Too often we stay in environments that are toxic for us because we choose to ignore the signs that we need to do something about the situation, or our fears and insecurities keep us frozen where we are.
Staying in any situation that makes you unhappy, does not allow you to grow or that causes you undue pressure will eventually take its toll on you and ultimately on your health. Here are 5 signs that your job could be ultimately bad for your health and if you recognise the signs, do something about it.
1. You are under challenged
If you find that your job no longer challenges you and that you have learnt all that you can and don’t seek new responsibilities and challenges, you are in danger of getting stuck in your comfort zone and becoming stuck in a rut.
Once you become stuck in a rut, making a change can become fearful. Being stuck in a rut can lead to boredom, low motivation, low confidence and self esteem, even depression. Once you are stuck in a rut, you can then lose sight of your skills and talents, no longer recognising the things that you are good at and feel that you are unable to articulate what it is that you have to offer.
If leaving your job is not an option for you at the moment, look at how you can revitalise your current role. Set yourself new challenges, take on stretching new responsibilities that will help you develop your skills. Brainstorm new and innovative ways that can improve the service that you offer or improve the organisation and make suggestions for improvement.
If you know that you need to move on, identify what it is that you want to do and create an action plan of how you will achieve this. Do you want to get another job, or do you want to start your own business? Set yourself challenges that will not only challenge you but will stimulate and motivate you as well.
2. Too much pressure
With ever reducing headcounts, we are expected to do a lot more with less people. Whilst a certain amount of pressure can be good for us and actually motivate us, when that pressure becomes unmanageable if action is not taken to manage the situation it can lead to burnout. This was the case for Juls Abernethy, a former HR Director. Juls ignored the warning signs until it was too late.
If you do not manage your workload effectively, working under continued pressure will lead to stress and possible burnout.
Remove unnecessary distractions such as the constant email notifications, allocating certain times of the day to reading and responding to emails. Many women are proud of the fact that they can multi task but research actually shows that this is not very productive.
3. Square peg round hole
Doing something that is just not you can lead to you feeling unfulfilled. Feeling unfulfilled can lead to boredom, low motivation, stress, low self esteem, unhappiness, even depression. It can even cause you to seek fulfilment in external sources that are not good for you.
We often fall in to career paths that are not of our choosing because we are not sure what it is that we want to do. We can also do this because of other peoples’ expectations of us, because we don’t have the confidence to go for what we really want, or because we need the job to pay the bills.
Examine your core values, looking at what really matters to you. Identify your skills, what you enjoy doing and what you are good at. Look at how you can develop your skills or learn new skills. Work out what it is that you really want to do and go for it.
4. Blaming others for your misery
Whilst you can’t change how other people behave, you can change how you respond to them. If your relationships with colleagues, managers or customers are poor, take responsibility for how you manage these relationships.
One of my clients had a poor relationship with her manager and felt that her manager constantly picked fault with what she did, criticised her unnecessarily and generally made her life hell. My client was very bitter and this bitterness was eating away at her.
Initially she believed that it was all her manager’s fault and that she had no part to play in this. By getting her to reflect on her behaviour and how she behaved towards her manager, she was able to see how her own responses and communication aggravated the situation. She was also able to look at things from her manager’s perspective and recognise that her manager was under a lot of pressure. This enabled her to approach the situation differently and improve their relationship.
If poor relationships at work are affecting you, what part do you play? Relationships work two ways so what can you do differently? Remember, you cannot change a person but you can change how you react to them.
5. Letting others walk all over you
Do you feel that people take advantage of you at work because they know that you will not speak out? Do you find that you get talked over at meetings and are unable to express your opinion?
Constantly letting people take advantage of you will chip away at your self worth. If you find that this happens to you frequently, take matters in to your hands and address the situation by asserting yourself. Some women don’t like confrontation and avoid it at all costs. Often at the sacrifice of their happiness at work. They don’t say anything for what they believe will be a peaceful life. But how is not having your voice heard peaceful?
The word confrontation in itself has lots of negative connotations and is quite an aggressive word. Rather than calling it a confrontation, view it as helping the other person to understand your point of view.
When in meetings, speak loud (not shouting) and if someone does attempt to speak over you, assert yourself and finish what it is that you are saying.
Do you relate to any of these 5 signs? If so, rather than letting the situation build up until it starts to affect your health, what are you going to do about it?
Originally Published on LinkedIn