Improve Your Work Life: Learn New Skills

Have we mentioned that September is Self-Improvement Month? I’m challenging myself this month to work on my strengths and weaknesses. Last week, we covered a personal weakness of mine -- sticking to my comfort zone -- and how I tried to stretch that boundary. This week I want to talk about a professional improvement.

The company I work for recently switched from software made in the eighties to a custom system they’ve been working on for years. We’ve been working in this new system for about a month, and it’s been amazing and awful. New software always has kinks, but it’s caused serious confusion and a slowdown in our workflow. With that being said, I am grateful to have it.

Although I’ve only been working for this company for just over a year, I’d pretty much learned the basics of the last system. I had a set routine that rarely changed which can be nice but boring. I was flying through projects, sometimes getting too far ahead. Granted, my work wasn’t completely mistake-free, but they were little issues that were quickly fixed. So, when we finally got this new software, I was excited to learn something new again! Have you ever been in this position? Feeling stagnant and needing a challenge?

I think it’s important for us to recognize when we’re no longer moving forward. Constant change can be exhausting, but there’s no harm in finding a small way to challenge yourself everyday. I don’t like when I feel like a robot just going through the motions of work; that’s when I start daydreaming about leaving my job and starting over somewhere new! Which is completely unreasonable and unnecessary for most people. I don’t hate my job; I don’t want to leave it. I just needed something to mix it up which this new software did. And once I’ve got it down like the last system, I’ll find a way to learn more again.

What about you? Is there something you can do to enjoy your work more? To break you out of your rut? Let us know what you’re doing!