No one wants to feel this way, but many workers do. Feeling underappreciated at work is a fairly common thought to have amongst workers. If that feeling continues, it quite often leads to the worker resigning and doing something different.

Feeling underappreciated can also affect your motivation to do your job. If you don’t feel like you’re contributing with the work you do, why would you want to continue with it?

No matter what the reason is as to why you feel underappreciated, it’s a hard feeling to get over. Don’t let it affect your motivation. Global Resources Reviews has five tips to help you stay motivated when you feel underappreciated.

Set Small Goals

When you lack motivation, it’s hard to get focused on work, which affects your production levels. So, expect to not complete as many tasks as you typically would as you work through this hurdle.

One way to help you stay motivated is to set small, attainable goals. When you achieve those small victories, it helps give your mind a positive boost to counteract the negative feelings. The more you can have these victories, the more positive you’ll start to feel.

Take a Break

Sometimes, all you need is to step away from your desk and give yourself a moment to breathe for 10 minutes. The feeling of being underappreciated takes its toll on your emotions. When your emotions are running high, it leads to irrational thinking and outbursts, all things you don’t want to have happened on the job. By taking those breaks when you feel at your most emotional point, it allows you to collect your thoughts and cool down.

Recognize How Your Work Contributes

There’s a reason why you’re at this job, whether it be for yourself or because the company needs it. Even if your boss doesn’t recognize your work, that doesn’t mean it isn’t valued in the overall scheme of the company.

Take a moment to go back to your job description to remind yourself that your work does count for something. The things you do likely help contribute to the bottom line, or it may ease up the workload on another employee to focus on something different — all of these matters.

Focus on Your Future Development

If you feel like you’re not contributing to the company and are underappreciated, then shift your focus on to yourself. You may be at the point where it’s not that your skills and work is underappreciated, it’s that you need to challenge yourself more. If that’s the case, then a conversation with your boss about taking on a new role or responsibilities is necessary.

Speak Up

In some circumstances, although it doesn’t make necessarily make things better, your boss doesn’t realize how you feel and that he or she is contributing to those feelings. It isn’t the most comfortable conversation to have, but you may get the point where you need to speak with your boss about these feelings.

Have a private meeting with your boss on why you feel underappreciated. Let them know what happens (or doesn’t happen) throughout the day that contributes to these feelings. It could be that your boss needs a reminder to show recognition and reward employees for a job well done.

Feeling underappreciate is not a fun thing to deal with. However, don’t let that negatively affect your work. Use these tips to help you stay focused and motivated to continue doing a good job.