You may be overwhelmed when starting your new job; learning the policies, meeting new coworkers, meeting with your boss and doing your job to the best of your ability. Although the adjustment can be hard at first, remember to keep your chin up and have a positive attitude. There will, of course, be challenges you will face when starting any new job. Instead of complaining about them, embrace the challenges and use them to show the company what a capable and determined worker you are.
Here are five things you can do to keep a positive attitude towards your new job:
- Have a positive attitude
- Accept challenges
- Avoid gossip
- Don’t complain
- Give affirmations
Have a positive attitude
Having a positive attitude at work involves always looking on the bright side and expecting the best from others and yourself. This can help you be a better and more productive employee. Staying positive can often be hard to do. However, keeping a positive attitude helps you as well as everyone else on your team. Just one positive or optimistic person can change the entire workplace mood for the better. By remaining positive, you have the power to create a good impression of yourself and encourage the same attitude in others. Being a role model in this way will make work more pleasant for everyone.
Accept challenges
Problems and challenges occur at work, whether you are a new or experienced employee. Handling the challenges when first beginning a new job can be tough, but it is possible to accept and handle them in a positive way. This will ensure that you keep a good attitude. Here are four common challenges that new employees face in the workplace as well as ideas on how to handle them:
- Fitting in with your peers or team can be difficult for a new employee. A good way to accept this challenge is to get to know your peers through office projects. Use this time to share interests and build trust.
- Being heard by your peers can be another challenge when beginning a new job. It is best to first listen to and observe your peers to get a feel for the type of environment that exists. When you feel confident, start sharing your own solutions.
- Making mistakes can be a challenge for new employees. No one likes to look like the “new guy”. Rather than getting upset or frustrated, forgive yourself for the mistakes you make and move on.
- Time management can be challenging when you have a whole new list of tasks to complete. Break down the tasks into smaller “to-do” lists for each day or week. If you are still having trouble, ask a coworker what works best for him or her.
Avoid gossip
An important part about staying positive in your new job is to avoid gossip, (talk about others), at your new workplace. It can be tempting to join in on the gossip, especially as you are trying to fit in, but it is never a good idea to do so. Gossiping can damage your new career and any work environment. Here are some tips from the Careerstone Group on ways to avoid gossip in the workplace:
- Keep busy in your job duties. The more you are working, the less you will be bothered by gossipers.
- Don’t participate in the gossip. Walk away from stories about others and don’t spread them.
- Turn around the gossip by saying something positive about the person or situation being discussed.
- Keep your private life to yourself. Chances are, the gossipers at work will also use your private information against you.
- Choose your work friends wisely. If you associate with gossipers, you will be viewed as one of them.
- Directly address the person who is gossiping and ask him/her to stop.
- Go to a supervisor with your concerns. He/she should be happy to take the opportunity to address the situation and boost the workplace environment.
Don’t complain
When we feel overwhelmed or frustrated, it can feel natural to complain about the situation. Complaining, however, only makes things worse. Chronic complaining, whether it is justified or not, can be toxic and make your department or company an unpleasant place to work. That’s because complaining makes things worse than they are and decreases morale. Over time, complaining decreases chances of success in the workplace for you and your coworkers.
Practice affirmations
Positive affirmations are short, positive phrases that can help you to build your confidence and have success in your new job. For example, repeating the phrase, “I know that I will get this project done on time,” will increase your chances of actually getting the project done on time. In this way, affirmations help you remind yourself that you really are a capable employee. You can use positive affirmation statements in your mind to help yourself, or you can say them out loud to others to help them. These statements have the opposite effect of complaining in that they increase success in yourself and in others.
Some examples of affirmation statements you can use to increase workplace positivity in yourself or others are:
- I am great at my job.
- We can do it!
- We will meet the deadline.
- I am capable of doing my best.
- I will do a great job.
- We will achieve success.
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