Who knows what it takes to be happy at work? It’s not clear what happiness is or what it means in the workplace. Psychology Today says, “even if you are not a scientist, it is important to realize that there are many components to happiness.”
Happiness at work spreads to other contexts. If you come home from work happy, you will deal with family crises easily. It contributes to a positive and constructive mindset that helps you overcome other life challenges.
6 habits of people who are happy at work:
- Clear and focused goals keep workers and personalities aligned with common goals. That focus commands their attention and effort beyond short-term tasks. If you build your job around focused goals, you will be happier than spending your time multi-tasking.
- Continuous improvement is a way of life. Inside and outside the workplace, winners are committed to achieving their personal best in all aspects of life and work. The focus lets them build confidence even with failure because loses are opportunities. So, it also helps to eat, exercise, and sleep well to maximize your ability to absorb and process the negatives that might come your way
- Willing and collaborative, they welcome working with others. Happy workers look to help others whether it is in their own interest or not. They find working in the interest of others is self-satisfying.
- Emotionally intelligent people are not consumed by anxieties over which they have no control. Whether intentional or not, they avoid negative people and influences because those forces sap their focus and energy. But, they are also grateful and optimistic, even in stressful situations and with difficult people.
- Volunteers enjoy their extra work. Working in the community and helping others is self-fulfilling. Sacrificing your time and talents has emotional and cognitive feedback. Your volunteerism also looks great on your resume. You can see how this works when you browse powerful resume templates at Hloom.
- Happy people socialize with a plan. They choose and sustain close relationships with just a few people with whom they can have intelligent, deep, and interesting discussions. At work, they form friendships rather than networks. Their friendships talk about shared interests in sports, parenting, entertainment, or anything not work-related.
The pillars of satisfaction
Happy people seek engagement in their work and workplace. Writing for Forbes, Travis Bradberry says, “Happiness is synthetic—you either create it, or you don’t. Happiness that lasts is earned through your habits. Supremely happy people have honed habits that maintain their happiness day in, day out.”
Repeated research studies have confirmed that people who are happy at work prove more productive and valuable at work. Several sponsors list annual lists of businesses that are best loved or happiest places to work.
Happier people also attract other happy people, so their promise produces good outcomes from the beginning. And, while happiness is the choice people make, more employers are doing their best to recruit, retain, and develop people with happiness potential.
