Everyone should be happy at work. Human beings are designed to delight in being useful. However, most of us find it hard to always enjoy our job. Some of us even think of work as the opposite of happiness. A few simple strategies help make any job more enjoyable.
Work on Purpose
Lucky people have jobs focused on a passion or calling. Others have jobs taken only to pay bills. Most people are somewhere in between. No matter why you took your job, issues such as deadlines, heavy workloads, unhappy colleagues and unpleasant customers threaten happiness. When the daily grind gets you down, remind yourself why you work. To do this, first create a specific statement of purpose. This can be anything that makes sense to you-from “to make my community a safer place” to “to help people look their best” to “to feed my cat.” Second, as Tony Schwartz, Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy recommend in “The Way We are Working Isn’t Working,” keep an object at work which reminds you of your purpose. That way when you start to lose sight of why you work, you can literally focus on something that will remind you.
Record the Best
Take a moment at the end of each work day to write down the day’s best moment. This habit has two main benefits. First, it draws attention to good moments as the day unfolds. Second, it creates a record of positive experiences at work. As Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius describe in “Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom,“ focusing most on negative experiences gave our ancestors an advantage when facing daily threats to survival. Our brains have yet to catch up to the change in our circumstances. Working against this inheritance actually rewires the brain and pays off in increased happiness.
Treat People Like Adults
Work place staples including time clocks, overly detailed instructions and electronic monitoring of all stripes treat employees like children. As pointed out by Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe in “Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to do the Right Thing” such management strategies usually have two negative effects. First, workers treated like children often start to act like children. Second, more talented workers are forced into mediocrity (at best). Happiness at work depends on resisting effects of childish policies. If you are in a management position, change what you can about your workplace so that people are treated like adults. If not, just remember you are a grown up and act like one.
Play the Long Game
No bad moment or boring task lasts forever. Focus on long term goals. This is true even if your only long term goal is finding a different job. Think for a few minutes at the end of the week about which recently completed tasks contributed most to your long term success. Celebrate these accomplishments. Then think creatively about ways to spend more of time on these parts of your job.