How to Improve Your Attitude at Work

Unless you have a job that you absolutely love, which means that you would do it even if you did not get paid, work is most likely not your favorite place to be. However, going to work is necessary to live. Improving your attitude at work will help make work a bit more enjoyable.

Hang Around Positive Coworkers

Even though you should never trust coworkers 100 percent—they could gossip about you, or tell the boss about what you are saying about him or her or the workplace—having coworkers who you are friendly with can make work seem like less of a drag because you will look forward to seeing them while you are there. You should not befriend coworkers who have the same complaints about the workplace as you do, because your conversations will only be complaining sessions, which will increase your negative attitude.

Create a Positive Workspace

If you have an office or cubicle, personalize it by hanging up photos of your friends and family, positive quotes, pictures of beautiful scenery, artwork, etc. If you are allowed, you can buy a diffuser with essential oils to calm you and improve your mood. Creating a positive workspace will boost your attitude.

Think about How You are Contributing to Society

Regardless if you are a doctor or a janitor, you are contributing to society. Society has jobs for a reason: to keep it running. Thinking about how are benefitting society by doing your job can increase your motivation to go to work and do the best that you can while there. Clients/customers saying “Thank you” are really the the best way you can receive the best service awards at your job. If you are having trouble coming up with how your job contributes to society, think about how people would be at a loss if your job did not exist.

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude helps to rewire your brain to become more positive. Merely having a job is something to be grateful for, because there are so many people who are unemployed and struggling to survive. Thinking of at least three gratitude points about your job (e.g. a coworker who you are friends with, free pizza on Fridays, or your boss not making you mad just for that day) will help you be more positive about your job.

Complain as Little as Possible

Just as gratitude rewires the brain to be more positive, complaining rewires the brain to be more negative. Complain as little as possible and you may find yourself feeling the need to complain less.

Fake a Positive Attitude Until it Becomes Real

Even if you do not have a positive attitude, fake it until you have one. After acting like you have one for a while, you will actually start to believe you do.

Practice Deep Breathing and Meditation During Stressful Times

Deep breathing and meditation, which is intended to relax the mind, is beneficial to coping with stressful times at work. Mindfulness meditation, which is where you focus on your breathing and the present moment, is a form of meditation that is most commonly encouraged for the workplace. This can help you avoid making wrong decisions out of stress.

Be Kind to People

The Law of Attraction says that you will attract the type of people who are like you. If you are kind to everyone, including your coworkers, supervisors, clients/customers, etc., more people are more likely to be kind to you.

Be Positive at Work

Your entire youth and majority of your life will be spent working. Life is too short to be spent being miserable for the majority of it, and life does not have to be a drag until retirement. Your perspective strongly influences your experiences. If you go into work with a positive attitude, the experience will be more positive.