accommodating or they are far from having any existence of people skills and treat everyone like they are scum. I have had both and let me tell you, the nice and friendly are hard to come by. When you get a boss that is easy to open up to, it makes 100% difference in your workday.

• Deligating the workload – Is there someone you can approach and ask for help? Maybe your position just calls for more hours in a day and you just can’t get to it all. If this is the case, my biggest word of advice….You are only one person and you may not get to it all, so just do your best and no one should expect more. If they do – Revert back to the boss and colleague examples.
• Create Small”er” To Do Lists – We want to break tasks up into smaller pieces. Viewing a picture as a whole can cause stress and make you feel overwhelmed. By breaking it down, your mind can more easily focus on one step at a time.

• Avoid Procrastinating? Instead of watching Monday nights episode of the Bachelor when you know you have work to get done. Remember what your parents said to you when you were little, “Chores first, then play.” We have PVR’s for a reason! Just start the task. If you have 150 unread emails and the thought of starting is daunting, click the first one, decide if it’s important or something you can deal with later, categorize it, and move to the next. If you have piles of paperwork that needs to be completed, grab the first file and just start!
• You Want To Spend More Time With Your Family – You’ll want to start scheduling “free time”. I know this sounds strange and counterintuitive, but I have a post “Happy Friday – How To Make The Best Use Of Your Time On The Weekends” that will talk about this in more detail and how it works. Often we feel we lack the connection with our family and friends and would rather stay home because we don’t get the chance to “really” enjoy them when we are home. Busy schedules take us away from this. But learning how to schedule free time, you will actually free up more time to spend with your family.

• Try To Find A Job Closer To Home/Can You Work From Home – Travelling to and from work is one of the highest consumers of our time if you work more than 15 minutes from home. However, if you can’t move closer, try to use this time to get other things done. If you are not driving, go over emails, read a book, catch up on a project by jotting down ideas on a pad of paper. This will at least get the ball rolling for when you are ready to start. If you drive, listen to audiobooks, specifically on time management. These will all help you get better use of your time.
• Losing the Chios of Mornings – Let’s face it, we can almost never predict what our morning will look like with kids. However, we can plan ahead and anticipate things going wrong and adjust our time so we can find our mornings less stressful and exhausing. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about when you say you just got to work and your exhausted and it’s only 9:15am? And that is not due to a poor night of sleep. If you find yourself rushing to get dressed, having a shower, making your coffee, lunches, finding your keys, getting kids ready, etc. Then you actually have the easiest fix, but the hardest one to do. WAKE UP EARLIER!!!! I despise mornings with a passion. Trust me, it’s 1:17am right now and waking up early is the last thing on my mind. But adding a little more time will solve a lot of your problems.

• TIP: Think about your morning….what happens…(remember that pen and paper I told you to get?) Write it out down to the nose as percise as you can get it. Figure out where things usually go wrong. How much time do the usual set backs add to your clock? If you find your kids take 15 minutes to get dressed to leave, add that. Sometimes you get in the car and your kids forgot something for school, add that. I would say on average if most people added just 30 minutes to their morning routine, you could lower your stress levels by more than half!!! Think about it, do everything you normally do, but add 30 minutes from the time you get out of bed! Voula!! If that isn’t enough, add a little more the next day until you get the right recipe of time. The day you find you have way more time than you need, sit back and relax! Or get in your car and just drive knowing you dont‘ have to care about traffic that morning.

What Should You Do?

Don’t stay in a position just because of the money, the vacations, the benefits, the hours, or whatever it is you are holding onto. Yes, I understand you probably have a house to maintain, a family to feed, and if you are average like myself, debts to pay. But is your mental state worth staying? Have you ever had a day so bad at work you come home in a grumpy mood and unintentionally take it out on your family? All because of a job you don’t like? Is that really worth it? Instead of saying I can’t leave the job because….Let’s start looking for ways out. How “could” we make this work. What “would” I need to do to change this. What resources could help during this time? Etc. One of the easiest ways to change jobs is to find one while you are still employed. It’s called the Monkey Branch Approach. Don’t let go of one until you have ahold of another. Also, don’t settle for less. If you need the same wage or benefits, then make sure the new position offers you what you need. NEVER settle on a job unless it’s a temporary situation.

If you can find a way to make adjustments in your life that make going to work easier, then do it. If you can change jobs, then do it. You may never get rid of the dread of going to work, but a happier you will be worth it in the end. Not only to you but your family as well.

I hope some of these ideas help you in your career path. Whether it’s making a leap to find a new boss, new career or just learning to prioritize.

Until Next Time – Follow Me: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, & Instagram.

Sincerely,

Mama Robbins