Why Your Job Won’t Make You Happy
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Kev
Oct 8, 2010, 2:08:46 AM10/8/10
to Happiness
haha well according to this it's rather simple being happy haha
do visit the original article as they have links to other articles on
happiness as well
http://www.bnet.com/blog/penelope-trunk/why-your-job-won-8217t-make-you-happy/124?promo=713&tag=nl.e713
Why Your Job Won’t Make You Happy
Forget about trying to fix your life by fixing your job. For most of
you, the problems in your life have nothing to do with your job. But
I’ve noticed that when people don’t like their life, the first thing
they go to change is their job.
Happiness in life does not come from jobs. Happiness comes from
relationships. Basically, you’re born with a happiness set point. Sort
of like your weight. So two-thirds of your happiness level is
predetermined. If you are a born optimist, you’re happier than a born
pessimist. (Do you want to know if you’re an optimist? Here’s a test.)
The best way to increase the part of your happiness level that you can
control is to have sex, according to David Blanchflower, professor of
economics at Dartmouth College (and happiness maven himself). But when
it comes to happiness, not just any sex will do. You need to be having
good sex. This would be a good place for a link, right? You want to
see that good sex, no doubt. But I have something disappointing for
all you smut mongers: Sex that makes you happy is the twice-a-week
kind with the same partner. It’s called intimacy, and true intimacy is
what makes people happy.
This means that you don’t need a job that makes more money – at least
not as a means to achieve happiness. Everyone knows this, but, for
some reason, everyone seems to forget it. Once you have the basics,
more money just means you’ll make different friends, who have more
money, and then you’ll need more money to feel normal.
Money – and feeling like you have a lot – is relative. Daniel Gilbert,
professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of my
favorite happiness treaties, “Stumbling on Happiness”, says we always
think we need 20% more money than we currently have to be happy. It
doesn’t matter how much you earn, after a year at that salary you’ll
still think you need 20% more to be happy. This makes sense. If you
were a hunter-gatherer and thought you had enough berries, then you’d
likely stop gathering berries and then a monsoon would come and you’d
starve. But if you always thought you needed 20% more, then you’d be
more likely to have an extra stockpile of food in case of a crisis.
So your hunter-gatherer DNA means you don’t need better work. You need
better sex.
OK, I know that an absolutely awful job can undermine your ability to
be a decent sex partner and so, if you believe my line of argument,
that can hurt your overall happiness. But before you blame your crappy
sex life on your crappy job, figure out if it’s really your job.
Usually, it’s not.
This leads me to the key point for this post: What is it that makes a
good job?
Andrew Oswold, professor of economics at the University of Warwick,
found that people need autonomy, control, and fellowship. Once you
have these things, you will like your job just fine. And this is why
the self-employed are happier than people who work for organizations,
especially big organizations. This says a lot about what makes a good
job, because self-employed people have less stable income, more
stressful jobs, and longer hours than people who work for established
companies.
So maybe you should rethink what you know about the idea of what is a
good job. Lawyers are the most dissatisfied of all professionals, and
in the suicide department, they give tollbooth workers a good run for
their money. This is because lawyers have very little autonomy (they
jump for partners and then for clients) and they have a predisposed
penchant for perfectionism, which leads to depression.
Janitors, on the other hand, are generally happy. This is because they
have autonomy and they have direct contact with people they are
helping. They can see the good they do for their surroundings on a
daily basis. I’m not making this up. Sonja Lyubomirsky researches this
stuff.
If you want to know, for sure, that it’s your job that you need to
change, here’s a test you can take to find out. And if you want to be
as happy as a janitor but you don’t like the mopping part, get
Lyubomirsky’s book, “The How of Happiness”. It gives you tons of other
things you can do each day to make yourself happy.
One thing that works is to say something nice and unexpected to three
people in one day, even just once a week. Try that. Heck, try it in
the comments section right now. It’ll change your life so much that
you might not even need a new job.
do visit the original article as they have links to other articles on
happiness as well
http://www.bnet.com/blog/penelope-trunk/why-your-job-won-8217t-make-you-happy/124?promo=713&tag=nl.e713
Why Your Job Won’t Make You Happy
Forget about trying to fix your life by fixing your job. For most of
you, the problems in your life have nothing to do with your job. But
I’ve noticed that when people don’t like their life, the first thing
they go to change is their job.
Happiness in life does not come from jobs. Happiness comes from
relationships. Basically, you’re born with a happiness set point. Sort
of like your weight. So two-thirds of your happiness level is
predetermined. If you are a born optimist, you’re happier than a born
pessimist. (Do you want to know if you’re an optimist? Here’s a test.)
