6 Ways to Get and Stay Happy at Work

1 – Why is it so important to be happy at work?       

Happiness at work not only impacts your career, your productivity and success, your relationships but also positively impacts your company’s bottom line and customer relationships! We spend WAY too much time at work to not be happy. Associates that are happy at work are promoted more frequently. (HBR study)

 2 - How can being unhappy at work affect both your professional and personal life?

There is a fine line between Happiness at work and at home. Many tips in my book are relevant and applicable to both happiness at work AND in life! When you are unhappy at home, it impacts your work and vice versa. The law of attraction theory is so important, here because positive people truly do attract positive things in their life, same being true when you are negative or unhappy. The “whoa’s me” attitude will only get people to run from you not towards you. Positive people have a great attitude in the way they deal with the cards they have been dealt. Their attitude in the way they deal with difficult people, situations and how they move on and make things better. I would hire someone for their attitude more than pedigree any day of the week – I can train them to “play well” with others.

3 – You may like your job but the stress of it weighs you down and makes you unhappy. How can stressed-out, time-crunched employees bring joy back into their job?

This is the time to be grateful. It’s the time to be unselfish. This is when I stop and reflect on the all the good things I have in my life / career / job. This is the time when I sit back and look at ways to help others. Helping others is the #1 way to achieving long term sustainable happiness. And finally this is the time where I know I need to step away and take a break. Schedule a few days off, find an outlet on the weekend to “get away” and rest your mind and soul in order to rejuvenate yourself. Taking time away can also give you the ability to step back out of the “hamster wheel” and think clearly on new creative ways to re-energize you and your business and possibly think of solutions to problems that have had you “stuck”.

4 – How can you change negative thoughts into positive ones?

There is a method to this madness.

• Deal with facts not fiction. Many of us want to worry about things that will never happen or “assume” ill intent from a co-worker or boss. When you find yourself feeling this way – ask yourself – what are the “facts” I am dealing with, separate it out from the fiction and perhaps you can have a more positive outlook on the situation.
• Give others the benefit of the doubt, so many of us go to the negative rather than the positive when others are involved.
• Use some cognitive therapy – ever time a negative thought comes into your head, STOP and think of one positive thing about the situation. Do it for a few weeks and notice how quickly you are creating a new habit that will enhance your happiness at work!

 5 – How can managers create a positive working culture where employees can be happy ?
I love this question! Here's my top ten ways to create a culture where your people are happy at work:

1. Show you care, MBWA (manage by walking around)
2. Ensure they are doing the work they love and are skilled to do
3. Understand what motivates them to create a customized reward and recognition program around that
4. Hire the right talent that aligns with the values of the company
5. Allow them to have line of sight to the vision and input into your strategies and how they are executed – value their opinion!
6. Communicate often and openly
7. Get rid of toxic employees that bring everyone down
8. Create fun events – potlucks / happy hours
9. Do something Philanthropic together and most importantly
10. Lead by example – Put your money where your mouth is and walk the talk! if you want positivity, you must be positive yourself! If you say work / life balance is important – then make sure you have it!

 6 – If happiness comes from being generous or philanthropic how do you apply this to your business plan or life?

As I mentioned, long term sustainable happiness come from helping others. This is a proven fact. The more we help people, the more we feel good about what we are doing and it’s much bigger than “happiness at work” – this spills over to “happiness at life”. IF being happy at work is all about what YOU alone achieve, your happiness will be short term. If you look for opportunities to make others successful by helping them, it will come back to you tenfold – at work AND at home!

Impacts to happiness at work....

When I speak across the nation to companies / conferences, one of the first questions I ask is "Have you ever defined happiness for yourself?" Inevitably, out of sometimes hundreds of people, I will only get a few hands raised. This strikes me as odd, as euphoria for most is typically to have "Happiness" in your life. If that is so coveted, then why are people not defining it for themselves so they can truly go after it? Anytime you want something, want to improve something, want to achieve something, you focus on it, right? You dedicate time to it. Whether it is getting in shape, stopping a bad habit, or getting a promotion, you need to work at it. Happiness doesn't just "happen". You have to figure out what it means to you and create a PLAN on what you are going to do to go after it. Finding happiness at work is the same thing. What impacts your happiness at work? What does happiness at work mean to you? After you define it, what are you doing to achieve it? Whatever those triggers are for you, how do you make them happen? It's up to you to go after those things that DO impact your happiness at work. IF you can't find it where you are, maybe it's time for a change?