Fall Back in Love With Your Job

By: Kerry Hannon   En español Published February 19, 2015

It's easy to sink into the "I hate my job" blues.

As I write in my new book, Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness, it might be that your path to promotion isn't there — or not clear. You feel like you're trapped in a dead-end

job. You're bored. You don't see eye to eye with your boss.

If you feel this way, you're not alone. According to research by Gallup, less than one-third of employees in the United States feel engaged at work.

Just saying "take this job and shove it" probably isn't the best solution — particularly if you're over 50 and don't have a new job lined up or haven't saved enough to retire.

But you can learn to "take this job and love it" and rediscover joy in your current position.

Consider tapping the five qualities of my HOVER approach: hope, optimism, value, enthusiasm and resilience — to create the change you want.

Believe that you can reach your goals, and you will find a way to do so. Ask yourself, "What can I do to improve myself on the job?" and not "What can my boss do for me?

Keep track of what's bothering you at work by keeping a "Job Remodeling" journal for a week. If you notice that the same concerns, worries and pessimistic views keep cropping up, it will

help you see what you need to do: Either make some changes or let it go.

Don't dwell on what's going wrong or making you feel powerless. Make a list of all of the things you love or ever did love about your job. Trust me, there are still things that are good. It

can be as simple as enjoying spending time with your coworkers or believing in the mission of the organization.

Or you might love the special assignments that take you out of your comfort zone. Sometimes the best jobs are the ones that scare us a little at times. But when our jobs start to weigh on

us, it's easy to forget that we once enjoyed those magic moments.