It happens to the best of us. We lose our passion for our job. The reasons can be many but what is important is learning how to restore the passion, the excitement, the intensity, and the newness to our occupation.

Why do we lose our passion for a job we once loved?

The reasons can range from outgrowing a position with no advancement opportunities to an overbearing boss to just plain old boredom. You may have taken a job because of the money only to later discover that your personality characteristics aren’t what the company wants or needs. You may have been promised raises or promotions only to see them disappear or you could have jumped into a position without learning anything about it first.

Why work to restore your passion for your job?

Working in a job where your soul is sucked right out of you isn’t how I want to spend my life, and I’ll bet you feel the same. I’d much rather be engaged in my work, to feel that what I did was important, not just to the company, but to ME.

Working in a job where you’re just going through the motions isn’t fun. It isn’t satisfying. And it isn’t your only option. You CAN restore your original passion for your work.

How to restore your passion for your job

First, insure your personality characteristics line up well with your job.

If you’re a “people person,” you won’t be happy in a two person office where one is the boss and you’re the other one. If you love crunching numbers, you probably won’t be happy working the sales floor at a department store in the mall. If you enjoy being creative and in control, you will not be happy working on an assembly line. The thing to remember is that every one of these positions exactly matches up with someone else’s personality traits. The key is to find out what you enjoy and then find a position that aligns with your personality. To find out more about yourself, read Personality Plus: How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself.

Second, realize how important your job actually is.

I’m not going to fall for the “I’m just a cashier” line either. As a cashier, you come in contact with dozens, perhaps hundreds of people every day. YOU are usually the last contact a customer has with the company before heading out the door. That is an important position. Many times you can either make someone’s day or ruin it.

Think you’re “just a middle manager?” Listen, you are the bridge between the engine of the company (field/line employees) and the people driving it (staff and corporate employees). You may not like where they steer the company, but you can still voice your opinion, give feedback from the field, and relay information that can help the company improve. You probably wanted to do that when you originally took the position.

Third, remember how badly you wanted this job in the first place

Go back in your mind and recall the excitement you had when you called your significant other and told them about your job offer. After all, you wanted this job and YOU applied for it. No one MADE you take it and chances are good that you were once thankful to have it. Rekindle those emotions and turn on your thankfulness.

If you can’t restore passion for your job

If your personality doesn’t line up well with your job, if you cannot uncover anything remotely important about your work, if you never really wanted the job in the first place … do something about it.

Remember, you don’t HAVE to work there. You aren’t being held captive and you aren’t trapped. Even in a poor economy there are still thousands of jobs available as well as thousands of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Don’t fall into the mindset of “poor old me.” Get up off the sofa and make something happen for yourself and your family. No one wants you to be happier with your work than you and your family. Your boss wants you to be happy too. Happy employees usually create happy customers.

The important thing is, no matter what you do, do it well and do it with gusto.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

Although you can manage your own finances without the aid of an independent financial advisor, sometimes the complexity of your financial picture necessitates bringing in the big guns. Are you really able to understand the ins and outs of retirement planning, estate planning, insurance, investments and taxes?

At this point, you may be wondering who to turn to and sadly, most people rely on the advice of friends who “know this guy” or on the Internet yellow pages. Both can sometimes be successful, but if you don’t want to get advice from friends or from the yellow pages, try using WiserAdvisor. WiserAdvisor is an innovative way for individuals and independent financial advisors and professionals to find each other.

WiserAdvisor’s algorithms are designed to match individuals completing its online questionnaire with their ideal advisors who specialize in portfolio management, retirement and estate planning, educational planning, taxes, insurance, and business finances. Regardless of the area you need help with, WiserAdvisor can help match you with the professional you need for your personal situation.

Why WiserAdvisor?

