If you find yourself in a less than ideal working environment, rest assured that you are not the only one that practically drags his/her feet to go to work. You need to earn a living but staying motivated in negative work environment makes it difficult to finish your tasks on time.
Do you know 83% of US workers experience work-related stress? A toxic environment can hinder your progress and growth in your chosen career. Staying motivated in negative work environment or an unpleasant workplace to perform well is something challenging.
How to Know if You’re in a Negative Work Environment?
You are in a toxic work environment if it has any of the following features:
- Unfair long hours of work
- Out of reach expectations
- Inferior management
- Lack of freedom
- Management that gives unreasonable tasks to employees
- Lack of transparency
- Haven for rumor-mongers
- Follows a certain practice that berates or humiliates particular individuals or groups of people
8 Essential Tips in Staying Motivated In Negative Work Environment
Luckily, staying motivated in negative work environment is not as difficult as you initially perceived. Here are 8 tips that can help you stay motivated to work all the time, even though you are working in a toxic work environment.
Tip #1: Build Yourself a Reliable Support Team to Lift You Up When You are Down
When working in a toxic work environment, you need a reliable support team consisting of family and friends who can motivate you to fight and push yourself to keep going whenever you feel like giving up. It is always easy to give up everything when you are surrounded by toxic co-workers. However, you also need to keep in mind that giving up should not be your option.
When you are in a negative work environment and decided to give up halfway, there is a huge possibility that you will always do that whenever you feel pressured – just give up. You will not be able to reach your goals when you do that. Also, think about your support system or the people who believe in you and will not give up on you no matter what happens.
You may also find a comrade among your co-workers and be each other’s pillar of support. It helps to talk to someone about your concerns and problems in your workplace. Don’t try to hold everything in until you can no longer take it.
Tip #2: Try Mindfulness Meditation
Keeping a regular workout schedule can help you in staying motivated in negative work environment and help your body and mind to fight off the negative influence of a toxic environment and keep your motivation at its peak. You may also want to try practicing mindfulness meditation to keep you focused on your work and nothing else while you are doing everything you can within the unfavorable work environment.
Tip #3: Celebrate Your Big or Small Achievements or Accomplishments
You may think that taking time to celebrate your big or small accomplishments might be something to feed your ego, but it’s not when you are doing your best in staying motivated in negative work environment. You are actually rewarding yourself when you celebrate your accomplishments, and the celebration also serves as a reminder to keep yourself motivated.
It is quite hard to achieve something despite having to work in a place that seems to drag you down. When someone praises or compliments your work, take time to savor the feeling and believe it with all sincerity. Don’t forget to show your gratitude or let the person know that you are thankful.
Tip #4: Try to Look for Inspiration and Source of Motivation in Different Place
During a lunch break, you can step out for a while and look for inspiration and a source of motivation elsewhere. Sometimes, a change of scenery is all you need to recharge your motivation and obtain something that can inspire you to do a personal project. This project can help you forget momentarily that you are in an unpleasant work area.
Finding new inspiration and replenishing your motivation might be able to help you discover something that can turn your situation into something more favorable. Remember that giving up should not be one of your options.
Tip #5: Enrich Your Life with Positive Things
Staying motivated and staying positive in a negative workplace can help you survive the dreadful area. You need to develop a positive attitude and stay happy. Develop a positive mindset to help you resist the urge to give up everything and accept defeat.
Fill your mind with inspiring, uplifting words that can help lighten your mood and motivate you to work. You can try uttering positive affirmations and mantras that can help you clear your mind. Choose the company of positive co-workers to counter the negative vibes.
Avoid conversations that are full of negativity regardless of the topics being discussed. Remain neutral or avoid participating in such types of discussions if you don’t want to be influenced by their negativity.
Tip #6: Set Realistic Goals that You can Accomplish Using Your Current Abilities
Setting goals that are impossible to reach given your current abilities will only yield frustration. If you want to reach bigger goals, you may want to consider upgrading your current ability by learning new skills. Make sure to learn the skills that can help you achieve your goals at a faster rate than just using your current ability.
While you still need to acquire the skills that can help you achieve the higher goals that you have in mind, you must stick to the goals that you can accomplish using your current skills. That way, you will feel motivated to reach your goals because you know that you can accomplish them using your current skills.
Tip #7: Find Something Humorous in Each Situation
You might lose your mind if you keep looking at your situation in your workplace in a negative light. It is pointless to keep complaining about the unfavorable things that happened when you have no control over the events. Try to find something funny in every situation and share it with the co-workers that you consider as close friends and have a good laugh.
Finding something funny may not actually boost your motivation, but it can help prevent your motivation from dwindling. You may even find inspiration from those humorous incidents.
Tip #8: When at Home, Don’t Talk Too Much About the Work Issues that You Have
Sometimes, discussing your work issues with a family member can be comforting. However, your mental health will suffer when you always talk about work issues as soon as you have reached your home. Instead, you need to relax at home. It is recommended not to bring home your work issues to give them some rest unless you feel suffocated holding them in.
When you keep discussing the work issues during family time, you are unintentionally bringing the negative work environment into your own home. When you don’t talk about the work issues you can replenish your motivation with ease and forget about the negative work environment during your stay in your own home.
If you think that the toxic work environment will never get a chance to improve, you may consider leaving your job or changing your career to have a fresh start. When you begin to think that staying motivated in negative work environment has become a burden and already affecting your physical and mental health, don’t push your luck further and just leave. You can only give up when you see that it has become pointless to hold on to a career or job that begins to look unpleasant in your eyes.
