在工作中遇到瓶颈？本文有妙招

强迫自己每天上班，日复一日地以同样的方式与同样的人做着同样的工作。这种情景会让你体会到电影《土拨鼠之日》主角（由比尔·穆瑞扮演）的感受：在一段时间之后，即便事情还没有发生，主人公对于接下来要发生什么，谁会说什么话都了如指掌。

如果是这样，类似的人有一大把。求职网站Comparably在过去12个月中对近2.1万名美国雇员进行了调查，询问他们工作中的压力来自于哪些方面，其中一些答案我们都能够猜得到：恼人的上下班通行、工作时间长、同事不好相处，以及糟糕的老板。

但压力最大的起因可能会出乎人们的意料：51%的男性和35%的女性称，他们最担心自己的工作会“变得停滞不前”。即便是高层人士亦不能够幸免。近三分之二的高管认为自己的工作单调乏味，该报告认为这一现象“言之有理，因为在进入高层之后，继续上升将变得越发困难。”

尤其是在眼下，工作市场中充满了机遇，为什么不换个工作，从新开始呢？Comparably的首席执行官及联合创始人杰森·那扎称：“寻找一份新工作需要很多精力。很多人觉得此举太费神。”有鉴于此，他还表示：“你可能最近在工作中并未做出最好的成绩，或处于最好的状态，因此感到自己遇到了瓶颈或处于‘停滞’状态对你的雇主也没有什么好处。”

有什么解决办法吗？那扎建议尝试使用以下四个步骤给自己充电，恢复对工作的激情：

1. 与老板谈谈。经理的工作之一就是培养人才，因此要勇于与自己的上司谈论有关自己工作的未来，甚至，哪怕你的上司是首席执行官。那扎建议：“与你的老板合作，制定接下来工作的计划。如今，只要员工给自己设立的新挑战切合公司的发展目标，大多数老板都持接受态度。”那扎指出，人们进行这类对话的自然偏好在一定程度上可能取决于人们的年龄。他说：“承认自己在职业中期感到焦虑可能有点恐怖，尤其是你接下来想做的事可能会需要更多的资源。千禧一代和Z一代似乎在提要求方面更果敢。”不管自己年龄多大，该问就问吧。

2. 在工作中培养正确的友谊关系。在这里，那扎指的并非是自私自利的“你能为我做什么”这种交流，这一现象通常也为交际带来了骂名。他指出，那些对工作失去兴趣的员工倾向于与类似的同事抱团，此举只会加剧厌倦和停滞感。那扎说：“态度是可以传染的。因此要尝试着与那些十分乐观和积极的员工多接触，多打交道。此举不仅能够带来更多乐趣，还会改变你对整个日常工作前景的看法。”

3. 每天花一小时学习新技能。随着人们寿命的增长、固定收益养老金的减少以及社会保障不稳定的前景，职业周期也逐渐在变长。那扎指出：“除非你马上就要退休了，那么你在职业历程之上还有很长的一段路要走。”此外，随着科技的迅速发展，你最不愿看到的事情就是：自己依然还在工作大军中，但自己已经落伍了。那扎说：“终身学习的需求是真实存在的。始终让你的技能能够与时俱进，因为落伍的代价实在是太大。”学习一些新技能，最好是与你和老板所设定目标相关的技能，此举是对抗被淘汰的灵丹妙药。它还是治疗工作厌倦症的良方，可谓是屡试不爽。

4. 该辞职时就辞职。假如上述所有的事情你都做过了，但工作依然毫无起色。那扎说：“认真审视一下你的雇主是否愿意为你提供有意思的新机遇并帮助你进步。”越来越多的雇主正试图打造鼓励和培养人才的企业文化，而且即便找工作这种想法会让你有筋疲力尽的感觉，但开始寻找下家才是明智的选择。那扎也说过：“如果你真的认为，无论自己做什么，自己在当前的工作中也不会有任何发展，那么你可能真的入错行了。”

请注意：如果你决定要换工作，一定要仔细思考在新工作中如何才能避免出现当前类似的情况。Ultimate Software的人力资源副总裁Kathleen Pai称：“一定要清醒地认识到自己的动力源到底是什么，以及自己对成功的定义。” Ultimate Software在《财富》杂志最佳雇主百强榜单中排名第8位，其员工保留率据称达到了94%，这个数字在高流动率的软件行业来说非常了不起。Pai说，主要原因在于Ultimate会为其经理提供培训，从而帮助员工打造强调持续学习的职业道路，其中既包括上升通道，也有平行调动，但基本上没有“停滞”一说。Pai表示：“很多公司都称自己也在开展类似的工作，但它们通常只是说说而已。”

这一点千真万确。在决定接受与当前工作差不多（或更差）的新工作之前，看看像Glassdoor、Comparably和Vault这样的网站，并在领英多问问，以便了解过去和当前员工对该公司的看法和你想象的是否真的一致。（财富中文网）

译者：冯丰

审校：夏林

Dragging yourself into work every day, doing the same tasks in the same way with the same people over and over again, can make you feel like Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day: after a while, you know exactly what’s going to go down, and who will say what, before it even happens.

