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Laaaa anger can be worse than stress.
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Peter, 45, asks: »I work for an international group and look after three of our major customers in the German market from my home office. I enjoy the task itself and my boss is very satisfied with the sales, but I have nothing to do 80 percent of my working hours. I've been bored for years and have the feeling that I'm professionally stupid. I would have looked for something new a long time ago, but I know that I won't earn this salary anywhere else. People around me think I should be happy, but I feel increasingly weak and worthless. What can I do against it?"
Dear Peter,
that employees are chronically bored in their jobs is more common than many think.
Being under-challenged at work is just as stressful for those affected as constant excessive demands.
Boredom in the job is often ridiculed as a luxury problem and in our working world is not recognized enough as a health hazard, such as burnout.
It is good and important that you take your situation seriously and want to change something.
Boredom at work can have different causes: Permanently too little work, a high degree of monotony and routine activity, intellectual underload or even an activity that is perceived as extremely pointless.
In your case, your employer will provide you with the care of less important customers in Germany - possibly even knowing that it is not a task that will keep you busy full-time.
In other cases, bosses bunker tasks and delegate too little or hold on to positions, even though their content has long since disappeared.
It's not about the one boring day now and then, but about being under-challenged over a long period of time.
Chronic boredom at work makes you sick
For outsiders, it is often incomprehensible how boredom feels at work and what influence it has on a person's psyche.
You may also be familiar with these behaviors: It often begins with deception and self-deception.
Those affected pretend to their manager and colleagues that they have a lot to do.
The fear of being exposed and losing your job is too great.
In addition, over time you get the feeling that you are no longer needed and that you don't feel the result of your own work.
Many people lose awareness of what constitutes their strengths and what they have already achieved.
The dwindling self-confidence leads to an attitude of fear of the future and helpless passivity, which makes change all the more difficult.
As in your case, the higher the salary, the more stressful the situation is.
They know that you earn disproportionately well in your position and that you may have to cut back on a job change.
In addition, the pressure from those around you is high, because after all, you seem to earn a lot with little work.
It takes extra effort to make it clear to family, friends or colleagues how stressful your job is for you.
Those who work a lot of overtime or have a job that is obviously stressful for everyone experiences more understanding and support than someone who complains of boredom with high salaries.
Use time for change
It is important that you find your way out of the spiral of underload, which is weakening you, even if you are superficially successful in your job.
In career coaching I observe that almost all those who are chronically bored with their jobs decide at some point to leave their employer and look for a more suitable work environment externally.
Since the last few months have probably robbed you of a lot of strength, first of all think about what gives you new energy as a person.
Or maybe it's private activities that you can revive after work.
Stop looking to the past and don't ask why, but focus curiously on the future.
Look at your résumé and see what has made your 45-year professional experience valuable.
Become aware of your personal values and strengths and think about what a good next step in your career could be for you.
How much challenge and variety is good for you, for which industries or products does your heart beat and in which environment can and are you allowed to develop yourself further?
Take the time for this exciting path of change.
You have it.
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