This week is International Week of Happiness at Work (21 – 27 September 2020). Although times are challenging right now and your normal pattern of working may have been disrupted, being happy at works remains important. We spend around a third of our life working. If we include the amount of time many of us spend thinking or worrying about work, it’s probably more like half. So, it follows that we would want to find happiness from an activity which dominates so much of our lives. In this article, I draw on my coaching and personal experience to share some insights on what I see as the main ingredients to finding happiness at work.
My personal search for happiness at work
I was once stuck in a job which I felt out of balance from, a job which didn’t truly fulfil me. I suffered from skin allergies, nasal allergies, IBS and the emotional side-effects of a stressful career that left me depleted. Thankfully, that all ended in 2010 when, after 14 years in the corporate retail world, I took the plunge with nothing else in the pipeline (not for the first time) and headed out to Australia for a life-changing career break.
I lived in Australia for 5 months, living out of a small room at my brother’s apartment. I read, I meditated, I did my downward dogs, I laughed and I cried and I had my life-changing epiphany.
Those five months forced me to search for new ways of being, new ways of connecting, new ways of believing. Off the back of that trip, I set on the course to a more enriching life doing work that I loved, with the freedom that made my spirit soar.
I won’t pretend it’s all been plain sailing, but it’s a journey that I wouldn’t swap for the world and I now dedicate my work to enabling others to do the same.
The MAIN ingredients to FINDING HAPPiness AT WORK
This personal experience, together with my experience as a Career Coach working every day with clients who are searching for more happiness at work, has taught me that there are five main ingredients to being truly happy at work:
- Having a sense of purpose and fulfilment from what you do and the opportunity to make a difference to others.
- Enjoying the company and comradeship of colleagues. (Lockdown has highlighted the importance of social interaction more than ever.)
- Feeling valued and appreciated for the contribution you make – through both remuneration and personal feedback.
- Having boundaries in place which allow a healthy work life balance.
- Feeling connected to your employer: their mission and their culture.
Career change support for these times
If you are feeling lost, stuck and have a yearning for greater purpose, balance and fulfilment, you might want to consider Career Coaching. I offer a 12-week One-to-One and Group Coaching – The Conscious Career Change.
Wishing you happiness at work,
