Almost every third person I meet seems to be looking out for a job change. Most of them seem to be ever unhappy with their jobs, and some seem to be just bored.
I am sure most of you who are reading this post may also fall in either of these two categories – unhappy or bored. There are yet others who are highly frustrated with their jobs – of course, after years of being unhappy or bored at work place frustration is an appropriate outcome.
I guess in last 5 year or so, I would have met – may be just one or two people who seemed really happy and excited about their job.
I tried to think through and identify some probable reasons that lead to people being unhappy with their jobs. The answer came clear to a certain extent when I made a list of factors that get regarded as happiness in context of one’s job or work life.
What is happiness in context of your work or job?
- Happiness is the logo / brand on your business card, and your designation.
- Happiness is the frequency of recognition, appreciation at work place.
- Happiness is being exposed to new opportunities & new challenges every other day.
- Happiness is the pay cheque, the incentives, the wealth creation opportunities.
- Happiness is your job, the size of team that you direct, the budget that you approve.
- Happiness is the media coverage, self-promotion opportunities at conferences, industry meets.
- Happiness is the corner office in a premium office campus.
- Happiness is the fancy multi cuisine cafeteria at your office.
- Happiness is being sure of your future career, and role enhancement opportunities.
- Happiness is being able to win a promotion & top slab compensation increase year on year.
- Happiness is being able to skip the 9 – 5 routine at your will.
- Happiness is being able to afford expensive vacations, buy expensive cars.
- Happiness is to be able to buy or rent expensive apartments.
- Happiness is the entitlement to travel business, the flying points, and the hotel rewards nights.
Of course lot’s more can be added to the list.
If your definition of happiness aligns to some or all of the above; it’s difficult to be happy. And that’s probably one of the reasons why you are unhappy with your job.
Going further, even if you change your job, once and again and again – there is a good possibility that you won’t be happy for long. It may be difficult to achieve a desired outcome on all the above factors in any of your job.
How to be happy at work?
To be really happy at work – I should say – let’s change what happiness at work place means for us. Let’s figure out our own definition of happiness. The above factors are important, and some of them are really basic and hygiene – however “happiness” may go beyond all of these.
For me, happiness is being able to do what I want to do every day. It is being able to think, and create new ideas, and learn every day.
Note: I wrote this article as a LinkedIn post on June 16, 2014. Read on LinkedIn
