Thursday, January 9, 2020

Happiness Is ... Not a Fish You Can Catch

Many people seek to become happy, particularly at work. But for all the effort put on being happy, studies show that a majority of workers instead feel disengaged.

Guide Magazine

So what’s going wrong? According to HR Reporter, “If you set happiness as your primary goal, you can end up feeling the opposite. This is because happiness (like all emotions) is a fleeting state, not a permanent one.”

So what should we look for instead? Meaning.

Workers who find their work meaningful have 170 percent greater job satisfaction, are 140 percent more engaged, and were more than 300 percent as likely to stick with their current company.

So how do you find meaning in your work? Do you need to quit your day job to drill wells or build orphanages in impoverished regions?

Not necessarily. For many of us, we can find meaning in our jobs if we take the time to think about the impact we have through our work on others and on ourselves.

6 Steps to Finding Meaning in Your Job

1. Find a way to help others. Whether they are clients, residents, or coworkers, serving others is one of the top ways to find meaning in the work that you do.

2. Don’t avoid challenges. Embrace them as a way to learn and grow. While you may experience some short term stress, in the long term, you will feel great about your accomplishments. But be careful. While some short term stress is okay and even necessary in our daily lives, chronic stress is very damaging to your health.

3. View your work as a craft. Hone your craft and take pride in being the best you can be at it.

4. Examine your sense of self and your values. Think about the ways your job aligns with your personal goals and values. If your job causes you to go against them, it doesn’t matter how much money you make, you won’t have a sense of meaning.

5. Examine your skills and interests. Is your job utilizing them? Is there a way you can do more tasks that align with your skill set and interests in your current job?

6. Think about your life outside of work. Your job is enabling you to pay the rent or mortgage, support your family, and maybe engage in some enjoyable activities. Meaning at work can be partially derived from the way in which your job lets you find meaning in your life outside of work.

If you are extremely disengaged and not passionate about your job, or your job goes against your values and goals, there is nothing wrong with switching things up and looking for a new career. Start planning your strategy to move on—whether it’s to a new job in the same field, or a different field altogether.

Source: HR Reporter

Happiness Is ... Not a Fish You Can Catch

6 Steps to Finding Meaning in Your Job

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