The Effects of Fast Food
(Can’t see the video? Then click here and try watching it at Work Happy Now)
Fast food is a energy killer. I feel grumpy and lethargic after I eat fast food. The salt, grease, and preservatives can bring even the strongest person down.
Your ability to enjoy your job has a lot to do with what you put in your body. If you want to increase your happiness at work, take notice of what you eat and how it makes you feel.
Continue Reading »
What do I do if I’m unhappy at Work?
Every person becomes unhappy at work at some time or another. It’s the natural emotional ebb and flow of being human. Even the best job has its problems.
You probably have certain expectations that can’t be met. These expectations must be emotionally bridged or you will constantly be grasping for unattainable happiness.
This article is not about settling for a crappy job. That’s the furthest thing from my mind. I believe we need to optimize our present happiness while planning our most rewarding future.
First you must allow yourself to feel and understand your present situation. A good scream or a good cry can cleanse the mind. It all depends on the person. When you allow yourself to feel the emotion that is blocking you from moving on, then you can accept your current situation.
After accepting this emotion, you have limitless ability to learn from this process.
The only way to understand what type of work will bring you the most happiness in the future is to understand your present self. That means dealing with your emotions and building internal tools.
Learn to watch your emotions when they occur, then create a plan that will help you explore and encourage personal growth. Some of this may be painful, but believe me it’s a good pain. It’s this pain that will help make you smarter and emotionally stronger. I don’t mean stronger as in more stoic. I define emotional strength as the ability to process emotions and bring the mind back into balance.
After studying videos, articles, myself, and my co-workers, I’ve put together a list of 8 tasks that will help you work happier.
- Find meaning.
- Become more aware of self-talk.
- Don’t take interactions personally.
- Help someone else become happy.
- Remember 3 good things.
- Utilize Smart Breaks.
- Speak up and take Action.
- Use More of Your Strengths.
-
These are concepts that are easy to understand, but may be hard to implement. You’ll need to practice these to make sure they become a part of you. I’ll break them down so you can apply them to your working life.
Depression at Work
(Can’t see the video? Then click here and try watching it at Work Happy Now)
Depression costs billions of dollars in lost revenue each year. We need to get at the root of why people are depressed and figure out how we can help them become happier at work. It’s why I created the Happy at Work Project (It’s a free PDF). I used to be depressed at work and I found help. If you aren’t happy at work then you need to make a plan and find a way to make it a reality.
It comes down to knowing yourself. Once you understand what you need, you can make the career shift that will allow happiness to happen naturally.
Continue Reading »
My Work Happiness Journey
While my work happiness journey will never end, I understand this and I’m ok with it. I realize that I’m just beginning to have fun with work, networking, and everything that goes along with a career. I began my journey over 12 years ago, but I won’t bore you with all that detail. I’ll take you straight to the important stuff.
I wanted to discover the best techniques to bring me consistent happiness. I started off writing about personal development because I felt a void in my life, but as time trudged on I began to narrow my focus to a particular issue that I struggled with and I knew millions of other people struggle with: the ability to enjoy work. I discovered that throughout my life, working for a company felt “forced,” and it had become increasingly difficult for me to do something that felt forced.
I had always put in long hours to help a company build its market share and income and all I was getting in return was a paycheck. Pretty depressing view.
For many years, every company seemed like a dead end. During high school and college there were the random jobs (K-mart, media buying, telemarketing, etc.). I landed my first full-time corporate job and then I went into teaching, thinking that I could do something that would make me feel good instead of working just making money for “the man.”
What is Your Perfect Work Schedule?
I asked my Twitter followers, “I love working 10-12 hour days with long breaks (30min - 1 hr) every couple of hours. What are your perfect working hours?” Two of my favorite responses were…
AndRam @workhappynow i work 10 to 2 pm. take a long lunch break and then back around 4 or 5 till 8 or 9…1:16 PM May 3rd from twhirl in reply to workhappynow
LilianChisca @workhappynow I use the 60/60/30 Formula I learned from @ebenpagan’s Wake Up Productive video trainings.12:29 PM May 3rd from TweetDeck in reply to workhappynow
He went on to explain:
LilianChisca @workhappynow That’s two 1 hour focused blocks of time (w/10 min break on the end for each) followed by a 30 min renewal.12:30 PM May 3rd from TweetDeck in reply to workhappynow
Motivated By Mistakes
(Trouble viewing the video? Then click here and try watching it at Work Happy Now)
How can you use mistakes to motivate you? That’s what this video explores.
I used to mentally beat myself up after every mistake. I was killing my own confidence. I needed to learn how to use mistakes as a way to give myself energy instead of sucking the life out of me. I figured it out. Can you?
Continue Reading »
Keep a Good Things Notebook at Your Desk
Just the other day, I was stuck in the middle of a stressful project. My brain was fried. I could barely see straight. I could actually feel my neck muscles getting tighter.
I stopped what I was doing and wrote down 5 things I was grateful for.
- My comfortable pants.
- My wife – who was probably starting to cook me dinner.
- My bunghole of a dog – who has forced me to be more relaxed with my frustration.
- My thumb – because it looked really cool at that moment.
- My brother – who always knows what to say to make me feel good about myself.
It worked. I calmed down, walked around to stretch my legs, then came back to my desk and finished the part of the project that I needed to email to my co-worker.
Career Renegade – Book Review
Are you working at your job and wondering why you aren’t doing what you love? Maybe your passion is surfing, finance, or knitting. Regardless of what your passion is there is always a way to make money off what you enjoy doing. That is if you can find the right angle. You just need to find a way to deliver value to people so they will pay you for your skill.
The “doing what you love” method of making money is a popular topic lately. Many people are flooding into this market. The problem is that they don’t have enough true wins or losses in their past to be considered an expert. They just talk a good game.
We must separate the fakers from the real deals. After meeting Jonathan Fields at South by South West I’m confident that he is the real deal. His book, Career Renegade, takes the reader through the steps necessary to take his/her career to the next level.
An Itch You Can’t Scratch
(Click here to view video at Work Happy Now)
We all have itches we can’t scratch. The question is…How do you deal with it? This video post discusses how to deal with your itch and figure out a way to indirectly scratch it, so you feel satisfied and ready to scratch that itch when the time is right.
Continue Reading »
The Beta launch of the Happy at Work Project
If I was a betting man I would put up $10,000 that everyone has a friend who hates his or her job. I would win every time because I know you all know someone who bitches and complains about their job and does nothing to bring more joy into their working life.
That’s why I’m launching the BETA program of The Happy at Work Project. I want to help people who hate their jobs as well as people who put up with their “ok” jobs.
“OK” and “Hate” – Two Terrible Words
People who hate their jobs need to find a way to accept or change their circumstances. The only way they will actually do this is if they understand what they truly want out of their careers.
People who have just an “ok” job but don’t get excited about the work they are doing need to figure out what makes them feel energized and how to do more of this type of work.
I don’t believe in coasting. Sure, if you want to stay where you are then that’s your prerogative. This project is not for you.
But if you want to build a career that is going to take your happiness to the next level then the “Happy at Work Project” is your cup of “wake up and have fun” coffee.