If you work 35 hours a week, you’ll spend 1,795 hours per year and over 84,365 hours in a lifetime working. That’s about a third of your lifetime. The UK’s largest study of work happiness by Indeed found over one in three people are unhappy at work. Real estate is the industry which scored the lowest in workplace happiness with education the highest. Not everyone has the privilege or ability to become an entrepreneur or to suddenly leave their jobs to find another role and profession if they’re unhappy at work. Many people have a family to support, bills to pay or experience to gain. We might not be ready to make these kinds of changes in our lives mentally either.
Here are 9 ways to find happiness at work for anyone that absolutely hate Mondays because of their job. Implementing these really helped me at a time when I was struggling to find fulfilment and was struggling to find motivation in my career.
Become intentional in your mindset.
Get clear upfront about the outcome you want, why do you need to work? What’s the greater good or ultimate goal going to be from this job? Do you get to buy your kids a new school uniform? Take Christmas off? Speak to interesting people? Remember the bigger picture.
Focus not only on your day at work but the rest of your life.
You still spend two-thirds of your life outside of work, make it count. Have things you truly enjoy, planned, including small rewards after work, and time with friends and family.
Gamify your work.
Set yourself weekly targets and measure your progress, not only will you get the dopamine kick of achievement but may find efficiencies that make your life easier.
Reframe your attitude.
When you catch yourself feeling negative about your work, show gratitude. Reframe ‘I have to work’ to ‘I get to work’. It’s a privilege to be physically and mentally well and able to work and earn a living.
Create a nice space if you can.
I used to have inspirational quotes, photos, artwork and personal belongings around my desk, I barely left space on the wall. Make it a small sanctuary for you where you can.
Look after your health.
When our physical and mental health suffers, so does our work and overall happiness. Eating meal deals every lunchtime won’t help your afternoon energy levels. Drink water and not just coffee, try take calls walking not sitting. What small tweaks to your day can you make?
Maximise the opportunities.
Many workplaces have training programs, healthcare, mentoring and even societies and book clubs. Make use of all the benefits or volunteer for the events committee, and find ways within your work to grow.
Being kind to others.
Toxicity in the workplace is never helpful and usually comes from others who have experienced negative treatment themselves. Break the cycle and show kindness and understanding to resolve problems. Kindness could lead to opportunities that completely change your situation for the better.
Cultivate your passions.
If your work isn’t your passion then find time to cultivate those passions where you can. I started a side hustle in art to pursue my passion. I was able to work on things I really enjoyed which made me less resentful of my 9-5 role.
No job is ever going to be perfect, you will go through tough times, especially at the beginning as you learn and adapt. However, ongoing unhappiness at work can breed resentment and impact all areas of your life.
You don’t need to change the world or be working remotely from an island in Bali to be happy in your job. We still have the capacity to influence 40% of our happiness, only a small portion is situation-based. Happiness can be achieved when you focus on the things that are within your control rather than those that aren’t.
