Let’s face it: no one really likes going to work. There are of course those workers that absolutely love what they do, but then they don’t really feel like they’re “working” right? Unfortunately, we don’t all love what we do so there are definitely times where we have to “work”. For many of us, that’s everyday. However, not liking your job 100 percent is a lot different than not being happy at work. You can dislike what you do to a degree, but you can still be happy about coming in to work. So how do you assess whether you are happy at work or not?
First off, you probably already know for yourself if you are not happy at work. After all, you’re there everyday and you know how you feel. If you aren’t really happy at work then you will probably put less effort into what you do which will effect your productivity and your overall experience at work. When you are happy, you work harder and produce better results. That’s why you need to do what you can to ensure your happiness at work.
In order to assess your happiness at work, you need to answer a few questions for yourself. They cover a few areas of basic human interactions, but we tend to forget about them in our everyday work schedule: giving, relating, appreciating, exercising, direction, resilience, emotion, meaning and trying. So let’s look at a few of the questions you can ask yourself to see where your happiness is at work.
1. How does the work I am doing now connect with my overall purpose and what gives my life meaning?
2. What things, small or big, can I do or find to make me feel good about work? What makes me smile at work?
3. Goals, goals, goals. What are my work goals- short term and long term? What are my goals for today, next week and this year? Do these goals fit into my overall life goals? How?
4. What are the new things I have learned? Am I continuing to learn?
5. How am I helping and supporting my coworkers? Does my work make a difference to others- coworkers or customers? How?
6. Am I keeping a healthy balance between life and work?
7. How can I better my relationships at work?
8. Am I getting enough rest and eating well at work? What you eat at work and how much sleep you get is a huge factor in your happiness level- for work and life alike.
9. How do I deal with tough coworkers?
10. How do I deal with and take on the tough challenges that work presents? Am I being challenged at all? Do I ask for help? Is there someone there that can help?
11. Am I making the best of my strengths at work? How?
Answering these questions can really give you a full idea on how you feel at work. If you are not able to answer most of these questions positively, then you may be positively unhappy at work. However, if you find that you are unhappy, then it may be time for you to work towards being happy or to start finding a new job. Being unhappy at work, and worse, hating your work can really start to take a toll on your overall life happiness. We are at work a third of our day and the other third we are sleeping. For half of our daily lives, we are at work. Doesn’t it make sense to be happy there instead of miserable? Start to figure out how happy you are at work and start taking action, if you can, towards getting there.
SOURCE: Action for Happiness
IMAGE: Courtesy of OpenForum
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