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Happiness at work, depends on you by Talyn McArthur

Written by: Talyn McArthur

Article Overview: Happiness: From Defining to Solving the Problem

Happiness at work, depends on you by Talyn McArthur

A recent University of Laval article, revealed that we spend "One-third of our life at work." The article explores the notion that "work is more than just a way to support oneself financially. It is a psychological necessity: it is how we express our potential, demonstrate our skills, excel, define our identity and do something useful for ourselves and for others."

Since we spend a significant amount of our lives at work "not even counting the time we spend commuting, working overtime and thinking about work after we go home", it is important to find out if one can be happy at one's job regardless of if one's current role is ideal.

The University of Laval study shows that "while many people develop self-confidence and a feeling of accomplishment through work, it can be a source of stress. The combination of employer requirements and the demands of modern life are a growing burden for individuals."

So how does someone develop a healthy work ethic in which one is committed to excellence without been exhausted from working? The answer, regardless of one's job or employment environment, is to learn how to how to deal with stress; and to have a clear understanding of what happiness means to you.

No matter how you define happiness, the need to be able to sustain that state of being, is one of the reasons we sometimes require employment.

The pursuit of happiness, at work or at play, is a significant driving force. So it is easy to understand that anything or anyone who threatens or compromises one's happiness, is a source of stress.

In the face of a potentially recovering economy, it is important to find the sources of our stability and happiness at work. Here are five practical ways to achieve contentment whether you love your job or otherwise.

 

• Have a life plan: Have a short term and long term goal professionally and personally and review these plans frequently. Having a life plan allows focus because of the realization that there is a purpose to one's current job.
  
  
• Have an active and Virtual portfolio: A portfolio provides the ability for you to showcase all your skills. This allows you to show your range. You might be working as an Accountant but you may also be a skilled Graphics Designer. Should a potential project come up with your current employer, you can showcase your unknown skills or decide to explore a change in career. A portfolio allows you to be detailed in your abilities versus a resume that has length restrictions and requires that you focus on one particular job.
  
  

• Know what makes you happy and what stresses you: Being able to do so, allows you to attend quicker to stressors. Prevention is better than cure. If one identities a source of stress, one can come up with a viable plan on the necessary course of action.
  
  
• Become an expert: do a lot of research and learn more about your role. This allows to accomplish two things. First, you are the person, people will come to in your place of work, making you irreplaceable. Secondly, this makes you more attractive to a potential employer or makes you tremendously skilled if you decide to start a company of your own.
  
  
• Become a writer or hire a ghost writer: writing allows people to understand your expertise but it also allows them to hear directly from you. It gives you an international stage to share the resources you have, and in sharing, you are known as the person to go to. If you'd rather not write, hire a ghost-writer. Ghost writers convey not just your message, but your message the way you want your audience spoken to.
  
  

 

 

Related Articles
  Pursuit of Happiness
  Happiness Is A Decision
  Marketing Happiness
  Moments of Professional Happiness
  Time, Money and Life-Balance, Part 3 Life-Balance

Article Tags: accomplishment, contentment, driving force, economy, employer requirements, employment environment, how to deal with stress, job, long term goal, notion, psychological necessity, pursuit of happiness, self confidence, source of stress, ul, work ethic, working overtime



Related Forum Posts
Re: The secret to happiness - Happiness comes from within. We choose whether we want to be happy or not. Circumstances can influence our feelings, but in the end, it's up to us how we deal with our circumstances, positively or negatively. I admire anyone who can stay strong and be happy through adversity. There will always be challenges that we face, but I believe that if we face them with our heads held high, the odds of overcoming them are much greater. This reminds me of the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness." Happiness spelled wrong for a reason. One of Will Smith's greatest movies. I encourage you all to watch it as it's very inspiring.
Re: The secret to happiness - Happiness is working on the job you love. I forgot who said this, "give a man the job he loves doing and he will ever work again in his life"
Working With Family - It depends on your relationship. I've worked with both of my sisters, my brother in law, and my girlfriend on different business ventures. They are smart, talented people who compliment the skill sets that I have. I also trust them and know that they work very hard. There are also a few members of our Mastermind Groups who are in business with their spouses and they love the opportunity to work and spend every day with each other. It doesn't always work out and you have to ask yourself if your personalities will work well together or not but I would recommend exploring the opportunity if you see a fit.
Re: How many vacation and sick days do you give yourself? - I don't give myself a set amount of days off. If I'm sick then I don't work. If I want to take a vacation, I just do it. If I have something more important to do than work, I do it. If I just don't feel like working, I don't. Yes, it hurts productivity but that doesn't bother me. A big part of the reason I am an internet marketer is so I can have the freedom to do things like that. I don't want to limit myself to a certain number of days off. That would feel too much like a regular job. There are also plenty of weekends and holidays that I work. It just depends on whether or not I am doing anything else. Basically I try to at least do a little work every day but if I don't then I don't. No big deal.
Re: Alexa Ranking Goals - [quote:82tvlyxw]Must be something about marketers (interest and commitment) that so many of us seem to be night owls.[/quote:82tvlyxw] Must be! I am rarely in bed before 1:30am but I usually only work until about 11:30 then I watch a movie for a couple hours. My work days are really sporadic. I am a "full-time" internet marketer but many days I don't work at all, some days I work just a few hours, and some days I work all day and into the night. Just depends on my mood and what I have going on.


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