Happiness is not a transitory emotional state, like pleasure.
Instead, it is a supreme quality of life that fuels your more profound sense of purpose and draws you towards more genuine interaction with others.
However, happiness is different for everyone.
Your journey is unique and specifically designed for your life goals.
Most of you work hard in your lifetime.
Presumably, at one time or another, you were excited about your inspiring vision of future and good relationships with your colleagues.
Still, a lot of you failed to find real happiness at work. It is easy to blame someone else for your dissatisfaction with your job, such as a demanding boss, poor leadership, or a manipulative working environment. I won’t say that these problems do not exist, but it is essential not to take things to your heart and always try to find a way to improve your experience at work.
You can only begin your journey of improvement by busting myths about the meaning of work and misguided mindsets.
For instance, your colleagues are always going to be supportive; your job will make you rich in days without you putting any effort. Starting a career with this mindset will only exhaust you. Therefore, you have to know the genuine meaning of being happy at work in depth.
What does being happy at work mean?
Being happy at work, from a broader perspective, is an overall sense of enjoyment at work.
It means to gracefully handle setbacks, connect harmoniously with colleagues, coworkers, clients, & customers.
You need to realize the worth of your work, which is only possible when choosing the work that reflects your values. Your work should help you be hopeful about your future.
“Being happy at work” mindset is obviously attainable, but it requires patience, practice and time.
Happier and contented employees do better on all fronts, from day-to-day health to productivity to career advancement.
This steadily perks up the bottom line for the organization.
On the other hand, job dissatisfaction is negatively related to depression, anxiety, and burnout.
How is happiness at work beneficial?
The benefits of being happy at work cannot be ignored compared to the impact of discontentment at work.
- Your Well-being Is Improved
Being happy at work is tied to better health and well-being.
Do you know how?
When you deliberately enjoy your work and love what you do, your body instantly recognizes your happiness. Therefore, it releases a group of chemicals called endorphins.
Endorphins stimulate a sense of accomplishment; help combat stress and boost your immune system.
Additionally, they protect your heart and flourish you with the intrinsic motivation that ultimately leads you towards your goal.
- Your Creative juices Start Flowing
Contentment with your work and environment contributes towards the upward spiral of positive emotions that help you think critically and out of the box.
It makes you an effective problem solver and innovative taking you a step forward to your career advancement.
- You go Above and Beyond
People who are happier at work are more authentic, committed and driven to work.
Therefore, it helps to contribute beyond your job descriptions and take responsibilities that are sometimes out of your domain.
- You Cope With Challenges
In the face of adversity and setbacks, being happy at work also helps you see the bigger picture. For instance, you get to know your weaknesses, enabling you to work on them and turn them into your strength.
All in all, it helps you realize that failure is the first step towards success, and hence, you cope with work strain gracefully.
Besides knowing importance of being happy at work, if you still find yourself unhappy, stressed or miserable at your office, you are not alone.
A survey conducted by Gallup State of the American Workplace suggests that more than half of American workers don’t feel connected to their jobs. 16% of this unsatisfied group said they were going to miserable workplaces.
Before I introduce you to the ways to cope with your unhappiness at work, it is essential to understand why you are not satisfied.
Why are you unsatisfied with your work?
The two common reasons that often lead to staying at a disliked workplace do not know why you are unhappy and not finding a way out.
You can’t pinpoint the cause, so maybe you think it’s illogical to feel unhappy or believe there’s no way to get rid of those negative feelings.
Similarly, you don’t know what to do—you know what’s wrong but see no viable option to pursue. Additionally, low wages, instability, rude colleagues and energy-draining demands of work line managers are a few reasons you might be feeling low about your current job.
Such circumstances often deviate your interest, which results in low productivity and low-quality performance.
So, if you have ever felt the same- then I have a way out for you. I understand that leaving a job that you do not like is not always a solution. Hence, let me walk you through practical tips to cope up with your gloomy work environment.
How To Be Happy At Work?
You’d need to work on four pillars to bring your day one excitement back at your workplace.
It includes purpose, engagement, resilience, and kindness—or PERK. Working consistently on PERK can persuade you to be happy at work.
Purpose
Your purpose reflects your core values. You feel more purposeful at work when your behavior and decisions are aligned with those values. Bringing meaning to your work means asserting yourself in formulating, and conducting your day-to-day tasks, connecting what you do to what you believe in and care about. Even in the worst of circumstances, purpose, hope, and connection are what keep you going.
Furthermore, having a sound, clear, and compelling purpose help you be stronger, resilient, and able to tap into your knowledge and talents.
Engagement
Do you generally enjoy your work? Are you part of the decisions about what, when, and how projects start and finish at your workplace? Do you feel like you can be productive and get things done?
If your answer to these questions is a ‘no,’ then it indicates that you are not engaging at your workplace. You go there every morning to complete your work and come back like a robot.
However, you can overcome this right now by adapting three ways to increase engagement at work.
Firstly, happiness begins with self-awareness. Understanding your own feelings and moods is the first step in recognizing what truly fulfills you. Self-awareness also extends to articulating why you feel angry, sad, stressed, motivated, optimistic or inspired—more clues about what supports engagement with your work.
Secondly, take responsibility for your day-to-day schedule, tasks, and opportunities to learn and grow. Furthermore, pay attention to self-management as it enables you to cultivate a positive outlook.
Finally, set short- and long-term goals for yourself regarding tasks assigned to you and have hope, optimism, and a vision of a future that is better than today. Hope fuels energy, creativity, and resilience. To be truly happy at work, you need to see how your workplace responsibilities and opportunities fit your future vision.
Resilience
You cannot be delighted at your workplace unless you handle setbacks and failures and take criticism with positivity. If you want to stay in your workplace, then you need to adopt resilience. Resilience doesn’t mean to prevent difficulties, stifle stress, or avoid confrontation; instead, it means to manage challenges at work with authenticity.
Perhaps the most promising strategy to strengthen your resilience at work is self-evaluation. Know that your failure is cause of your weak points not somebody else’s fault. Self-evaluation also enables you recognize your strengths taking you towards your professional betterment.
Another way to reinforce resilience at work is to be authentic—that is, bring your whole and best self to work. Being true to yourself at work eliminates the stress of surface acting.
Kindness
Finally, being happy at work demands to adapt to kindness. It means to orient your thoughts, feelings, and actions for others. It includes treating others with dignity and respect, extending compassion, practicing gratitude, and constructively managing conflicts.
Being happy and kind at work begins with civility, which means being committed with assigned projects, building trust, sharing resources, feedback, and credit.
Next step to kindness at work is empathy, which is essential for building sound relationships at work. When you are empathetic, you will find people talking to you and helping you through thick and thin. It thus helps you create friendships that certainly make you happy.
It is natural to face surprisingly high levels of boredom, disengagement, chronic stress, and even pessimism at your workplace. Still, there is no reason why you can’t seek happiness at work. You need to understand your weak points and realize that feeling dissatisfied will only lead you to a personal and career downside. Although it takes emotional intelligence and hard work to set yourself free from being stressed and unhappy at work, it is worth the effort.