Going from Disengaged to "All In"
Often you're going to be fed up, or disengaged with your job. Over the years I have come to find some helpful methods to get out of the disengaged mind state and back into "all in" mode.
So you’re feeling disengaged, unproductive and super fed-up with your job. Firstly this is normal and you shouldn’t feel bad about it, and now you’re here it means you are looking to see how to get out of it, which is mega positive.
The following advice is what I use and is backed by research I have read over time (mainly human psychology). I’ve been doing this role for a while and also helped also apply these strategies. When reading this article think about your own situation, mindset and apply any of these ideas and if they don’t work then reach out, SubStack has a lovely chat feature and I am always available to help.
Signs of being disengaged?
Usually you might find yourself either close to, or in burn out, staring off into the distance, starting the day with a sigh or not feel enthused about any of the work you are doing. It might be hard to look at the future or plan anything, or even have any energy to get started on the workload that feels unimportant or piling up. There are multiple reasons and feelings associated with being disengaged but in my opinion it all comes down to:
I don’t care about any of this work or the company
As mentioned the reasons could be anything, not feeling recognised, didn’t get a promotion, burnout. Whatever the reason is it’s important to understand it, reflect your feelings on it and then figure out if you have the energy to bring yourself back.
Get back into “all in“
Give yourself time to reflect
This is the first thing you should try. Separate yourself from everything and give yourself time to process your thoughts and feelings. You don’t need to ask permission for this but make those people you trust around you aware so they know to give you space. How you reflect is entirely up to you, but the outcome is that you come away with a better understanding of where you’ve come from.
Reflection Techniques
It’s easy to say “just reflect” but the actual activity can be harder to do in practice.
Look back at specific projects
This activity is great as it gives you exact things to focus on and you can apply a method like three A’s (Accomplishments, Aptitudes, Aspirations) to break this down. The result you are aiming for is to say to yourself “I really enjoyed X of that project” or “I should focus on Y for what I do next to challenge myself”
Ask for positive 360 feedback from those you trust
Send out a message to those people around you, peers, managers, direct reports. Make sure your focused in your feedback request as this is a reflection moment. Here is a little list of example questions:
What have a I done in the past 3-6 months that has really impressed you?
Name the top 3 things that you would rely on me for?
What did I do well on project X, and what could I have done differently?
Focus on the positives of this feedback, you’ll often find you’re the most critical person and others will be able to see more positive.
Create a journal or weekly wrap up
I know everyone says “create a journal“ but this doesn’t have to be something that takes up a huge amount of time, for example I have a write up every Friday to close off my week. This alone gives me the ability to reflect back on the week seeing those things that I did well, and what I maybe wasted time doing. The added benefit is overtime this becomes your own little reflection database, so performance reviews and interviews are a lot easier to prepare for.
Stop and re-assess
Sometimes disengagement comes about because you have got stuck in a routine, and you can’t see it or can’t find a way out of it. The best thing to do here is stop and look at everything you’re doing, how you’re doing it and why you’re doing it. Are you doing things because it’s important or just because you feel like you should be doing it.
This is a great time to throw out stuff that doesn’t bring value, or change the way you approach things to reduce effort or more importantly prioritise your time. There are a lot of different ways of doing this but when I have approached this in the past I have usually done the following:
Write down all the stuff I am working on right now in one place
Apply the Eisenhower Matrix to define what needs to be done, and what could potentially get yeeted
Also as part of this highlight from those tasks which ones I actively enjoy versus which ones don’t
For the tasks I am going to take forward, which ones could be simplified, automated or delegated
Plan out my next week with blocks of time to work on these tasks
The calendar management is an article in itself, but for the purposes of this give yourself time to take control of your time.
Find the purpose
This could be yours, or the companies purpose, but whatever it is you need to ask yourself if you’re aligned with it. Let’s take the purpose of the company as an example, what are they building what are they aiming for and does it still align with you and what you get excited about. If the answer is no then is there something in the company that you could find purpose in, a community that you are passionate about, a relationship or topic you want to learn more about. If you identify your purpose it makes it much easier to go “all in” because if you align with something, it makes it much easier to have passion in it and bring more energy to it.
Look for the positive or fun
Every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case this often turns out to be true. It’s always going to be difficult to have true “fun” at work, and everyone defines fun differently, however I have found if you look at some tasks from a different angle you can end up enjoying the mundane.
As a quick action look at a job that you would perceive as boring and think “how can I make doing this enjoyable?”. Let’s take an example of reading a product document and giving feedback, a task when you are not feeling high energy could be difficult to get motivated in, you could challenge yourself to “review with an AI co-pilot”, “speed of review” or “write a short story of the customer experience”. This gives you a chance to inject a change in your habits and maybe even find a more enjoyable and inject a bit more energy.
Surround yourself with positive people
I love async work but I can’t deny that humans are a social animal and we feed off the energy we surround ourselves with. So when you’re feeling disengaged look around you and ask yourself “are those around me helping”, if you want to get back all in then you need to surround yourself with people who are on the same journey as you or are already all in.
There is nothing better than coming out of a bad meeting and being able to sync up with a positive person who can turn around your perspective. I have had this multiple times and being able to generate a more positive outlook can quickly get me “all in”, until that positive person is broken and then everything can quickly fall apart.
When it isn’t worth it
This is purely down to the individual but there might be times where the energy you need to put in out weighs the benefits of being “all in”. You may have brought yourself back in only to be hit with another heavy hitting bad news and it could be “the straw that broke the camels back”, similar to what I mentioned before the important part is recognising this. If you are at a point where getting “all in” is becoming more stress than it’s worth then change your focus and energy.
In business there is the term ROI (return on investment) and in business if this is negative then that thing usually doesn’t get built, you can think about your energy in the same way. So find something where your ROI will be higher, this could be finding a new job, investing your time in health, giving yourself more focus on hobbies. Whatever it is focus your energy on that thing, of course you still need to perform your role but don’t go all out, instead manage your energy more onto your area of passion.
Following the above you might end up “giving yourself time” and start feeling more enthused about work and end up “all in” again. But if you don’t that’s OK too because you’re at least “all in” on something that matters and is important to you.
Summary
I hope you’ve found this short article helpful and it has given you some space for reflection. Life is too short to feel disengaged for long periods of time, and everyone wants to feel like what they are doing has a purpose. A large portion of our time is spent working, so try to get back into a space where you either enjoy what you do or find something that you do.
In the words of Xbox #GLHF (good luck have fun).