1. No Obligation – You do not have to sign up for advisory services with any advisor that you are matched with.
2. No Costs – Using their site to find your ideal independent financial advisor is completely FREE!
3. Confidential – Your personal information is kept confidential and ONLY shared with the financial advisors who are matched to your preferences.
4. No Conflicts of Interest – WiserAdvisor is NOT a financial services company and does NOT offer any financial advice. Their only goal is to provide you with the best advisors to help you achieve your financial goals.
5. Quick and Easy – Their “Search Assistant” takes less than one minute to complete.
6. Saves You Time – By using WiserAdvisor you will only have to research financial advisors who meet your requirements and whose requirements you meet as well.
7. Hundreds of High Quality Advisors – WiserAdvisor works with numerous advisors from a wide range of companies, giving you a broad array of choices. All advisors have to meet strict qualification standards to be admitted to our site.
8. Several Search Methods – They’ve developed two different search methods, so you can use the one that you are most comfortable with.

If you’re beginning to realize that your financial situation warrants the advice of a professional, consider using WiserAdvisor to find the perfect financial advisor for you.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

A company received a letter with $45 inside along with the following handwritten note:

To Whom It May Concern

Many years ago (25 or 30?) I stole a hammer from this place of business. I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway. Enclosed is $45 to cover the cost of the hammer plus a little extra for interest. I’m sorry I took it, but I have changed my ways.

I hope God will forgive me for all the terrible things I have done in my life. This just being a small part.

The note wasn’t signed. The president of the company took the money and donated it to charity according to newspaper reports.

Three things stand out to me:

1. The person who stole the merchandise knew it was wrong but did it anyway. Obviously their guilt had stayed with them for three decades! What a horrible load to have to bear for so long, lingering in his or her mind, thinking about it every time someone mentioned a hammer.

How many times have you or I done something that we knew was wrong, but “did it anyway?” Why did we do it? The list of why’s can be long – raging from peer pressure to the “thrill.” But regardless, when we do something we KNOW is wrong … well that’s just the definition of stupid.

2. The person was willing to make amends. Not only make amends, but to pay a little extra. That speaks even more so to their guilt and sense of wrongdoing.

It’s one thing to know what you or I did was dumb, but it’s quite another to recognize it and just blow it off. The person who wrote the note took the step (albeit a late step) to make things right … with interest. Was the calculation accurate? Who cares. The point is that an attempt at absolution was made and the right thing was eventually done.

3. The company donated the money. The company had written off the loss a long time ago, but the president of the company allowed that loss to generate something good by the donation AND by sharing this event.

When someone does you or me wrong, let’s try to figure out a way to flip it into something good, not just for you or me, but for those around us too. What can we do to write off a loss and turn around so that more than just ourselves benefits, to make more than just our lives a little bit better?

What are your thoughts?

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

How do you know you’re effective, that you’re “hitting the mark?” Do you have a way to measure each goal you’ve set for yourself? Let’s face it, it isn’t easy setting all those New Year’s Resolutions only to see them fall by the wayside just a few days into the new year. You originally thought you’d effectively hit each one. How can you get back on track?

If you’re like most people, you have all sorts of goals –  plans or wishes really – and many of them overlap each other in some way. YOU may be effectively juggling all those plans, but have you been effective in what you’ve completed?

If you want to improve your effectiveness, these 5 simple tips can help you:

1. Make the most of your down time or unscheduled time

Humans need down time. We have to take some time for ourselves every now and then to collect our thoughts, to set some goals, to work out how to put plans in motion. Unscheduled time allows out creativity shine and helps us concentrate on solutions to problems. But the only way you will be likely to find time for yourself is if you actually schedule some downtime. So schedule it ,,, and take it.

2. Be results oriented

You only get one chance in life, so it’s crucial to set both personal and professional goals to help you to achieve your dreams and ambitions. But don’t just set them – demand results from yourself. Setting goals costs you nothing but a little time and thought, but failing to set any goals can result in failure and regret.

3. Make your strengths work for you

Find work that allows you to make some use of your talents and interests and you’ll find that you’re happier, healthier and much more effective. If, for example, your talents and interests lie in working with people, find a job that allows you to take best advantage of those strengths. If you’re just NOT a “people person, ” please don’t think you need to go into sales. Oh and “finding” the work you truly enjoy may be a job into itself … but that’s okay!

