Lately I’ve been feeling a little blah about work.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but I’ve been at this for almost 10 years now, a lot of this is stuff I’ve done before.  One sales call starts to look like another sales call; writing another proposal, or meeting new people at an event, well, doesn’t seem so exciting the 900th time.

So it was just at the right time that I picked up “The Inner Game of Work” by Timothy Gallwey.  Tim has a lot of good ideas in this book, but the one that I’ve been working with the most is that there are three measures of satisfaction in work, Performance, Enjoyment and Learning.  He says that if any of these three get out of balance (e.g. if you focus only on performance) then the other two will suffer. So if you are feeling flat about your work, you might try dialing back on the performance measures, and add a dose of learning.

But how do I add learning to tasks that I’ve done 900+ times?  Glad you asked!

One solution is to be really observant. I may be on my 5th interview of the day, but I can still watch really carefully for the facial expressions that the interviewee is giving me.  Even on the phone, can I recognize the emotion in their voice, are they excited, scared, nervous? By focusing in on these critical details I realize that this interview isn’t really the same as the other 4, their emotions are all different; in fact it’s at totally different person! Being observant has helped me to see what’s unique and different about this interview, and since it’s different there are things to learn.

A second solution is to challenge my own thinking. Writing that proposal, how can I get the idea across with fewer words?  Or what if I tried using an illustration, or a chart?  Would that improve the communication? Forcing myself to look at the challenge afresh, and maybe learn something new in the process keeps me learning.

Now comes the magic part; this not only helps me to keep focused on tasks that I’m not that fired up for, but it also improves my performance.

When I listen for the emotional clues in the interview, I’m listening much more closely to the interview.  When I try to craft the shortest sentence that communicates what I need, I think more deeply about what I need to communicate. You get the idea; it’s a double whammy!  Not only is the task more interesting and enjoyable, but the performance improves too!

So if you are doing more tactical work, or if what you have on your plate is too routine, see if adding some learning or challenge can help revitalize the task and improve your performance.

What do you do to rejuvinate your routine tasks?

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Brad Farris is a small business advisor with Anchor Advisors, Ltd. in Chicago, Il. Since 2001 Anchor Advisors has been helping creative professional firms to grow, by helping them clarify their purpose, get the most from their people, keep their eye on key performance measures, and implement consistent processes. Brad is also the author of The Business Owner’s Champion: 6 Practices to Build your Nerve and your Business.