When it comes to our professional lives, happiness is not a topic that is discussed often.
Somehow it seems not appropriate, maybe even unprofessional to talk about happiness.
And yet, isn’t happiness what everyone is chasing?
People look for fulfillment, recognition, achievements, etc. in their careers but don’t we chase those things because we think it will give us a feeling of happiness?
So why not get rid of the middle parts and go straight to the final goal, happiness.
Why not put some effort into finding out how to find happiness at work?
Related: Why Do I Hate My Job So Much?
How To Find Happiness At Work?
“When you are grateful, fear disappears, and abundance appears.” – Tony Robbins
We all want happiness, in our personal lives but also in our professional lives.
So. let’s break the barriers and start talking about happiness in our professional lives.
I remember several years back when I was working for a big corporation, as part of a team-building exercise we all had to present something to the group.
I chose to do a presentation on happiness and the positive effects on employees’ performance.
Even though my presentation was very professional, supported by studies and statistics, no one took it seriously.
No one seemed to care how does happiness relate to work and why is it important to be happy while working.
I have demonstrated that happy people perform much better at work but all I achieved was snarky comments from the VP.
That proved a few things, the senior management didn’t really care how happy or unhappy the employees were.
And if I wanted to be happier at work, I would have to do it by myself.
Well, I did not give up, VP’s support or not.
I refused to waste my life on being miserable or just simply unhappy for the majority of my waking life.
I gave myself 6 months, I was either going to learn to love my job or leave it.
Once I changed my perspective, and established my new goal; the hard work started.
So how do you start loving your job, your business, or whatever professional circumstances you are currently in.
Related: What Is Relaxed Productivity? – And How To Achieve It?
What Leads To Happiness At Work?
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
Well, the only way to do it is to change your perspective.
It is as simple as that, and yet extremely difficult.
The only way to do it is to start ignoring the parts that you don’t like and start focusing on the aspects that you do like.
You might be in a situation where you hate everything about your current professional circumstances, what do you do then?
You dig deep!
Start simple:
- focus on the financial compensation – we all need money to live, you might think that you do not get paid enough, etc, but ignore all of that, whatever financial compensation you currently get, that is a positive aspect and focusing on it and learning to be appreciative will help you get happy
- experience – again, maybe you dislike what you currently do, or you think you should be doing something else, none of that matters – you are getting experience, you are learning new things, all of those aspects are positive that you can focus on
Keep going with this process.
Dig really deep!
Find aspects of the current professional circumstances that you can focus on and be appreciative about.
And most of all, do not indulge in complaining, self-pity, and all the other aspects that you do not like. Be very diligent in this. Do not let yourself lose focus of the positives.
What we are trying to do here, is to train your brain to see positives first and not to pay attention to the negatives.
This is very hard at first.
When you start practicing this, you will notice how much time you actually spend thinking about the negatives.
How can we ever be happy if we think negative thoughts most of the time?
If you are wondering, as I did at the time, is it worth the time and effort into paying attention to the dialog in my head?
It definitely is, by doing that you are training your brain to react to the current circumstances in certain way.
This will not only help you in your professional life but you will start to see positive changes in your personal lives as well.
Is this not worth the effort?
Related: What To Do When You’re Bored At Home
You Take Yourself Everywhere You Go
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley
I remember hearing a parable that spoke to me so deeply that I remember it to this day.
There was an old man sitting in front of a house near a gas station in a small town.
People that were relocating to that town would often stop at that gas station and started a conversation with the old man.
They would ask: so what is this town like? what are the people like?
The old man instead of answering would ask them what was the town that they came from like? What were the people like over there?
Some answers included: people are terrible where I come from. They are unfriendly and uncaring. I really hope the people in this town are different.
To those people, he would answer: it’s very much the same here; people are not friendly and they don’t care about others.
Some newcomers would answer as follows: the people in our old town are wonderful. They love everyone and are always willing to help.
To those folks, the old man would say: the people here are very much the same. They are lovely people that care about their neighbors.
Because you see, you take yourself everywhere you go.
If you tend to see the world as a wonderful place with wonderful people, it does not matter where you go, this is always what you will get.
The opposite is also true. If you see the world and the people in it as frightening and everyone is out to get you, this is exactly what you will get no matter where you go.
Because we see the world and the people in it as we truly are.
When I heard that story, many years ago, I realized that unless I change my mind and how I see and respond to the world, my world will remain the same.
If I leave one terrible job I’m bound to end up in another “terrible” job because that’s how I respond to the world.
My mind was trained to pick out the “terrible” aspects of the job/circumstances and focus on them.
And there is no job in the world, that with time will not become “terrible” unless I train my mind to see things differently.
So, you tell me again, is it not worth the effort to train your mind to respond differently?
If you recall, earlier on I said that I gave myself 6 months to either start loving the job or leave it.
I have modified that now.
I give myself 6 months to love the job!!!
Leaving while feeling miserable is not a valid option.
I know now that if I leave a job/circumstance because of how “horrible” it is, I will end up in the exact same position. Because nothing has shifted in my mind. I am still the same person and I still respond in the same way.
Your new job might look wonderful for a while in comparison to the old, “terrible” job but with time, you will end up thinking this job is “terrible” also.
Related: Why Is Conflict Good? – Opportunities Provided By Conflict
Does That Mean That We Can Never Leave A Job?
“Gratitude will shift you to a higher frequency, and you will attract much better things.” – Rhonda Byrne
NO, of course not, but you must do work first.
It will be the difference between running away from a job that I don’t like vs. going towards something that really interests me and I want to explore more.
Do you see the major difference between the two approaches?
These days, I only accept a new job/opportunity if I am happy at my current job.
Because the same applies both ways.
If I am already happy where I am, I will be happy where I plan to go as well.
Because you take yourself wherever you go.
I realize that all of that requires a major shift.
It almost feels counterintuitive.
We tend to run away from jobs/circumstances that we do not like and stay in places that we like.
But this is why investing time and effort in training your mind to respond to life differently is very beneficial and with time it will produce major changes in your life.
I know this is not easy at first.
I had bad jobs, and thinking that I will leave shortly gives me a lot of comforts.
You can still think that, just don’t leave when you are miserable.
All you will be doing is replacing one set of circumstances that you do not like with another set that you will not like.
The good thing is, that even the smallest shift will give you very positive effects on your professional lives as well as your personal ones.
It’s not the circumstances that give us a sense of happiness but how our mind perceives them.
Change your mind and your life changes even if the circumstances didn’t.
This really is great news.
Often, we feel powerless because we are not able to change circumstances but the truth is we do not need to change the circumstances.
All we need to do is to change our minds about the circumstances.
Because in the end, what does it matter what kind of circumstances you are currently in if you are happy?
“Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.” – Dalai Lama