6 Ways to Find Happiness at Work

Putting yourself on the career ladder can be an exciting time but after a while the excitement of going to work soon wares off. Working 9-5 Monday to Friday can start to grind after a while and you’ll find yourself counting down the days until Friday, dreading Monday morning and celebrating ‘hump day’ because you made it half way through the week. If this sounds like you then maybe you need to improve your happiness at work.

According to the Gallup study a mere 13% of us are engaged at work with an astonishing 63% of us not engaged! So if your happiness at work is at a low point then these six steps are set to improve your mood and your working environment.

If you’re not happy with the working environment then talk to your boss and ask him for suggestions. Believe it or not, our bosses cannot read our minds so letting your problems brew will only make them worse. Open up and express your thoughts, you never know a simple solution may be a quick and effective way to improve the office environment.

Working a full time job often means that you end up spending more time with your work colleagues than you do with your family and friends. This is why its important to socialise with your colleagues, suggest going out for a weekly or monthly drink or if you’d prefer to work up to that stage then begin with asking how everyone spent their evening/weekend. Socialising and asking questions will help you to find common ground and will make the office a lot more enjoyable to work in.

Being confident is not about thinking you’re better than everybody else but being confident with your ability to succeed. Admittedly that sounds a little cheesy but its true, after working in the same job for a long period of time you may find that you have the odd ‘bad day’. Avoid letting this bring your whole mood down. Your boss hired you for a reason and chose you over other applicants, be confident within your skills and learn from your mistakes because you’re only human.

Starting any task with a negative attitude is never going to end well. Improving your attitude towards tasks will have a huge impact on your overall perspective to work. Starting a task with a ‘this is impossible’ or ‘I can’t do this’ mind-set will make the task feel like it’s dragging. If it’s a task that you don’t particularly find enjoyable (we all have them!) think of ways of making it enjoyable, you may learn a new skill or dare I say it, find your new favourite task!

At the start of the month the list of jobs you have to complete in only a couple of weeks seems impossible. If you have a pile of work on your desk, of course at first glance it is going to look like an unrealistic challenge so break your work up into little sections and give yourself a checklist. This will make your workload seem that little bit easier and will keep you in a more optimistic mood whilst at work.

Do you often get that Smonday feeling? That moment when Sunday stops feeling like a Sunday and the anxiety of Monday begins then you need to reassess your current situation. Avoid thinking of work as a way to pay the bills, start thinking of it as a career path where you are constantly improving your skills. Try learning a new skill relevant to your job or working in a new way, finding your passion within your career will eradicate any Smonday feelings and leave you wanting to go to work. Knowing how to find happiness in your job will work wonders for your mood and productivity so if you are not happy, change the situation!