How to Overcome Boredom at Work

Finding Enough Self Motivation to Get Through the Mundane Tasks

Nov 7, 2008 Deborah S. Hildebrand

Boring tasks are no fun - that is unless you make them fun. Here are five tips to help eliminate the boredom of mundane tasks.

One of the most difficult challenges employees can face is dealing with the small repetitive or tedious tasks that go along with most jobs. It can be really difficult for someone to motivate himself to do something if he doesn’t enjoy doing it. But what if the boredom comes from not having enough work to do? Perhaps business is slow and instead of risk telling someone that one don’t have enough to stay busy, the employee would rather keep quiet and keep his job.

Whatever the reason that someone is feeling bored at work, there is a solution. Whether it is a hardworking employee who finds himself trying to stay awake as he collates 500 pages for a report, or the person who resists getting up early in order to get the exercise he really knows he needs because it’s easier to sleep than peddle endlessly on an exercise cycle, here are five tricks to help overcome boredom.

Create a New Challenge

A large part of being bored is thinking about the fact that it’s boring. Instead, employees can create a new challenge by testing themselves. Things like completing a mundane task sooner than ever before or seeing how many times they can do something within a prescribed time frame can make the mundane seem more challenging. And if the problem is a lack of work, the challenge is to find something new to do, like reorganizing a filing system or updating old forms.

Build in the Fun

Another way to make the plain more interesting is to make it more fun. Employees can build in more excitement if they play music or watch an interesting program while exercising, or ask others to lend a hand and help cut the time to complete the boring project in half. If none of this works, employees might consider giving themselves a reward for completing the mundane tasks. And if the problem is too little work to do, step in and assist someone else with her mundane tasks.

Keep the End in Mind

Much like offering themselves a reward for doing the boring work, employees can inspire themselves to move ahead if they keep the end result in mind. Whether they reward themselves with some special treat or the reward is the recognition of a grateful supervisor, sometimes on the path to a much greater goal an employee can find enjoyment in the little, boring things.

Spend Time Resolving Issues

Have an unresolved problem that needs ironing out, but don’t have time to think about it? Now is the time. Employees can use downtime – jogging, filing, collating – to sort through options and choices or work through conflict and thereby kill two birds with one stone. It’s a great way to multi-task. Employees suffering from too little to do might want to consider making a list of projects they would initiate if given the time and budget.

Accept Reality

As tough as it might be to accept, doing the menial work is sometimes what it takes to be successful. It’s like learning to play the piano. Before the new student can learn to play tunes, she needs to learn the scales. It may also be that the only way to avoid a negative outcome the employee must complete the repetitious tasks. No exercise = poor health. If, however, the problem is there is not enough to do, it might be time to accept the fact that it’s time to find a new job.

Keep in mind, that as boring as the little jobs might be, the mundane tasks are sometimes what lead us to greater opportunities. As they say in the theater: there are no small roles, just small actors.

The copyright of the article How to Overcome Boredom at Work in Career Advice is owned by Deborah S. Hildebrand. Permission to republish How to Overcome Boredom at Work in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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