3 Ways to Deal With a Bad Day at Work

We’ve all had them. A rough day at work. Perhaps you screwed up that presentation to your team, or your boss gave you a less than stellar review, or maybe you simply overlooked that important lunch meeting with a new client.

And now we have to get up the next day and get after it again, setting aside the frustrations and disappointments.

The question is: how do we move forward after a bad day at work?

Change your mindset. A critical first step is to change how we think about what happened. Instead of dwelling on the failure or the criticism, we need to reframe the situation, consider it a learning experience, and move on from it. That bothersome review provides information we need to improve our performance, while the presentation and overlooked lunch meeting might tell us something about our preparation. As we work to change our mindset we’ll discover that our feelings about the situation change, too, and we’ll see it more clearly with an attitude that enables us to move forward.

Take a walk. Yes, seriously. Get outside and experience the outdoors. It will relax you, help you with the first step (changing your mindset), while putting things in perspective as you feel a gentle breeze, listen to the birds sing around you, and watch the squirrels play hide and seek.

Listen to a motivating podcast. There are so many great podcasts out there that can help inspire and challenge you to be your best self, both at home and on the job, and help you bounce back from the frustrations of a difficult day. Bring your headphones with you as you head out on that walk around the neighborhood and by the time you return home (or to the office) you’ll feel energized and ready to put the disappointments behind you and move forward. If podcasts aren’t your thing, then put on your favorite music to move to.

A frustrating or difficult day doesn’t have to lead to a bad week. Develop some strategies for dealing with the disappointments as they come and your career will be more resilient.