The best way to increase the part of your happiness level that you can
control is to have sex, according to David Blanchflower, professor of
economics at Dartmouth College (and happiness maven himself). But when
it comes to happiness, not just any sex will do. You need to be having
good sex. This would be a good place for a link, right? You want to
see that good sex, no doubt. But I have something disappointing for
all you smut mongers: Sex that makes you happy is the twice-a-week
kind with the same partner. It’s called intimacy, and true intimacy is
what makes people happy.
This means that you don’t need a job that makes more money – at least
not as a means to achieve happiness. Everyone knows this, but, for
some reason, everyone seems to forget it. Once you have the basics,
more money just means you’ll make different friends, who have more
money, and then you’ll need more money to feel normal.
Money – and feeling like you have a lot – is relative. Daniel Gilbert,
professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of my
favorite happiness treaties, “Stumbling on Happiness”, says we always
think we need 20% more money than we currently have to be happy. It
doesn’t matter how much you earn, after a year at that salary you’ll
still think you need 20% more to be happy. This makes sense. If you
were a hunter-gatherer and thought you had enough berries, then you’d
likely stop gathering berries and then a monsoon would come and you’d
starve. But if you always thought you needed 20% more, then you’d be
more likely to have an extra stockpile of food in case of a crisis.
So your hunter-gatherer DNA means you don’t need better work. You need
better sex.
OK, I know that an absolutely awful job can undermine your ability to
be a decent sex partner and so, if you believe my line of argument,
that can hurt your overall happiness. But before you blame your crappy
sex life on your crappy job, figure out if it’s really your job.
Usually, it’s not.
This leads me to the key point for this post: What is it that makes a
good job?
Andrew Oswold, professor of economics at the University of Warwick,
found that people need autonomy, control, and fellowship. Once you
have these things, you will like your job just fine. And this is why
the self-employed are happier than people who work for organizations,
especially big organizations. This says a lot about what makes a good
job, because self-employed people have less stable income, more
stressful jobs, and longer hours than people who work for established
companies.
So maybe you should rethink what you know about the idea of what is a
good job. Lawyers are the most dissatisfied of all professionals, and
in the suicide department, they give tollbooth workers a good run for
their money. This is because lawyers have very little autonomy (they
jump for partners and then for clients) and they have a predisposed
penchant for perfectionism, which leads to depression.
Janitors, on the other hand, are generally happy. This is because they
have autonomy and they have direct contact with people they are
helping. They can see the good they do for their surroundings on a
daily basis. I’m not making this up. Sonja Lyubomirsky researches this
stuff.
If you want to know, for sure, that it’s your job that you need to
change, here’s a test you can take to find out. And if you want to be
as happy as a janitor but you don’t like the mopping part, get
Lyubomirsky’s book, “The How of Happiness”. It gives you tons of other
things you can do each day to make yourself happy.
One thing that works is to say something nice and unexpected to three
people in one day, even just once a week. Try that. Heck, try it in
the comments section right now. It’ll change your life so much that
you might not even need a new job.
siuyuin
Oct 9, 2010, 6:32:34 AM10/9/10
to Happiness
I do better in an environment with a lot of autonomy.
So if I want to be happy in my job, I either have to look for a less-
controlling boss or aim to be self-employed.
-siu yuin
On Oct 8, 2:08 pm, Kev <kevla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> haha well according to this it's rather simple being happy haha
> do visit the original article as they have links to other articles on
> happiness as well
>
tt
Nov 13, 2010, 3:20:39 AM11/13/10
to Happiness
How to be happy at work???
Here's a sharing by one Chief Happiness Officer....
http://positivesharing.com/
http://positivesharing.com/happyhouris9to5/bookhtml/happyhouris9to5overview.html
It's just a practical approach to be happier in your workplace.
After I'd just gone through this stuff, i realized happiness at work
is self-oriented, at nowhere but inside yourself because no perfect
workplace is out there to find your happiness. There's always someone
who couldn't able to clip with, someone who try to bully you whenever
they have a chance or someone who always try to show power around the
corners of the workplace. And the workplace itself can be total
chaotic to be able to find happiness. However it is, it's just what
you think of it, if you think happiness is within yourself, it won't
rely on the outside world anymore. The very first times of my current
job, I used to discourage that there's one colleague who always
replied my morning greeting as "Morning's good, afternoon? don't
know!" I don't know as well why she's getting upset of simple greeting
"Good Morning". But i'm getting used to it over the time and quite
okay with mornings, afternoons and evenings as well. And one more
person remind me as an obstacle of staying happily, she used to say
"It's a very big problem. Now, it's become a big problem already".
What she think a problem is, actually, just a part of daily routine.
She keeps on thinking as a problem. But as facing her worries, i
realized how to turn the problem into just a matter of to-do and to-be-
settled, happily, i mean to think to settle a matter happily is just
on the another side of the coin, all you need to do is a flip.
I hope the book can inspire you to be happier at work. And probably to
be happier every moment. If still not, try to approach your
CHO .... :P
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