Going through a lull at work Here are 5 ways to find passion no matter what youre doing

Going through a lull at work Here are 5 ways to find passion no matter what youre doingGoing through a lull at work Here are 5 ways to find passion no matter what youre doingWeve all been there. After some amount of time at a new job, or in a new position?- ?or afteryearsin the same industry?- ?the excitement we once harbored for ur work wanes, and we start coasting or falling into what some call a lull.There have been several times in my own career when Ive felt myself hit a lull. Sometimes its been a result of disaffection with the work?- ?the sense that the company I worked for welchesnt fully utilizing my skills?- ?and sometimes its followed a period ofpersonal frustrationwith my team. I still, from time to time, hit these lulls, like Im not being as productive as I could be, or my team isnt realizing their fullest potential.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThis feeling of hi tting a plateau is remarkably common. Some say its an all-outAmerican epidemic. Its also, in a way, menschengerecht nature. Were creatures of habit. As people, we seek out reliable repetition, yet repetition itself can lead to stagnation.Regardless of how common, however, the truth remains a decline in commitment to your work, or in your excitement about your work, is innately damaging. It can lead to both a drop in your professional performance and in your personal happiness.Given that, professional apathy needs to be actively combated.Here are a few different tactics Ive adopted both as a leader and as an employee over my career to help pull myself out of a lull.1) Try to promote and facilitate collaborationThe chief source of complacency Ive seen in the folks whove worked for me over the years has stemmed from siloed work environments. When day after day you work alone at your desk, completing only the tasks youre responsible for, you lose sight of the company mission which might have galvanized you initially. You begin to feel like you cant accomplish as much as you might want. You feel limited and alone.Its better, instead, to foster or encourage an environment thats inherently more collaborative?- ?one where your people are inspired to contribute and compelled to do so in creative, important ways.This is something you can do as a manager or director by rearranging your teams, modeling the sort of collaboration you want to see more of, or otherwise adjusting key elements of your culture so that your people are more meaningfully incentivized to collaborate. You can work to build that into your foundation.As an individual employee, meanwhile, you can seek out opportunities to go above and beyond, in this sense, and create value alongside your peers in a way that might open new doors for systemic collaboration in the future. The key is looking for and then summoning the energy required to capitalize on those opportunities.2) Take a fieldtripIf theres somethi ng specific youre trying to accomplish at work but you either arent feeling motivated to do it or you dont know exactlyhowto do it, go out and conduct some research.Find someone you know or whom you know of who has the wisdom or intelligence youre after. Then, go observe them in action. If youre looking to restructure your organization, for example, pay a visit to a company who already has a similar structure in place.Or, go to a place, event, or lecture thats semi-relevant to the work youre doing. This is something weve done as a team at World Changers by attending conferences together. Through those events and by engaging in team-building activities, weve left feeling energized and motivated to contribute more meaningfully to our work. You might be surprised how much it could fuel you and your team with the same inspiration.And thats the key this is something you can do on your ownorwith your colleagues. Youll be surprised by how breaking out of your routine and expanding your per spective even for just one day can open your eyes to new opportunities and means of reinvigorating your work.3) ReadSimilarly, our outputs, in general, are a direct product of our inputs. So, if youre ever in a rut, go plek up a book and re-acquaint yourself with the experts and authors who themselves have spent lots of time thinking about the very things youve been struggling over.Studying the solutions, ideas, and minds of others can prove a great source of inspiration. Light bulbs go off when you read. You either say to yourself, Oh, Ive never thought of X like that, or you say, Wow,Ican do thisBy reading about people or organizations who have been in similar situations, you can learn how to combat the specific lull yourefacing.As a manager, its crucial you encourage your teams to invest in their inputs. For example, I recently had my team atWorld ChangersreadNecessary Endingsby Dr. Henry Cloud to help all of us spark new, more creative ideas for taking our work to the next level and getting even better as an organization. It worked so well, its now something I ask my people to do once every few years.4) Ask for feedbackAsking your manager, director, or CEO for feedback on your performance can also be an excellent way to reset your perspective. Often, these constructive conversations will help you do things like set new milestones or establish new objectives to focus on.As it turns out, that intentionality is crucial toward developing professionally. Its a means of combating our natural human tendency to become complacent in our routines. And to this end, its on us to own our cognitive development. This is good in and of itself, but its also a great thing to do anytime you feel yourself becoming complacent.Energy is useless if its not directed toward something tangible and specific.5) Secure an outlet unrelated to your work to focus on in your downtime.Finally, if all you have in your life to direct your energy towards is work?- ?creative or otherwise?- ?yo ull burn out or grow bored.For me, finding a few other things I really cared about and that I could work to improve it made me happier in my personal life, as well as more focused when I was in the office. For me, this was interior design and travel. By focusing on getting better and more creative at the former, and allowing myself to reset and relax by way of the latter, I found I was able to return to the office each morning fresher and ready to kill it.Heres the truth at the end of the day, unless you challengeyourselfto continue growing and developing, youll inevitably stagnate.In other words, this is on you.All of us are in control over our own destinies and our own minds. All of us possess the power to combat professional stagnation. Its a matter of being self-aware enough to realize when you or the team youre in charge of need to make a change, refocus, or simply try harder.It just so happens that doing this is essential not just to our satisfaction in our work and in our per sonal lives, but also in our continual development and growth as people and professionals.This article first appeared on Minutes.