So, you’ve realized it’s impossible to be happy at work everyday, even when you love your job. You get bored. You get stressed. You’re just tired. Usually, you can get through a bad day, maybe two. If you genuinely enjoy your work, there’s always a way to make things better. But when one tough day follows another, it can bog you down. You’ll start to feel as if you’re never going to escape this feeling. You’ve tried starting your day the right way, but it didn’t work. Helping others at the office has made you resentful because you feel you’re not appreciated. What should you do? You may be considering leaving your current position and finding something new. But before making a career change, consider these few things to see if you can push yourself back on track!

• Be future-oriented. We all spend a lot of time thinking about the past. You may dwell on mistakes you’ve made at work, things you wished you could’ve done better. You might even daydream about a pivotal moment in your career when a different decision could’ve led you down a different path. But concentrating on what you can’t change only makes those bad days tougher and you’re eventually focusing only on the negative. At that point, you probably can’t even remember why your job was great and feel the only solution is to leave. However, if you concentrate on the present and the future, you’re able to turn things around before you even start thinking about quitting. Don’t dwell on a mistake you made a year ago. Think, instead, of what you learned from that mistake and how you can apply that to your future endeavours. Consider where you want to be in a year and start taking steps to get there. Every accomplishment and connection going forward is a stepping stone to your goal. And even if you’ve realized that, maybe, this job isn’t as right for you as you thought, those stepping stones and actions will be great on a resume to help you land that job that truly makes you happy.
• Take charge. Many people end up leaving a position or company because they feel their employer never made an effort to help them advance professionally. They feel there is a lack of opportunity and decide to seek it elsewhere when it’s not given to them. However, you might want to consider taking charge of your career development yourself. This doesn’t mean marching self-righteously into the boss’ office, demanding a raise and a title change. It means looking at the career paths available in your company and taking the steps to get where you’d like to go. Often, especially at large companies, your management team may not even realize you are interested in moving forward if you don’t make it known. Besides getting ahead, there’s satisfaction in taking charge of your professional life. You’ll always be able to say that you worked hard to get where you are and mean it!
• Believe in yourself. No matter where you work, at the end of the day, if you don’t believe you can do the job successfully you won’t. You don’t have to adopt an overconfident attitude at work to be happy but you do have to realize what you’re capable of. Believing in yourself and your abilities will not only boost your positivity but thinking positively can actually make a concrete difference. If you believe you can do a thing, you’re more likely to accomplish it! And, bonus: your coworkers and bosses will notice this too!

In Ender’s Game, a sci-fi series by Orson Scott Card, a character says, “If you try and lose, then it isn’t your fault.” If you’ve made every effort you can to make each day at work a bit better, but you’re still unhappy with your career, it’s not failing if you decide to make a change. Not every job will be your dream job. Every day won’t be great. But, if that company is where you want to be, then you can always work to make it better.