To coast along in my job for a while rather than busting a gut

[Inbedathome]

I have been in my new job for 6 months and have just passed probation. I am in a four-year fixed term role in the third sector. I have three bosses and they are all pleased with my work. Primarily it is an office-based job (£25k pro rata). I love my colleagues but am a bit bored by the work itself.

My problem is, I am having trouble motivating myself at work. I don't have a big workload, and some of it is self-directed, but I am reluctant to ask for more work (in case the workload becomes unmanageable). When my working day is over I feel guilty that I have wasted a day and I have not been so productive. I have taken this job to gain experience (all the wage goes on childcare and petrol so no financial motivation to keep the job).

I am a mummy to two small children. Home life is very busy and I have a three hour motorway commute each day (1.5 hours each way). So when I arrive into work I'm already exhausted. So I suppose I am using some time at work to recover from the stresses at home.

My questions are: 1) how do I motivate myself to work harder? 2) how far do other mums with small children 'coast' along in a job, or use work time as a chance to recover from home life?

Anyone?

You're doing a three hour commute for a £25k a year job?! That's what sticks out for me tbh

No, I don't think you should be using work time as an opportunity to recover from your home life. You should be working, especially if you work for a charity. By not doing so, you're ripping the charity off.

Why don't you think about other specific tasks you could take on, particularly ones that interest you and suggest it to management. Not only would that make you more motivated at work, the days would also feel like they go more quickly as you'd be busy and your bosses would be impressed. Perhaps it could even lead to a promotion.

Try and work with what you've got and you might find you end up enjoying your work a lot more.

I would not be amused if I was your employer to discover that having passed the probation period, you now thought it was fine to contribute minimum effort to 'recover' from home life and your employment with the company would be short lived.

That means you could be at home 24/7 and no recovery necessary so problem solved.

So if you don't want that to happen I suggest you try to garner more interest in your job and who knows, you may find the motivation you need and actually enjoy it. The days must seem endless when you're doing practically nothing.

Well there are usually two reasons to work hard at a job

1. to keep the job and not get fired/managed out. Sounds like your bosses are happy at the moment but longer term they may get fed up and start saying you need to pull your finger out more.

2. to progress higher up the ladder (either there or elsewhere). Is this something you want?

I'll admit I am coasting along in my job at the moment, especially when the DC go through their frequent non sleeping phases. However I've resigned and am working out my notice, so 1) and 2) don't really apply. I don't think it's really on, or realistic, to expect to coast long term.