How to Leave a Bad Day at Work Behind?

[heavy operator]

When you have a bad day at work, it seems nothing goes on right track from the smallest thing. Of course you don’t want to bring your bad work day home. We can't change the fact that it happened but you can get over a bad day at work and might be prevent similar event in the future with these following tips:

1. Identify the root of your bad day at work

Where did it come from? Your boss, your coworkers, your customers or yourself?

- Your boss? He yelled at you for your mistake in front of your colleagues? He made you annoy with his micromanagement style? He might also get angry with you, so try to talk to him in the next day or other suitable time to find a mutual voice.
- Your bad coworkers? They gossiped behind your back or isolated you? It's a suck because you couldn't point at their face or inform your manager.
- Your difficult client? It's a headache issue because the customer is God. I would hazard a guess that you are working in service sector. It is inevitable, no need to make your mood down.
- Stress at work? Overload? Ask yourself why you chose this job to find a solution. You work for money or follow your passion?
Identify the origin of your negative emotion is the initial step to take further action.

2. Leave all problems at workplace

I know it's hard but possible to leave it behind your back and go home. You need a change from your perspective. Assume that you would bring your bad workday home; think over and over again during the evening and night time. Could you change anything which already happened? Definitely no! But you can take this time to assess thoroughly your behavior today, what you make right and wrong to discover the lesson in this experience. If it's your mistake, admit it and find how to fix on the next days. Everyone makes mistakes, but the difference is how to correct them.

3. Allow yourself a certain amount of time overcome negative feelings.

The emotion of disappointment or frustration is very common in this case. When you are in a bad mood, you may feel that the whole world turns against you. It's unwise to make any decision at this time. Don't keep your problem alone, you will feel better when being understood. Tell it to someone you trust, you can both relieve the stress and get perspective from an outsider.

After leaving the office, you should take a slow walk to keep calm down. Playing a sport or doing some exercises like yoga, biking, aerobics can help you refresh your mind. Endorphins and serotonin released during and after exercises are beneficial to your mood and help you reduce stress, especially when you exercise with your close friend or partner.

4. Do what you really enjoy

Do you have a hobby? It's an effective way to enjoy your personal life. When getting stressed at work, you should spend time doing what you like to find happiness. There are a million choices for you, such as playing with your children, cooking your favorite dish and enjoy the dinner with the one you love, listening to your favorite songs, wearing your favorite clothes, doing your favorite exercise and so on. Whatever you do, the idea to remember is to replace your negative feelings by happy emotion. You are unable to completely empty your mind after a bad day at work. The trick here is to fill your mind with other thought of comfortable things. Remember to spend time for yourself as you deserve.

5. Evaluate the panorama picture to figure out solutions

When your depression is gone, it's time to evaluate what happened. Do you realize the truth that most of bad things at work come from yourself? If you complete your work well, your boss couldn't blame it on you. If you get along well with other people on the office and never gossip, I do believe that they will treat you the same. No bad boss, no bad coworker. If you can manage your time and handle your work well, you even can strike a work-life balance instead of keep diving in the deep sea of stuff.

To be a top performer at work is important in your career path, but you don’t need to do multi tasks at the same time. You should have a to-do list every morning to motivate yourself. Besides, it’s better to learn to find the type of your manager to have proper strategy and try to enhance communication among coworkers to get on well with each other.

If you hate your current job or it doesn't fit you, don't hesitate to seek another work that suits your ability and personality. In case you love your job, it's time to reconsider your work plan and daily schedule. It hurts but either your time management or your multitasking skills need improving immediately. Ask for help when you need support since nobody can do everything well alone.

Obviously it's impossible to avoid bad day at work. Hopefully these tips can help you get over your awful day more quickly with less influence on your personal life. Every single day you make a choice.

 

[td25c]

Good points heavy operator .

My first employer "Boss Glen " had a strict 3 day rule on new employees .

They got 3 day's to prove there worth & after that time period they got hired or sent down the road .

Kind of a hard old cuss to work for but he groomed us for the future obstacles we would have to overcome . Owe allot to him .

One of his favorite sayings was " Deal with it " . Go on with the project in hand and don't call back complaining with excuses .

He pretty much put us in charge from the beginning .

 

[old-iron-habit]

I was on a job one time and happened to hear the response from the PM to another supt when the supt said "We can't do it" The manager said "There are two can'ts here. You can't do it, you can't stay." That was 40 years ago and its still true today.

