How to rebel unhappiness at work

I remember as a kid growing up my mother would always tell me, “First you make your habits, then your habits make you.”

After having seen quite a number of springs and summers, it is making more and more sense to me. And you know what? I’ve been passing these words of wisdom to my 5 year old kid every once in a while.

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Good habits are as addictive as bad one, but a lot more rewarding. But if your habits are not as ‘good’, ‘productive’, ‘fruitful’, or ‘happy’, then your happiness levels will go up and down like that of a sine wave.

You’d be surprised to know that our habits play a significant role in our professional life as well. Let me share an incident with you-

Amanda is a part of our marketing team at ProofHub. She would always deliver what was expected from her on the work front but her moods were always fluctuating. She would be lively at times and would go cranky the other moment. Oftentimes, it would get to the level of being too erratic and unbearable. Due to this, many team members started avoiding talking to her except the mandatory ‘Good morning’.

Why wasn’t Amanda happy?

What’s the reason for such an odd behavior?

Is something going on in her personal life or she’s just like that as a person?

I’m sure these are some of the first few questions that would have popped up in your mind. If we analyze the above situation carefully, it’s evident that a behavior like this can jeopardize anyone’s professional life. If you know more Amandas or are one of them, it’s time for you to take a look at your habits because habit and routines have an unbelievable power to either create or destroy.

If you want to be a slave to your habits, why not be a slave of habits that make you happy and productive because nothing is more stronger than a habit that spreads happiness.

Here are some of the habits that make you thrive at work and eventually in your life.

Choose your mood every day

The lesson that we can learn from Amanda’s episode is that to not let your mood define your day. Take charge and choose your mood — every day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

Wise words, right?

But is it really that easy to choose our mood? It might not be that easy but rewarding for sure. And, once it has become a habitual part of your daily routine, there’s no stopping you. I’ll share some examples from real life where certain moods are helpful.

Situation 1: You have to attend a meeting that you don’t want to go to.

Emotions being experienced: Irritation, dread, heaviness

Helpful emotions: eagerness, light

If you enter the meeting room with heaviness and a dreaded mood, you won’t be able to contribute much to it. However, if you look forward to a meeting, you can definitely learn a thing or two.

Situation 2: Your manager has expressed his disappointment for your not-so-good performance.

Emotions being experienced: Unworthiness, stress, fear

Helpful emotions: Confidence, never-say-die attitude

It is common for managers to give feedback to employees if they aren’t performing the way they are expected to do. Don’t let it bog you down in any way rather see it as an opportunity to reflect what you’ve been doing wrong.

Situation 3: You are nervous before giving a crucial presentation in front of clients, stakeholders and other key decision makers.

Emotions being experienced: Anxiety, stress, worry

Helpful emotions: Confidence, optimism

It is one of the most common scenarios in which you feel anxious before a presentation. Shift your thought-process and think about the situation(s) when you accomplished something you’re proud of.

Power of happy thoughts

Has it ever happened to you that whenever you see something happy or positive in your surroundings, the overwhelming happiness lingers with you all day long? Consequently, you go to bed happily and wake up in a good mood.

Famous happiness expert, Gretchen Rubin, also echoes the power of happy thoughts. In her bestselling book with the title ‘Better Than Before’, she talks about the paradigm shift that happens in the life after we choose to think and act happy. She added, “When we change our habits, we change our lives. We can use decision-making to choose the habits we want to form, use willpower to get started, then we allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over.”

EPIC LITTLE EXERCISES TO CHOOSE YOUR OWN EMOTION

You can’t always be happy and giggling. I understand that there are days when you are just not in the zone. To not let it grow and ruin your entire day, here are some little tips that can help you up your choose-your-own-emotion game.

1. Eat and drink healthy — There is a direct relationship between food and mood. Pay a little attention to what you put inside your body and how much of it. Avoid too sugary food items and excess coffee/tea at the office.
2. Exercise (in the morning) — It’s proven that exercising or any physical activity releases endorphins also called happy hormones. There’s a reason why I’ve written morning in the parenthesis. The idea is to exercise in the morning to be in a happy space all day long.
3. Stay away from energy suckers — My team leader at one of my previous
4. Simplify, clean, and organize your desk — If the belongings on your table are cluttered so will be your mind. To get into a happy space of mind — clean, and organize your desk. Do it twice a week and see the results.
5. Pause — Whenever you realize that your mood is changing — pause and reflect. See how you can make it better. Choose the right emotion and then embody it.

At the end of the day, you would always be responsible for how happy you are — either at work or in life general. Make it a habit to visualize nothing but happiness. That’s how you’re going to attract happiness in abundance and rebel unhappiness.

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Vartika Kashyap runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. She is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016 & 2017. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.

Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.

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