What to do when Bored at work? – 8 Tips

Introduction

Are you regularly arranging private matters at work? Do you eat or smoke more at work than at home? Do you often watch the clock? Do you live for the next weekend to arrive? Counting the days? Then there is a good chance that you are bored at work.

While many people see boredom as a luxury problem, it does come with dangers. After all, boredom at work can lead to health problems. In fact, it is even known that people who are often bored die younger (source). I truly believe in this as every day spent in boredom is a day not really lived!

Feeling bad

A lack of concentration and challenge can lead to frustration and unrest. You may start to feel useless over time. In addition, boredom has a negative effect on your health. Bored people, for example, tend to eat or smoke more. In addition to the negative effects on your mental and physical health, boredom also hinders your personal development and behavior.

As soon as you are bored, you stop being active. Your knowledge, skills and talents will not be used and therefore you do not grow into your job. Boredom is bad, so you have every reason to fight boredom once and for all! Here are the tips when bored at work. Pay special attention to number 8, your escape route, which could be a life-changer for you.

8 effective tips against boredom at work

The best way to prevent boredom is to look at your won history where you were not bored at all. Although this is different for everyone, we can learn a lot by looking at our first working day. When we start a new job we are all enthusiastic, we learn all kinds of new things, we meet new people and we get new responsibilities. Anything but boring! Anyway, here we go with the tips:

1. Work from home?

Many people who are bored complain that they cannot focus. This is caused by the environment. There are too many or too few incentives. Only when you are distracted and you can no longer concentrate, do you consciously think about the situation. You are annoyed by all kinds of stimuli (or the lack of them), you cannot continue to work properly, you start daydreaming and you are bored.

If your work environment is the cause of boredom, if your work and employer allow it, you can choose to work elsewhere a few days a week. For example, try to work from home two days a week.

2. Make new contacts

An exciting part of a first working day is meeting new people. When you have been in the same place for a number of years and you hardly meet new people, you can also look for new contacts yourself. Think not only of colleagues but also of suppliers, customers and (potential) customers.

Take a look around and choose someone with whom you can and want to make contact. Introduce yourself and see how it works out. In the business world, there is always something to talk about and who knows, new contacts may offer opportunities in the future. It is always important to have your own network and keep the options working.

3. Develop yourself

Boredom hinders self-development. That is if you do nothing about it. It can be tempting to give in to boredom, as you might not experience stress. You don’t have to go to extremes and you don’t have “unfeasible” deadlines. You can quietly read the internet, while you just get paid. Fine right? Perhaps in the short term. Certainly not in the long term.

For example, you can become depressed because you will feel useless after a while. Moreover, boredom increases your chance of a dismissal. An important reason for an employer to keep someone in service is the indispensability of the employee.

Employees who are regularly bored don’t really create the illusion that they are indispensable. To top it off, your own development comes to a standstill when you are bored. With an increased risk of dismissal, that is definitely something you want to avoid.

Online training

A solution to this problem is to follow a course or webinar. Webinars are online lectures that you can often take for free. More and more courses are also offered online. Online training is an ideal way to kill time at work while developing yourself. Not only do you make yourself indispensable, but you also increase your value for the company and thus your chance of a promotion.

4. Breakthrough routines

Routine work is ideal for achieving a certain result under constant conditions. Standard procedures and working methods ensure the efficient performance of tasks. Not only does this sound boring, but it is!

Although it can be profitable for the employer to have everyone work routinely, it often leads to boredom among employees. When you are bored, you most likely have time to spare. You can use that little extra time as a buffer to experiment with breaking the routine. Go crazy and do your work in a different order or go to the boss to request other working hours.

Change daily schedule

Boredom at work is largely caused by time. When you leave at the same time every day, drink coffee, have lunch and go back home, you (unconsciously) adjust your behavior accordingly. You know exactly after which tasks you still have time to read the news, smoke a cigarette or talk to colleagues. Mix up the schedule and you will notice that you experience the day very differently!

5. Talk to your colleagues or manager

Are your colleagues also bored or is the work simply unfairly distributed? If the latter is the case, you can take over some work in consultation with your colleagues. Don’t your colleagues have extra work for you?

Then consider asking your supervisor for additional work. However, try to approach this smartly. Don’t just ask for more tasks and assignments (that match what you’re already doing). Try to push for new responsibilities. More responsibilities mean more diverse activities. 

Performing various activities provides new insights and contributes to your development. You may discover a new passion or meet people with whom you build a new working relationship.

6. Write a company blog

Almost every company has a blog, and if not, it’s time to change that. You work at the company. You know the market, customers, products and services. You are aware of the customer’s demand and the company’s offer. You can do something with that.
By choosing a relevant topic about which you know a lot, you can help (potential) customers with your expertise and also increase the turnover of the company by offering a solution that benefits both parties. So a win-win situation!

7. Think about what you want!

When you are bored, you have time to think. Nothing is wrong about that. Ask yourself what causes your boredom. Is the boredom only temporary, because you have nothing to do for a while? Or are you often bored?

If boredom keeps coming back after applying the above tips, it may be time to change jobs. Recurring boredom is a sign of disinterest in the position and associated activities. This disinterest arises because you cannot use your talent and skills (optimally). This creates a difference between the desired situation and the situation you are in.

Use the time you have to find out what your talent is, set a career goal and only then find a job that suits you. That way you can search for your dream job in a constructive way and prevent yourself from ending up in a place that does not make you happy!

8. Prepare your escape route

Looking at the consequences of any boredom and given the fact that not anybody can solve this easily, why not start changing your life? Why not start making money on the side with your own website? The enormous possibilities and constant growth of the internet offer plenty of opportunities. Anybody can do this with the right support!

Here is my suggestion: have your own website and start becoming an affiliate marketer. Learn how to become successful from the best in the business. And do so at a reasonable price, guaranteed scam-free!

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