How to love your job

BY ALEXEI QUE

It’s not easy. This is especially true if you’ve reached a certain stage when everything seems to be falling out of place in your workplace.

It's like this weird love scenario: Falling in love with someone you've already fallen out of love with. Trust me. It's more than calling back after a weird fight.

But there are ways you can force yourself into believing there’s still a great chance between you and your job. It's a mental thing. It involves more than your heart. Kind of cheesy, but it’s a good start.

Here are some tips I could think of that makes me drag my feet from the bed every single morning of my work life.

1. I need it. It all falls down to the fact that I am in this job firstly because I need it. If I don’t need it, I don’t think I should even be wasting my time doing something that depresses me. More so, makes me cry (I don't actually, but you get the picture).

2. It needs me. I am part of the solution to the company and I am here because I have a purpose. Be that simply opening doors for guests or solving for the amount of risks in a company investment, I am working because I am somehow a solution to the problem of the company. That makes me feel good at the least.

3. My computer table is a better companion than my dining table. While it is true that I can just sit on my dining table the entire day and read tons of blogs about work life, staying at home and doing practically anything at home for 24 hours is kinda boring.

4. I meet people. Part of the good things about my job is that I meet a lot of people on a weekly basis. It doesn’t matter if they’re the worst person in the train queue, what matters is that I get to know people who make me feel different each time.

5. I did not attend two decades of school education for nothing. I spent a big chunk of my life dreaming of skipping school and now that I’m out of it, I might as well do something, right?

6. This is temporary. Repeat ten times.

7. It keeps me from killing myself. The last time I checked, Singapore is not in the top ten for the most number of suicide cases in the world. Count to that the fact that I am too busy to actually think of putting a stop to everything. Being busy saves me.

8. Higher purpose. I am a believer of a higher purpose folks. Once or twice (it's actually more) I get to experience instances that bring me to a situation wherein I can say to myself, "thank God I was there." This keeps me up on my feet every morning. And it makes me love my job more.

All these may or may not work for you. But taking a little from each one will help. Sometimes, in a dreary day when we struggle between going and not going to work, having some positive thoughts in our head is already a lot.

Alexei Que is an employee of a big media conglomerate and a freelance photographer, videographer and contributor for some random travel websites. Email him at alexei.que@gmail.com if you think you love your job enough.

The views expressed in this column are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect this publication's view, and this article is not edited by Singapore Business Review. The author was not remunerated for this article.