 

[oldtanker]

This is amusing to me. A hitch in the military will cure you of a bunch of work related problems.

Boss yells at you? Nothing you can do about it, suck it up and drive on.

Boss micromanages? See above.

Coworkers pick on you? There is a reason, correct the problem, pull up your big girl panties and drive on.

Whole different concept to dealing with a client or customer....:guns.....but that adds stress to the job that again, deal with it.

Stress is the big one, see the Chaplin, get yer TS card punched and drive on.

Deal with that a few years and the petty stuff in a civilian job is nothing

I all seriousness stress can be a major problem. If it starts getting to be a major issue maybe it's time to move on to something else.

Most people today think they have to love their job. Making a living is not making a life. That job provides a person with a paycheck, and that paycheck, if large enough allows you to have a life. You don't have to love your job like they told you in high school.

That career field you trained for may include the phrase "do you want fries with that" if there are no jobs there. Look at what you want to do before attended school and getting into debt. If there are no jobs there pick something else.

If you are carrying you living home with you where you have your life it's a huge mistake. If work is that bad what's it going to do to your life that may include a spouse and kids.

Rant over

Rick

 

[OMB]

This is amusing to me. A hitch in the military will cure you of a bunch of work related problems.

Boss yells at you? Nothing you can do about it, suck it up and drive on.

Boss micromanages? See above.

Coworkers pick on you? There is a reason, correct the problem, pull up your big girl panties and drive on.

Whole different concept to dealing with a client or customer....:guns.....but that adds stress to the job that again, deal with it.

Stress is the big one, see the Chaplin, get yer TS card punched and drive on.

Deal with that a few years and the petty stuff in a civilian job is nothing

I all seriousness stress can be a major problem. If it starts getting to be a major issue maybe it's time to move on to something else.

Most people today think they have to love their job. Making a living is not making a life. That job provides a person with a paycheck, and that paycheck, if large enough allows you to have a life. You don't have to love your job like they told you in high school.

That career field you trained for may include the phrase "do you want fries with that" if there are no jobs there. Look at what you want to do before attended school and getting into debt. If there are no jobs there pick something else.

If you are carrying you living home with you where you have your life it's a huge mistake. If work is that bad what's it going to do to your life that may include a spouse and kids.

Rant over

Rick

What's a "TS card"?

I agree with most of what you said but the average person spends half of his waking hours at work, he should be at least content there. Probably has something to do with long term health, if you are sucking it up for that many hours of a day, keeping it inside, you might be slowly killing yourself from the inside.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

What's a "TS card"?

I agree with most of what you said but the average person spends half of his waking hours at work, he should be at least content there. Probably has something to do with long term health, if you are sucking it up for that many hours of a day, keeping it inside, you might be slowly killing yourself from the inside.

Not to speak for Rick, but I think the TS card is basically being told "Tough S***"

I wish a lot more people had the same attitude He is speaking of. There are way too many crybabies in the workforce today that think it is the bosses or the governments responsibility to take care of them. If that is what they want, they should go back home and live with momma.

 

[oldtanker]

Not to speak for Rick, but I think the TS card is basically being told "Tough S***"

I wish a lot more people had the same attitude He is speaking of. There are way too many crybabies in the workforce today that think it is the bosses or the governments responsibility to take care of them. If that is what they want, they should go back home and live with momma.

Yup! A TS card is your Tough S*** card. Was the standard thing young soldiers were told when they started whining about things "go see the Chaplin and get your TS card stamped"!

Now as far as being content going to work goes. I guess being in the army from 74-96 I have a different perspective. I've known 2 guys that really loved their jobs in my life. Me and one other fellow. I loved being on tanks, loved tanks and loved being the guy in charge. But because of transfers I went from good units to some that were really bad. But overall I loved what I was doing. I honestly looked forward to Monday mornings so I could go back to work. When I retired and entered the civilian work force I was looking at co workers and employment in fields that I was qualified for. I quickly learned that people in general thought that they we entitled to a job that they just loved. Their boss was supposed to be a saint and the co workers nice. I met others who had pursued careers that they liked and found that that career didn't pay well or that there were no openings in that field. Well if you are happy at work then go home and are unhappy cause your apartment sucks and your car is always broken, you can't afford nice stuff for your kids or to take a vacation then your life sucks. You are seldom going to find perfect working conditions, perfect co workers or the perfect career field. So find something that you can live with and make a living so you can enjoy life.

