How to be happy at work

I absolutely loved the first full-time job I had after leaving school and drove my family and friends crazy talking about my work all of the time. A couple of years later I left that job looking for more experience and I expected to enjoy my next job just as much?I didn’t. Over the next two decades I had some jobs that I loved and some I put up with because, like most people, I had no idea of what made me happy at work. It took a financial crisis before I became aware of what my work values are. That crisis turned out to be a wonderful opportunity that enabled me to do the work that I do today and will continue to do in some way until I die.

Feeling discontented at work presents us with a number of opportunities. We have the opportunity to understand our own needs, to be aware of any rules or beliefs that are holding us back and we have the opportunity to be proactive rather than reactive.

Sometimes we mistakenly associate discontent at work with the job that we do, when the real problem may be the people that we work with, the environment that we work in, the ethics of the business that we work for and so on. Whenever you say you want to do work that you love, what you are really saying is that you want a feeling. So in order to determine your work values you need to determine what feelings are most important to you in the workplace.

Understanding your work values

There are four categories of work values that most people fit into these are: relationships, personal values, work content and environment.

Relationships. People who value relationships at work have many choices because what they gain from going to work has very little to do with the actual work that they do. What’s most important to them is companionship, camaraderie and the social interaction with others. As long as they enjoy the company of the people that they work with then they have a vast array of career choices. However, if a person who valued relationships at work was in a job where she worked alone it would be difficult for her to enjoy.

Personal values. People whose personal values are their highest priority need to be very careful about who they work for. For instance, if their employer’s ethics clashed with theirs they would experience constant conflict. If they worked for an employer whose business harmed the environment in some way, and they valued the environment, then they’d be unhappy. The actual work they do is not as important as the ethics of the people they work with.

Work Content. People who value their work content are often the most passionate about what they do. They usually know from a very young age exactly what they want to do. Delta Goodrem is a good example, she started using her hairbrush as a pretend mike and would sing in front of her bedroom mirror when she was just six years old. She always knew she wanted to be a singer.

A problem arises when a person knows what she wants to do but is unable to achieve that goal, in this instance she needs to look more closely at the feelings she wants to gain from her work. These feelings could be recognition, being creative, inspiring others or making a difference, so she could look at other occupations that would allow her to achieve the same feelings.

Work environment. To some people where they work is vitally important. Some people hate to be cooped up inside a building all day, for such a person being able to work outdoors is more important than anything else. Conversely someone else may hate the idea of working outside in all types of weather, and may value working inside in an aesthetically pleasing environment.

Knowing and understanding what you value at work can open up a lot more opportunities and ensures you will be happy with the choices that you make.

To find out your work values, and you may have more than one, you could make a list as follows and place anything that is important to you at work under each heading. By doing this you have the added benefit of a checklist that you can use as a basis for all future career choices.

What can you bring to your work?

Being dissatisfied in your career can also be a great opportunity to be in tune with your spirit and your purpose in life. I started my working life as a clerk. All I wanted at that time was to get married, have children, and be supported by my husband, but that wasn’t meant to be my life path. Over time I worked in many offices, mainly in the financial industry and eventually I became a financial planner. As a financial planner I became fascinated by why some people had money and others none. So I brought my love of personal development to my work which led to my writing my first book, following this I was offered a regular segment on TV and radio. Being a financial planner gave me the credibility I needed to do the work that I do today as a life coach and trainer. I could never have plotted the path to where I am now if I had tried.

Creating the ideal work is about creating a balance between what you can give and what you receive back in return. When searching for the ideal work it’s easy to become overly focused on yourself. You can get caught up in the frustration you feel, what’s missing in your life, what you want, in other words you become self-absorbed. This doesn’t make you an attractive prospect to any employer whose focus is on what he wants.

Making a list of your strengths and the gifts and talents you bring to your work enables you to keep your focus on what you want and off what you don’t want, and it makes you an attractive prospect to any employer or client.

When making your lists of what you can give to others think about what you are good at and that could be at work and in your personal life. Your list could look like this:

Personal Strengths
Organisation
Good listener
Ability to multi-task
Ability to stay calm under pressure
Perceptive
Friendly
Sense of humour
Able to work independently
Happy home life

What are you worth?

Although we all want to love the work that we do it’s also nice to be paid well for it too. One girl I knew had a goal to earn $80,000 a year. She worked freelance and usually said her income was around $35,000 to $40,000 but she never had enough money. When she completed her tax return, she realised that her actual income was more like $20,000 a year, and had been the past four years. Her internal self worth was not as high as she imagined.

Imagine you are wearing a sign on your chest that says how much you are worth? Like it or not that is really what we do. Every time you attend an interview or see a client, you give off messages about your worth through your body language and the things you say. What you want on a conscious level is not necessarily the same as what you believe you are worth on an unconscious level. In this instance ask yourself what needs to happen for you to feel worthy of more money. Some people discover that they need more qualifications, others need to achieve small goals first so that they can to start that they are capable of achieving more. The key to changing your beliefs is to ask yourself questions and then to act upon the answers.

Don’t limit yourself

Don’t limit opportunities because you believe you are too old, too young, unqualified, not good enough, don’t have a degree or have failed before. There are a number of famous people who have made it even though others said they weren’t good enough.

John McGrath was a high school drop out yet he went on to establish a real estate empire worth millions. In 2003 BRW Young Rich List estimated his income at $50 million, making him the 18th highest paid Australian under 40.

Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile in 1954 even though experts said that it would be several generations before it was possible.

Bill Gates dropped out of University after one year yet went on to form the corporate giant Microsoft and become the richest man in the world.

Richard Bach’s book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, was turned down by 18 different publishers. In 1975 in sold seven million copies in the U.S. alone.

Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, was considered ‘too old’ to start a business.

Carrie Fisher overcame cocaine addiction and bipolar disorder to become one of the film industry’s most successful scriptwriter with hits such as Sister Act and Lethal Weapon 3.

What it all comes down to is a belief in yourself and your abilities. What you believe is what you get. If you believe you are a wonderful, intelligent person, then your potential employers, or clients, will believe the same.