Happiness at Work in 2023
Happiness is an electrifying and elusive state. So much more than simply a positive mood, happiness is a state of well-being that encompasses living a good life. One with a sense of meaning and deep contentment – but can we achieve happiness at work in 2023?
If you agree with the statement that the average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. Then it’s important that the time you spend at work is a happy time. Otherwise that’s tens of thousand of hours in an unhappy state!
But as we all know it’s not always as simple as getting a new job. There are so many barriers (read that as excuses) to changing your job and your state!
You could as Rachel Feintzeig suggests:
“Shift your daily tasks toward what you enjoy—and change your perspective, too.”
Essentially learning how to shift your responsibilities toward things you enjoy, and change how you think about your work.
I agree with and support the following statements:
- Happiness is a choice
- There is no perfect job
- There is no perfect company
But change is not always an option to everyone in their unhappy “state.”
A Happier 2023
I found these tips for a happier 2023 which I recommend we all consider:
▶️ Find meaning and purpose in what you do because if you are clear about why you are working, the how becomes easier.
▶️ Find things you are grateful for at work and in your life so the mind can focus and attract more good in your life.
▶️ Find things that spark joy within like volunteering your time, studying or starting a hobby
It’s important to find ways to make our daily tasks and responsibilities more fulfilling. To allow us to shift our perspective so we can approach our work with a sense of purpose and meaning.
I completely agree with the idea of nudging our responsibilities toward things we enjoy, and this is a great strategy for finding more joy and satisfaction in our work. It’s also important to remember that our perspective can greatly impact how we feel about our work and that changing our mindset can be
Through tough times of the last few years I know some have made a special effort to focus on short and long term goals while marking my progress, even though it may be slow. At the very least the progress is steady, which gives some satisfaction that there is forward movement. Happiness and satisfaction can be achieved from some steps, and progress taken and achieved moving in the right direction.
One final thought (for the moment)
Sometimes we focus too much on large scale happiness, and forgo the smaller changes and the micro-happiness that we can easily attain. Finding joy and happiness at work in 2023 will benefit from working on the smaller changes. This will allow us to grow and develop momentum to a crescendo of warmth, contentment and happiness. In turn this will allow joy to permeate our day to day lives, thus positively impacting our overall happiness.
Finding satisfaction and contentment is a continual process, a work in progress if you like, and as we are all essentially a life time of work in progress, it’s fair to say that our happiness is, and will always be WIP!