Heck I know a guy who was laid off from an 80K a year job in the mid 90's. He only wants to work in that field and will not work for less than what he was making. This career field is such that if you don't keep current your degree is worthless after about 2 years. Plus it pays a lot less now than it did then. Last time I talked to him several years ago he was working at Wal Mart. His wife had left him after he had been unemployed for 8 years. He is refusing to go back to college to bring his degree back into play too.

So if you:

Take a degree in something that has no job openings you need to learn to say "would you like fires with that" and the job application should be printed on the back of the diploma. I don't care how much you like the career field, no job means no pay, no pay means a poor life.

Expect to love your job and working conditions you are bound for disappointment. Look at the number of people on here who have worked for a company for years and love it when the company changes hands and everything goes south. Not everyone can just pack up and move to find a better job.

A good paying job that is bearable gives you the money to enjoy life! You can take the family out to eat, see a show, go on vacation or just buy your kids that 1500 buck playground. A job you love that has no income potential lets you go home at night, bar your windows and set and figure out who you can afford to pay this paycheck. That means your LIFE sucks, but what hey, you love your job! Which one sounds better to you?

Rick

 

[kshansen]

Expect to love your job and working conditions you are bound for disappointment. Look at the number of people on here who have worked for a company for years and love it when the company changes hands and everything goes south. Not everyone can just pack up and move to find a better job.

A good paying job that is bearable gives you the money to enjoy life! You can take the family out to eat, see a show, go on vacation or just buy your kids that 1500 buck playground. A job you love that has no income potential lets you go home at night, bar your windows and set and figure out who you can afford to pay this paycheck. That means your LIFE sucks, but what hey, you love your job! Which one sounds better to you?

Rick

When I first started at the quarry in the shop some of the working conditions by today's standards might sound primitive. No running water in shop, no lunch room of any kind, sat on old air filters during breaks, thought we had it made when we scrapped an old truck with good seat, at least two or three guys had a comfy seat. If you had to use the bathroom it was about a thousand yard walk, not bad in summer but with packed down snow and ice it could be fun dodging customers trucks while making the walk. Need to pressure wash a machine or part? Well hook washer to the pick-up or fork truck and haul it the pond then hope the water level isn't too low for the washer to pick up a prime. If it's below freezing better get done fast and move everything bad to shop before it freezes. Need some oil, go digging in the snow to find the barrel you need and if lucky get loader operator to swing over to carry it in, otherwise use hand cart.

Now days shop has hot and cold running water, bulk oil tanks for 80% of the oils used, heated/air conditioned lunch room. Bathroom facilities are still just a Port-a-poty outside the back door but at least close by. Need to wash a machine or some big parts? Run them across the driveway to the inside heated washbay, push button and you're cleaning parts.

All these improvements and I still liked the job better back in those bad old days.

 

[oldtanker]

When I first started at the quarry in the shop some of the working conditions by today's standards might sound primitive. No running water in shop, no lunch room of any kind, sat on old air filters during breaks, thought we had it made when we scrapped an old truck with good seat, at least two or three guys had a comfy seat. If you had to use the bathroom it was about a thousand yard walk, not bad in summer but with packed down snow and ice it could be fun dodging customers trucks while making the walk. Need to pressure wash a machine or part? Well hook washer to the pick-up or fork truck and haul it the pond then hope the water level isn't too low for the washer to pick up a prime. If it's below freezing better get done fast and move everything bad to shop before it freezes. Need some oil, go digging in the snow to find the barrel you need and if lucky get loader operator to swing over to carry it in, otherwise use hand cart.

Now days shop has hot and cold running water, bulk oil tanks for 80% of the oils used, heated/air conditioned lunch room. Bathroom facilities are still just a Port-a-poty outside the back door but at least close by. Need to wash a machine or some big parts? Run them across the driveway to the inside heated washbay, push button and you're cleaning parts.

All these improvements and I still liked the job better back in those bad old days.

That may be but I bet the paychecks is enough to allow you to enjoy life/

Rick

 

[old-iron-habit]

Everytime I had a bad day I screamed at everybody else, pi**ed them off and went home happy. Not really, just kidding but in my earlier years I had some bosses like that. Sounds like unfortunately some people still do. My job was in one respect a lot like a mechanic. Nobody ever walked into my office and said, "I just wanted to let you know that everything went good today." In reality every conversation started with either, We have a problem or more often, You have a problem. I'm sure no one walks up to the mechanic and says, Boy, My machine sure runs good and needs nothing, go do something else.