4. Focus on one or two tasks at a time

“I’ve got so many things to do, I don’t even know where to start!” Felt this way recently? Probably. When you are overwhelmed with work, it’s imperative that you prioritize your tasks and then focus on the one or two most important tasks. Devote your full attention to them, so you can complete them, get them off your plate and move on to the next prioritized task. A tasks completed rarely comes back to bite you!

5. Make good decisions

When you must make a decision, get all the information you need, ask others for their input and suggestions, consider all the alternatives and then make the decision. Remember, to not decide is to decide.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for being kept … for about 6 days. But there are several resolutions worth keeping this new year. One of them really should be to learn to listen to others and stop the (bad) habit of interrupting.

How well DO you listen to others? How well do others listen to you?

Recently, I was at a party hosted by some good friends. The food was fabulous. The music was great. And … I decided to try an experiment. I decided to test how well other people listened.

People, (including ME) generally don’t listen very well … if at all. During my little social experiment, I was interrupted so often that I decided to do nothing BUT listen to others. They told me  their Christmas stories, about their vacations to the mountains, their political ideas, who they thought would win which bowl game, and what was going on with their jobs. People LOVED IT as I allowed them to talk and talk and talk.

I also noticed that I wasn’t the only one who was interrupted. NO ONE could finish more than 2 or 3 sentences without being interrupted – sometimes they couldn’t even finish ONE sentence! You could see people waiting to catch a pause in the conversation so they could jump in. They looked like race cars waiting at the starting line, revving their engines in anticipation of the green light.

What was going on here?

People thought they had something more important to say than anyone else in the room. They seemed to love the sound of their own voice and the stories of their own adventures. Dale Carnegie and others have written about the fact that people love to talk about themselves to anyone who will listen (How to Win Friends and Influence People). The completely shy person who refuses to talk about themselves at all is a rare breed. What’s driving this? I think there are several factors:

• Our attention span is pathetically short. We have been conditioned by advertising and marketers to anticipate having our train of thought interrupted every 5 to 6 minutes for advertisements. Segments on some media outlets last less than 30 seconds!
• The songs we all have on our iPods and CD’s last only 3 to 4 minutes on average. We have our minds changed for us constantly. When is the last time you saw only three songs on one side of a record album? Hint: Boston’s debut album in 1976.
• People have more information available to them than ever. As a result, they’re eager to inflate their egos by showing you how much they know. In almost every business, someone will "do some online research" on a product then come into a store confident they know more than a guy who’s been to every training class for the last 20 years and has been selling and installing that product for 35 years.
• Manners have gone out the window. Interrupting has become so commonplace that no one even notices anymore. People almost seem to expect it.
• People have failed to learn the forgotten art of listening. They think what they have to say is more important than what anyone else has to say.

What can you and I do? For one, we can learn to become better listeners ourselves. You see, listening isn’t just a need that we have, it’s a gift that we give.

So, resolve to give the gift of listening. Here’s how to do it:

1. Cultivate a desire to listen. Listening to others is a powerful tool. If given the opportunity, the others will tell me everything you need to know. If this doesn’t create desire, I don’t know what will.

2. Always let the other person do 70% of the talking and refuse to interrupt. Your speaking role will come into play when you’re asked a question.

3. Ask for clarification and insure that you understand by repeating back what you heard. Once you ask a question, be quiet and listen.

4. Learn to read another person’s body language. Non verbal communication can account for up to 60% of the message. Tone accounts for 30 percent and the actual words used accounts for only 10%.

5. Take notes if needed. That means you have to be prepared to listen ahead of time!

6. Be present in the moment. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by external or internal forces.

These will all be very difficult to do. But if we’re going to get ahead in our jobs, in personal relationships, and in life, we will have to develop superior listening skills. Imagine how you would feel if you had a friend who really, I mean really listened to you.

Become that friend.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.