Unhappy at work?
Got 2 mins?
“To be happy at work, you don’t have to hold a fascinating job that represents the pinnacle of your educational achievement or the most prestigious use of your “potential,” and you don’t have to make a lot of money.” -Arthur C. Brooks
Isn’t that counter-intuitive? I mean, that’s now what we’re taught to believe growing up, right? And that’s certainly not what we see on Social Media. What happens to “Money is not everything, but everything needs money”?
Well, the latest research proves otherwise. Happiness is found in others, happiness is found in the values, happiness is found in earned success. A lot of them are intrinsic-driven, as opposed to be driven by the outside world, you know?
Read this story of Candice Walker at Adam Grant’s Think Again, for example, who often become the first person to console families whose member undergoing treatment. Her job is a custodian, which explains someone whose work is to keep the cancer center clean. The reason she did what she did, was because she sees it as a part of her, instead of as a part of her job. She is driven by her value, and as a consequence touch the people she interacts with.
Similar to that janitor story in NASA who met John F. Kennedy, telling the president how he helped send people to the moon.
I even get goosebumps reading about those.
It’s really in the way we see what we do, and not in how other people see our achievements, accomplishment (which are usually clear from the title, the benefit, the perks we get from the job).
The way Arthur C. Brooks put it,
“Job satisfaction comes from people, values, and a sense of accomplishment.”
It comes from the values of the people we surround ourselves with, the company. It is derived from a job well done, a recognition that comes from it. It is gained through the service to others. Change the world if you can, but you can also start from the people close to you. Your team, your family, your friends, your colleagues.
I’d focus on what I can do, not what I cannot do. Like, Adam Grant put it beautifully….
“It’s our actions — not our surroundings — that brings us meaning and belonging.”
This doesn’t mean you need to force yourself love a job you hate, but to rethink your perspective, if you’re using the right goggle to find — or craft happiness at work.
Good luck!
