What do you do when you find your passion for your work waning?

Our reader poll today asks: What do you do when you find your passion for your work waning?

• I find new ways to reengage with the work to make it exciting again 35.98%
• I take a break from it because I’m probably burned out 30.58%
• I look for a new type of work that will excite me once again 16.54%
• I’ve never had a passion for my work 7.55%
• I’ve never lost my passion for the work I do 9.35%

A fresh set of eyes. When you lose interest and passion for your work, many of you (67%) try to look at it with a fresh set of eyes to reignite that passion. That can be in the form of taking a break because you might be burned out (31%) or coming at the work from a different perspective and finding something new and exciting about it (36%). This can be in the form of new developmental challenges, figuring out ways to improve your results, or appreciating a different aspect of the work itself. A significant number of you (17%) look for new work that will excite you. For leaders reading these results, think about how these approaches apply to your team members. Sometimes you need to force them to take a break. Others, you’ll have to help them see their work from a different angle to reenergize them. And for that 17% looking somewhere else, consider role changes they can make within your organization and facilitate those changes because if you don’t change their situation, they’ll take their talents elsewhere.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.