Have you watched the bounce in your co-worker's steps disappear?   The relief of not being downsized is in the rearview mirror and now many are facing a ‘revised job description’ that they aren’t finding joy in.

If you’re the boss, you may be thinking…toughen up cupcake; you’re lucky to have a job.  Or if you’re responsible for the shareholder profit, you may or may not be aware of the rumble of the dissatisfied workers as your eyes are focused on survival.  As a co-worker, you likely noticed your coworkers despair. Your empathy skills may kick in, and you may secretly be thinking, thank goodness I didn’t get that project added to my job.  That leaves the employee who may be feeling their talent has been dismissed, and when they start each day, they take a deep breath and sigh vs. smile.

So if you’re the employee what can you do?

1. quit
2. begrudge the new task, and feed your unhappiness
3. or reframe to better serve a positive outcome

No matter how we paint a picture – you may find words that describe your new job  as boring, not challenging, or just not what you enjoy doing.

What can you gain from the experience that fulfills one of your needs?   Example -   you like to learn, you like to take on challenging assignments, you like to problem solve, etc.  From the new assignment how does it fit into what you really enjoy doing…it is the art of reframing the dreaded, into something more positive and beneficial to you.  Likely it won’t change how you feel 100 percent, but it may remove some of the sting from it – so that you get a bit of what you need so that you find some temporary peace in the new assignment.

If that didn’t hit the mark for you – ask yourself this question…what really ticks me off the most about getting the new assignment is …what?    You may be disappointed that you were dumped on…how could they not value you for your other skills, etc.  Again, is it dumped on or were you chosen for your problem solving skills?