 

[kshansen]

That may be but I bet the paychecks is enough to allow you to enjoy life/

Rick

Well I live in a fairly modest house, my newest motorcycle is a 1992, main lawn mower is a 1948 or so Farmall, heat mostly with wood and despite urging from wife have never been on a Caribbean Cruise. So it's all in how you look at things. Some would say I'm close to being a hermit but compared to way too many people I think I'm living in the lap of luxury. Was lucky enough to have close family help with the construction of the main part of the house and never had a mortgage. Will be turning 66 in a few months. So if I keep going the way I have for the last 40+ years I should do all right.

Never felt a job should or would be "fun" but don't feel there is any reason it should be something you would feel bad about having to look forward to everyday. Won't say I enjoyed having to change a starter on a Mack haul truck outside on a day when the high was -25ºF or sitting in a foot of mud trying to get rusted up bolts out of the guards on a 345 Cat back hoe while it's leaking oil all over the place, but if you have decent fellow workers and a supervisor like we had it was something you could live with. Even to the point of joking about it the next day. What did bother me was when some people in middle and upper management would do things to people just because they could. Bosses at each plant level were good people to work with/for, they wanted a days work for a days pay but always understood the conditions you were dealing with and tried to see that you had the proper tools for the job. It's the "I'm the boss that's why!" attitude that I have a problem with for the most part.

 

[truck drivers]

Great post! Thanks but hoping I won't have to use it

 

[Jim D]

Yup! A TS card is your Tough S*** card. Was the standard thing young soldiers were told when they started whining about things "go see the Chaplin and get your TS card stamped"!

Now as far as being content going to work goes. I guess being in the army from 74-96 I have a different perspective. I've known 2 guys that really loved their jobs in my life. Me and one other fellow. I loved being on tanks, loved tanks and loved being the guy in charge. But because of transfers I went from good units to some that were really bad. But overall I loved what I was doing. I honestly looked forward to Monday mornings so I could go back to work. When I retired and entered the civilian work force I was looking at co workers and employment in fields that I was qualified for. I quickly learned that people in general thought that they we entitled to a job that they just loved. Their boss was supposed to be a saint and the co workers nice. I met others who had pursued careers that they liked and found that that career didn't pay well or that there were no openings in that field. Well if you are happy at work then go home and are unhappy cause your apartment sucks and your car is always broken, you can't afford nice stuff for your kids or to take a vacation then your life sucks. You are seldom going to find perfect working conditions, perfect co workers or the perfect career field. So find something that you can live with and make a living so you can enjoy life.

Heck I know a guy who was laid off from an 80K a year job in the mid 90's. He only wants to work in that field and will not work for less than what he was making. This career field is such that if you don't keep current your degree is worthless after about 2 years. Plus it pays a lot less now than it did then. Last time I talked to him several years ago he was working at Wal Mart. His wife had left him after he had been unemployed for 8 years. He is refusing to go back to college to bring his degree back into play too.

So if you:

Take a degree in something that has no job openings you need to learn to say "would you like fires with that" and the job application should be printed on the back of the diploma. I don't care how much you like the career field, no job means no pay, no pay means a poor life.

Expect to love your job and working conditions you are bound for disappointment. Look at the number of people on here who have worked for a company for years and love it when the company changes hands and everything goes south. Not everyone can just pack up and move to find a better job.

A good paying job that is bearable gives you the money to enjoy life! You can take the family out to eat, see a show, go on vacation or just buy your kids that 1500 buck playground. A job you love that has no income potential lets you go home at night, bar your windows and set and figure out who you can afford to pay this paycheck. That means your LIFE sucks, but what hey, you love your job! Which one sounds better to you?

Rick

Great post, Rick. Being in the Army 1974-96, that was really seeing the lows and the highs over the years, no?

WRT a 'bad day at work', as I see it, a person has only two choices of response to a bad day at work; to make the situation better or to make the situation worse...

 

[fixou812]

When I was a boy mama told me "life is like a blank' sandwich. ...and Every day ya gotta take a Nice Big Bite!"

Then I got a wee bit older and went to work on a Drilling Rig. ...
a man with a Big Hat was there to welcome me!
"Welcome to the Patch Son!"