How satisfied are you with your current job? Personally, I can’t imagine staying with a company or organization that I honestly could not stand working for whatever the reason may be. I was in that situation once and thankfully when a friend told me to have faith and leave, well … I did. I'm definitely not recommending that people up and quit their jobs without another job to go to like I did, but if it’s affecting your personal and professional life, then it is worth some examination. For me, it was a step that opened up a huge door to finishing my doctorate and establishing a career in higher education. Sometimes when things go bad, they lead to something better.

As we wind ourselves down the path to job satisfaction, I think it’s important to feel as thought we are making a difference in our jobs. For example, teachers today are under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure. The national education agenda is all over the place and in my opinion teachers are taking the brunt of it. But the bottom line is that as teachers, we are helping kids learn. There may be times when it doesn’t seem that way, but we ARE making a difference in their lives in one way or another. When you finally get to see a child’s “a-ha” moment, it is then you realize the impact you’ve had on their education and future life.

Flexibility in a job is a gift and very much appreciated when it’s offered as a perk of the job. As an instructor at a university, I have found flexibility to be one of the best ways to increase my own engagement and productivity. I try to schedule one full day a week to work in my home office. There are far fewer distractions and no “I know you are busy, but….” conversations at the office. I catch up on grading, I save on gas, meetings can be done by conference call, and the list goes on. This is a gift of time and it brings a tremendous amount of satisfaction. If you don’t have this and are in a job where it could possibly be done, you might try approaching your supervisor to work something out. It’s worth every minute.

Keeping a work-life balance is critical. Many of us know that personal problems at home can impact work performance, but the opposite is true too. Difficulty at the office is likely to affect personal life. Detaching yourself from work when you are off the clock is critical. This is hard when you have a career with no set working hours. If that’s the case then schedule time for non-work life. Or if you are really bold, then turn that phone or computer off at a certain time each night. High job demands and keeping long work hours (more than necessary) can create emotional exhaustion and other psychosomatic complaints. Try detaching yourself from your work to ease the impact of job stressors on personal life.

So how will you begin to work on your job satisfaction?