When You Lose Passion for the Work
After giving a role everything you’ve got for a lengthy time, passion for the work can sometimes wane. It’s not that you’re burnt out or endlessly tired, it’s just that the enthusiasm you had for the work has diminished to the point where you have noticed it. You don’t look forward to engaging with others nearly as much as you used to.
Is this normal? How do you get your mojo back?
In actuality, maintaining a strong passion for the work over a long period of time is the exception, not the rule. It is completely within the bounds of normality to lose a step or two regarding your excitement about the work. Your passion didn’t disappear. It’s just on temporary leave.
Doubling down and pushing through the torpor can work sometimes, but there is a better pathway forward. Instead of rekindling the fire for the work, start another fire somewhere else. Passion is contagious and discovering your enthusiasm in another arena will frequently increase your passion everywhere else, as well.
Diving in deep into a favored hobby, learning a new language or instrument, exploring an interest you have always wanted to pursue, spending time in the workplace adding value in a way you never have before, investing your time in a charitable cause dear to you.
Move toward your excitement about a new endeavor and dig in. Let the newfound excitement wash over everything in the way you engage others. Within a few months, you’re likely to find your passion for the work returns with a fresh head of steam.
If after finding passion elsewhere you still find the work more unbearable than ever before, you need a new challenge. Try to find that new challenge in your current workplace, where everyone knows your skills and talents, where you have the runway of credibility and colleagues who want you to succeed.
I’ve noticed that even reading or listening about a particular topic that’s adjacent or not-the-point-of-waning-passion helps too. That said, I change my environment or find something like my (never quite enough) golf hobby helps.
I've kept the passion alive in two ways: 1) Continuous improvement - I'm always looking for better, faster, and cheaper ways to provide the products and services my team offers, and 2) I change jobs. I've been at my current company 11 years (longest tenure during my career) and I've had four different roles. They're not completely different, just expansions or pivots - HR Operations -> Talent Management -> Training & Development -> Leader Development. I may be in the minority, but I think companies should consider establishing term limits for their high-potential leaders and individual contributors. At one company I worked at, they set it at 18 to 24 months - I thought this was too short. Three to five years might be better. I guess it would depend on the role and industry. I think we get too hunkered down and territorial in our jobs and forget that it is not about us. It is about the role we play. If you've been in your role a long time and you feel stuck, maybe it's time to audition for a new one.