happiness matters or does it?

The essentials to happiness are something to love, something to do, and something to hope for.

William Blake

Happy?

Recent articles point out that happy people do better work, that was the thought. A recent Harvard Business Review article suggests that maybe happiness is overrated and even suggests that happiness may be a hindrance to productivity.

Perhaps happiness sounds good at work it might be more important to have meaningful work to do that stretches the capabilities of the individual.  Work that is easy, repetitious, and seems meaningless isn’t going to drive the best performance and results from anyone.

What do you feel about your work?  Is the work meaningful, purposeful, and useful?   What is your level of engagement?   Are you able to do your work within an eight-hour work period?   What is the relationship you have with others in the organization?

Happiness at work, what does that really mean?   What is happiness?  It starts with a definition and you have to determine what that definition is.  Is happiness something that is pursued at work or does it just happen in the moment when the work you are doing has meaning and is inspiring.   Happiness is often found at the boundaries of intellectual and psychological challenge.   That is the work is challenging, the problems are difficult but solvable and there is time for a rhythm and flow to the work.   Work that is too easy can become boring and that will lead to less productivity and more procrastination.  On the other hand work that is too hard and difficult may also create procrastination.

Where do you find happiness in your work or do you?

 

 

 

 

add service to your routine

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
― Martin Luther King Jr

Serve others better

People often ask how they can improve their chances of getting promoted at work.   The answer is rather simple, serve others better, serve others with excellence.   The service formula is rather simple and it is one that people quickly ignore.   If there was a secret to getting ahead it would be service.  Now, the problem is that it is so easy to do that most people don’t even want to do it.

What job doesn’t involve some sort of service?   Your job likely involves interacting with other people at some level.  How are you serving them?

Serving is about caring and caring is easy to do in principal and much more challenging when your own life is need filled.   Take some time and consider some ways you can increase your service to others in your place of work.  What can you do to show that you care?

In your place of work do you believe you have a purpose?

Do people acknowledge who you are?

Does your work matter to others?

What does service mean to you?   How can you serve better in the workplace?

When you are cared for in your place of work that behavior is shared with others and you begin to care about the work you do and the people you serve.  With employee engagement hovering in the 30% area it would make sense for the organization to care about you so that you could care about your work.  Often the belief is the other way around, we pay you to do your work and because of that you should care about the place you work.  It doesn’t work that way.

What would allow you to serve better?