Finding Happiness at Work

There is a survey by Gallup that says that employee disengagement is a whopping 70%. I can only wonder whether this is more than disengagement, but also unhappiness, which in turn affects productivity.

I know many people whose talents are wasted or disregarded in their workplaces, some others who have terrible relationships with their bosses (which makes me think of the quote “people don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses”…), and many more who simply don’t find any meaning in what they do. Ultimately, whatever the case, each of these situations is conducive to frustration and personal unhappiness, even when people try to be happy. And it’s very challenging, because happiness requires resiliency and maturity, and sometimes the environment pushes you in the opposite direction… And, as Matthieu Ricard says, happiness is vulnerable.

“I have also come to understand that although some people are naturally happier than others, their happiness is still vulnerable and incomplete, and that achieving durable happiness as a way of being is a skill. It requires sustained effort in training the mind and developing a set of human qualities, such as inner peace, mindfulness, and altruistic love.”

To address this, just a few organizations are talking about happiness, and many more are just focused on the talk about productivity. Productivity is fundamental for the future of the organization, but the talk about employees’ happiness is bigger and more inclusive… it encompasses the entire life of a person, both within and outside the organization, and how everything in their life has an impact at work, and how everything at work has an impact in their life.

And talking about happiness, I wanted to address the question on how to find happiness at work. Especially, knowing that it is very likely that people will continue to come across jobs that disregard some of their talents, or that they will have to deal with bosses they don’t like, or that they will do things they just don’t think are meaningful at all. The Dalai Lama says “happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”… What should those actions at work be so that we can be happier (and, yes, more productive!)?

Some of the things at work in which we can find happiness include working with others (collaborating); coping with failure; finding learning opportunities; taking risks; becoming more curious, creative and innovative; solving complex problems; empowering those around us; becoming better leaders and making sounder decisions. How can we find happiness in each of these little things?

Collaborating: working with others is a great source or happiness. If we are down, we can count on others to help us get through it, and vice versa. Shared sorrows are half sorrows, shared happiness is double happiness. Science shows that human relationships and helping others are in the top 3 sources of happiness. If we start collaborating more with others, we will certainly find a strong source of energy to be happier, since collaboration builds strong human connections and it could be seen as a way of helping and supporting others.

Coping with failure: most people equate failure to sadness and frustration. In reality, it requires a lot of maturity and open mindedness to see it differently. If we could only see failures as learning milestones in the journey of our lives, and not as something negative or bad, we’d be certainly boosting our satisfaction and happiness. Whenever something "negative" happens in life, it is good to remind ourselves that we need to keep our hopes high. Don’t get me wrong, I do get frustrated and very mad when bad things happen… But if I dwell in the negativity, I will be destroying my own life (and that would be an even greater tragedy)... There is a time to be frustrated, and more importantly, there's a time to get over with it and move on... The Dalai Lama says “There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.” Let’s use failure as a learning opportunity, and by seeing it positively we could also increase our happiness.

Becoming more curious, creative and innovative: curiosity is a powerful way to increase our happiness. How many times we think about asking those questions that can lead to great creations and innovations, and yet we hold back? We have to let go the fear of being curious, and simply explore, discover and ask the questions that most people keep just for themselves. Asking questions will release positive energy, that will lead to innovation and creativity, and ultimately to happiness. 

Empowering others: even though happiness is within ourselves, doing good and being good to others is a strong incentive for personal satisfaction and happiness. If you are in a position of leadership, it is fundamental that you empower others, supporting your team and delegating authority. Your team will know that you trust them, which in return will increase their happiness. Of course, if you see a happy and productive team, sooner or later you will be happier as well.

The Dalai Lama and Matthieu Ricard teach us that happiness is not in the outer world, but within ourselves. Ricard says “happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things”. Right now, not tomorrow or in the next minute… but NOW, start seeing your experience at work as a source of happiness. If you don’t like your boss, think what can your learn from him/her; if you don’t like what you do, think the skills you are developing by doing it; if you don’t find meaning in your job, think about the changes you can make to turn it into a more meaningful experience... In every experience, find the way to become happier!

At the end of the day, there will always be bad things out there, and there’s nothing we can do about them. The one powerful thing we can do is changing the way we perceive those things, and what we do with them. It's all within ourselves... Start now!!!

Here is the Dalai Lama talking about The Art of Happiness.

 Here is the TED Talk by Matthieu Ricard about the Habits of Happiness.

Follow me on Twitter: @erubio_p
Visit my blog: www.innovationdev.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author: Enrique Rubio is an Electronic Engineer and a Fulbright scholar with an Executive Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University. Enrique is passionate about leadership, business and social entrepreneurship, curiosity, creativity and innovation. He is a blogger and podcaster, and also a competitive ultrarunner. Visit the blog: Innovation for Development and Podcast. Click here to follow Enrique on Twitter. 

#happiness