Five ways to create more variety in your working week

Do you hear yourself saying the same thing over and over about your job? Do you ever feel like you’re a hamster on a wheel or that you have the starring role in Groundhog Day?

The job you once loved now fills you with dread because you know every day is going to be the same as yesterday. Worse still, when you look forward to the years ahead, you worry that the next 10 years will be the same as the past 10.

Workplace dissatisfaction can have many causes, including:

• A lack of opportunities to develop skills within your current role.
• Few opportunities to learn and grow.
• A lack of career progression or feeling unlikely to fulfil your career aspirations.
• A lack of motivation or inspiration to perform at your best.
• Feeling undervalued by your organisation.

Having worked in the public sector for over 14 years, I would have related to many of these concerns. I still have discussions with people about these recurring themes, and it is easy to feel that you are just a number or are being taken for granted.

However, there may be things you can do to create some variety within your working week.

Five ways to create variety in your working week

1. Step up

I’m sure that when you first started, somebody felt it necessary to share the advice, “Don’t volunteer for anything.” But is that always the best thing for you and your career?

By stepping up and volunteering, you may make yourself more visible to others within your organisation and encounter opportunities that other people miss by not putting themselves forward.

What about asking for different responsibilities? These opportunities may give you a chance to gain new knowledge, enhance your existing skills or develop new ones.

However, consider your existing workload and boundaries before volunteering. Taking on more responsibility should not mean continually working beyond your capacity or completing additional work without appropriate recognition and support.

2. What’s your story?

Look back over your career history, from your first job to where you are now. List your roles along a timeline, including the dates when your job or responsibilities changed. Can you see any patterns?

Are you someone who changes jobs every two or three years, every 10 years, or are you still in the same role you started after leaving school or university?

There’s no right or wrong answer, and everyone is different. When I looked at my employment history, I found that, on average, I changed careers every 10 years. A close friend needs to change their role or job every three years; for others, it is more or less frequent.

Whatever your story is, consider whether a lack of variety is contributing to you feeling as though you are stagnating. Perhaps it is time to make a change by applying for an internal role, moving to another organisation or considering a different career. Decide what you would like your next chapter to be.

3. Consider your comfort zone

When was the last time you felt stretched at work, either intellectually or within your skill set?

Staying within our comfort zone is something most of us do at one time or another, but many people also value learning and growth. Going beyond what feels familiar can give us opportunities to learn, strive and develop.

Remaining within your comfort zone may feel reassuring, but if you are no longer satisfied, that feeling can begin to affect other areas of your life. Consider what may be holding you back from moving roles or changing your job.

4. Look for opportunities to grow

Have you outgrown your current role? What might you need to do to progress within your organisation? When was the last time you attended training or learnt a new skill?

Many organisations provide in-house training, and some have a budget for external development. If there's a course or event you think would contribute to your professional development, consider asking whether your employer will fund it.

There are also free or low-cost options that you can pursue if you have the time and interest. These may enhance your work-related skills or help you develop new interests that can be used in your wider personal and professional life.

You could also ask about activities involving greater responsibility where these are appropriate, supported and likely to help you develop a different skill set.

5. Communicate what you want

Sometimes stagnation comes down to a lack of communication, or a lack of the right kind of communication. We need to let people know when we would like to offer more or experience something different.

Colleagues and managers cannot know what you want unless you tell them. It is often easy to say what we don’t want, but more difficult to explain what we do want. This may be because we expect a negative response or because we have not yet worked out what needs to change.

The next time you wake up dreading work, consider arranging a suitable time to speak with your manager about the options and opportunities available. If it feels safe and appropriate, an honest conversation may help you find ways to introduce more variety into your role or clarify whether it is time to look elsewhere.