How to quietly thrive at work
In this article, Megan shares some top tips and approaches to help you quietly thrive at work.
A little while ago we wrote an article about the concept of ‘quiet quitting’, well it appears there is a new workplace trend emerging - ‘quiet thriving’. The term was shared in an article for The Washington Post by psychotherapist Lesley Alderman.
Whilst quiet quitting focuses on essentially disengaging with your work and doing the bare minimum, quiet thriving is slightly different.
According to recent research from Gallop, only 33% of us are feeling fully engaged at work but while quiet quitting can feel like you may be exposing yourself or risking the security of your job, quiet thriving may work better for you.
In her article, Alderman listed a number of different approaches to ‘quiet thriving’, and we’ve put together and highlighted some of our favourites, focusing on those which align to our approach and values at The Lowdown:
Finding purpose and setting intentions: Finding purpose at work can be a huge motivator, you can identify elements of your role which you particularly enjoy and amplify these. Write them down, reflect on them and ensure you have time everyday to focus on these elements. If you have a supportive manager, you may be able to work on this together. Setting intentions is another way of viewing goal setting according to Alderman, these could be directly related to something you wish to achieve at work for example completing a training course, or supporting a healthy work life balance for example, not checking work emails after 6pm. A helpful technique to support this can be to keep a note of your accomplishments - whether big or small. This could be anything from successfully negotiating a pay rise, or stepping out your comfort zone and giving that presentation. You can then reflect back on these and see the progress which you have made.
Setting boundaries and establish healthy habits: the importance of boundaries in supporting a healthy work life balance have been well reported. And these are critical to quietly thriving at work, and in life. So make sure you are first clear with yourself about your boundaries, these could be not answering emails after a particular time, or ensuring that you always finish at 5.30pm on a Wednesday to allow you to attend an art class. Don’t be afraid to share these with your colleagues, and ask them to help you maintain them. If you are spending more time working from home now compared to pre-Covid, you may also wish to establish habits around getting outside everyday for a walk or having some walking meetings. Or you may agree certain office based days where you co-work with your colleagues in the office. Consider what will work best for you, and introduce the idea to your colleagues.
Identifying support and engaging with a community: building connections and networks are incredibly important for not only building your career development, but your wellbeing at work. Some ideas to consider include getting involved with either social networks or groups centered around a particular interest e.g. religion, charity or sport. These could allow you to identify new connections who share similar interests to you. If these don’t exist where you work currently, you could consider setting something up. You can also cultivate some deeper relationships which you may consider friendships, these can help you feel more engaged and have more fun at work. Finally you could also identify a trusted mentor or guidance expert either within the company or externally to discuss your professional challenges with.
The most important thing is that you feel happy and fulfilled in the work which you are doing, and able to maintain appropriate boundaries for your physical and mental health.