When your job bores you – should you stay or should you go now?

We all know how it feels to be excited when you first start a job – and how it all can change when you start to feel bored.
It’s monday. You already feel how hard it is to get out of bed, you take more time for your breakfast, because you just don’t want to start your working day. In the end, you drag yourself to your job, to procrastinate even more. Instead of working you’re probably looking for excuses to not get stuff done: pin some holiday locations on pinterest, stalk your colleagues’ weekends on Facebook or get the third coffee from the kitchen.

Why? Because tasks that were challenging you before, are now fulfilled in a quick routine – your job stagnates. There’s nothing else to learn and that’s what frustrates you. The human being is made for progress. We set ourselves goals every day – and when we reach them, we don’t stop and live happily ever after. No. We are looking for new challenges. That’s what drives us and makes our life worthy. And you know what? That’s a really good thing!

So, if your job bores you, it’s time to get a new challenge. The only question is: Should you stay or should you go?

The reason to stay

You got an expert in your job. It probably bores you, because you know how to finish your assignments easily and without having to find a way how to solve tasks. But this doesn’t have to be this way.
We tend to wait for new chances – wait for life to hand us some lemons, you know what they say. What about growing some yourself? When you first started your job, you probably weren’t afraid to ask for help when you didn’t know what to do. Go back to asking – or the other way round offering help to your colleagues. You know, when you fulfilled your tasks, your colleague might appreciate your support for his work when he has just way too much on his desk. This way, you’ll be able to take a view in his field of work and learn something new.

The second option is actually to talk to your boss about your state of mind. Normally, a good employer won’t be mad about a team member asking for new projects. It actually shows that you have what it takes to even push the company to the next level. Furthermore, it shows initiative – that you want to gain new skills. It could even be the way to a promotion. Before you ask though, make yourself a plan: Think of a project that would help your department or the company. Show the concept you already made. This way, it will be a lot easier for him to approve it – because a new project also often means to spend a little budget.

 

The reason to go

Not only the tasks don’t excite you anymore, but you feel as though the job just doesn’t fit? That’s the moment finding new projects at work might not be a fulfilling solution.

When it’s more than boredom of your tasks, you’ll realize that you’re actually unhappy. You spend moments during your free time or even at night, wrecking your brain about your work, missing the feeling of satisfaction.
The reasons for it vary. It could be that you might have expected something else from your job. Maybe the company’s or department’s culture changed, they set new goals that you can’t identify with. Or maybe it’s just your circumstances and priorities that shifted. 
Anyway, the result is that you don’t feel comfortable at your job and that you might feel like your work isn’t appreciated or doesn’t have the effect you wish for. That’s another level of being bored at work. It’s like being bored of life and the moment you have to get a big change to spice it up again.

That’s the moment to look for a new job. This doesn’t mean that you have to rush things and quit first thing tomorrow morning. It means taking your time to figure out what you are looking for in a job and a company. Look for fitting positions, what they offer and how you feel about it. You might want to consider these 6 things for what your ideal job would look like:

• Do I want to stay in my current field or explore a career change?
• Does the job fit my interests?
• Do I identify with the company culture & goals?
• Is it a chance to improve myself?
• Does the job offer any opportunities for advancement?
• What are the benefits?

After all, choose wisely. We wish you good luck!