If so, you’ve got lots of company. When career site Comparably surveyed almost 21,000 U.S. employees in the past 12 months to ask what stressed them out the most about their jobs, some of the answers were predictable: aggravating commutes, long hours, difficult coworkers, and bad bosses.

But the biggest cause of stress was one you might not expect: 51% of men, and 35% of women, said they worry most about “becoming stagnant” in their careers. Even people in corner offices aren’t immune. Almost two-thirds of senior executives believe they’re in a rut, which the report notes “makes sense when you’ve reached the top and further progress becomes increasingly difficult.”

Especially in this job market, with opportunities thick on the ground, why not just get another job and start fresh somewhere else? “Looking for a new job takes a lot of energy,” says Jason Nazar, CEO and cofounder of Comparably. “Lots of people are feeling too burnt out to make the effort.” In that case, he adds, “you’re probably not bringing your best work, or your best self, to your job lately —so feeling stuck and ‘stagnant’ isn’t doing your employer any favors, either.”

So what can you do about it? Nazar suggests trying these four steps to getting re-energized and charged up about work:

1. Talk to your boss. Part of any manager’s job is developing talent, so don’t be shy about bringing up the topic of your future with the person you report to —even, or especially, if that’s the CEO. “Ask for different opportunities outside the normal scope of your job,” Nazar suggests. “Collaborate with your boss to make a plan for what you’re going to do next. Most bosses now would be receptive to the idea of finding you a fresh challenge if it’s in line with the company’s goals.” Your natural inclination to start this conversation, Nazar observes, may depend partly on how old you are. “It’s a little scary to admit you’re feeling restless in mid-career, especially if what you’d really like to do next will require more resources,” he says. “Millennials and Gen Z tend to be more comfortable asking for stuff.” At any age, ask anyway.

2. Cultivate the right friendships at work. Nazar’s not talking about the kind of self-interested what-can-you-do-for-me gladhanding that often gives networking a bad name. He points out that people who are disenchanted with their jobs tend to gravitate toward coworkers who are too, which just reinforces feelings of boredom and stagnation. “Attitude is contagious,” Nazar says. “So try to connect and socialize more with people you know at work who are upbeat and positive. Besides being more fun, it will change your whole outlook on the day-to-day.”

3. Invest one hour a day in learning a new skill. As people live longer, with fewer defined-benefit pensions and a wobbly outlook for Social Security, careers are getting longer. “Unless you’re right on the edge of retirement, you probably have a long way to go in your working life,” Nazar notes. And, as technology advances at warp speed, the last thing you need is to get left behind while you’re still in the workforce. “The need for lifelong learning is real,” says Nazar. “Keep your skills current, because you can’t afford not to.” Learning something new —ideally something related to the goals you and your boss have set— is the antidote to obsolescence. It’s also a time-tested cure for boredom.

4. Know when to quit. Suppose you do all of the above and you’re still stuck. “Take an honest look at whether your employer is willing to give you interesting new opportunities and move you forward,” says Nazar. “Is the company investing in your growth?” More and more employers are trying to build cultures that encourage and develop talent and, even if the idea of a job search strikes you as exhausting, you’d be smart to start looking around for them. As Nazar puts it, “if you really believe you’ll never get anywhere at your current job no matter what you do, then you may really be in the wrong place.”

One note of caution: If you do decide to change jobs, think hard about how you’ll avoid getting into a similar rut in your next one. “It’s important to get very clear in your own mind about what drives you, and what success looks like to you,” says Kathleen Pai, vice president of human resources at Ultimate Software. The company, at #8 on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, claims a 94% employee-retention rate —extraordinary in an industry known for its high turnover. The main reason, Pai says, is that Ultimate trains its managers to coach employees on creating career paths, both upward and lateral, that emphasize constant learning —and minimal, if any, stagnation. “Lots of companies say they’re doing this,” Pai says. “But often, they’re not.”

Too true. Before signing on for a new job that could turn out the same as your old one (or worse), check sites like Glassdoor, Comparably, and Vault, and ask around on LinkedIn, to get past and current employees’ take on whether the outfit you’re thinking of joining really walks the talk.