How to become more engaged in your work

I was having coffee with a friend of mine last week. She had been having a rough time at work with a lot of changes happening in a short time, and was feeling more and more disconnected from her job and company.

At a point in the conversation, she looked at me and said "you know, Anthony, sometimes it feels like what's the point?"

That really got me thinking. What is the point?

I will admit I have felt this way in the past too. And granted, there is a lot companies can do to improve the culture and encourage engagement. After all, the research is clear that disengagement costs a LOT by way of increased absenteeism and decreased productivity.

But this is not about companies, it is about you and I. This is about exploring some things we can do ourselves to increase our engagement. Because whether you work for an organization or for yourself, you will likely agree that you tend to have a better time of your work, tend to be more creative and have more fun overall (and interestingly are also more productive) when you feel engaged in your work.  

If you are kicking butt all day right now, feel free to skip this one. But if you find yourself struggling with staying engaged and inspired, here are three things you can do to spark your engagement again.

1. Seek meaning in your work

Meaning is what gives value to things and ideas. Above all, it is what gives value to work. If we ever felt like our work was meaningless, we would find it incredibly difficult to be engaged. The thing is, sometimes it is not easy to see the meaning in our work.

But meaning is something we can create for ourselves in our work. We can feel like cogs in a wheel or entrepreneurs on a grind, or we can think about how we are part of something that is making a difference in people’s lives, or someone building something worthwhile

We get to choose which story we embrace and it is best to pick only the stories that serve us.

Depending on the work you do, you might have to employ your imagination and creativity to a large extent to really get at the core of meaning. But the effort is worth it.

It all boils down to this question: How are we making the world a better place?

And if, even with your best effort, you can find no meaning in your current work, I’d say that is valuable information too. Wouldn’t you agree?

2. Seek challenges in your work

Another way to improve your engagement is to seek out challenges. Sometimes disengagement is a result of feelings of boredom or lack of growth in a particular position or organization. We become disengaged often unconsciously because we are not being challenged to grow or improve. This is especially common if we have spent a long time in the role or have somehow otherwise gotten very good at the work.

Obviously being good at what we do is desirable. But there is an edge that is lost when we become too comfortable. Engagement has, baked within it, an element of aspiration and even risk.

That is why you can spark engagement again in your work by consciously seeking out ways to either

Do your work better: This will look different depending on the work you do. For most knowledge work, it will be a play between speed and accuracy—how fast can do your work with no loss in accuracy?

Do better work: involves looking at your work differently and finding ways to improve how you work. Often, we get stuck in old ways of doing things and never really work on our work. You might find massive areas of improvement that could make your work easier and more enjoyable. You might even find that you free up more time to do other things.

Develop new skills or upgrade skills you already have: One of the best ways to depend engagement in our work is to use our work as vehicles for our own professional growth and development. We can do this by seeking out subjects that would enhance our work—especially in terms of our medium-long term goals—and then applying ourselves to acquiring those skills. Then once we are at certain level of competence, we begin to seek ways to apply those skills back into our work.

Whether you choose to apply just one or a combination of these approaches, you will find your enthusiasm renewed and your enjoyment of your work improve.

3. Seek Connections with others

Perhaps you have heard the expression: people don’t so business with companies, they do business with people.

Every company, from the solopreneur to the multi-national conglomerate is made up of people. And as part of an organization, you likely relate and interact with people. One deeply satisfying way to increase your engagement is to build relationships with the people you work with.

You don’t have to become BFFs with everyone on the floor or in the office, but just making an effort to create connections through conversations or coffee chats can have a huge impact on, not just your level of engagement, but on your overall experience of your work. You will come to learn interesting things about people you work with. You might even build real friendships that end up going beyond the workplace. One of my most valuable friendships today was nurtured at an old job and it all started with a casual lunch.  

Is there anyone you work with that you like, get along with or just want to get to know a little better? Book a coffee chat with them and just talk. No pressure, no obligations, no blood oaths—just a conversation. And see how it goes.

After a few of these with different people, you might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

So, what’s the point?

Even after all these suggestions, the question still remains—what’s the point? What’s the point of it all? As someone who thinks a lot about productivity and effectiveness, this is a question I have asked myself too. And the answer I have been able to come up with for myself is embodied in what I have shared in this article.

The point of all the work is to contribute to making the world better, making ourselves better, and cultivating positive relationships. And it would be great if we have a good time doing it all too.

Until the next article, be your best and do your best.