Archive for the Work happy tips Category
How do You Know if You’ve Contacted Adultitis?
Every now and again, I like to bring you short interviews to give you a new perspective on work happiness. During my study of work happiness I have found that there are many paths to the same goal. Some people believe that loving what you do is a must, while other people believe that relationships are vital to enjoying the work that we do. Interviews are a great way to get out of your own perspective and see what other people are doing to be happy at work.
There are so many amazing people in the blogging world, but one of my more recent finds is Jason of Escape Adulthood. He and Kim (his wife) have created a business out of bringing the fun back into life.
The first impression of Jason was a video that I watched of a water balloon fight between Jason and Kim. They were sitting in chairs and throwing water balloons over their garage to see who had the better aim. It was right then that I was hooked. Having fun in life is a big part of being happy, so I’m glad to bring you an interview with Jason.
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Walk to the Bathroom Very Very Mindfully – Work Happy Tip
Every week I like to bring you a work happiness tip that can help improve your mood, relationships, productivity, or reduce your stress. The idea is to put you back in the driver’s seat. This week’s tip: Walk to the bathroom very very mindfully.
Our minds love to follow distractions. It makes sense.
We like to be distracted. So even when we are walking to use the bathroom, we notice a co-worker’s cough, which makes us think about our own throat, and this leads to a reminder to go to the doctor for a check-up, then we are done.
We finished in the bathroom and we are back at our desk. 99% of our focus is not about enjoying where we are, but rather random thoughts.
I advocate developing your mind at work because it will help you to become happier and more productive. The reason this works is because you are focusing your energy on the part of you that matters the most. Without developing your emotional intelligence, you are flatlining your ability to feel good.
It works like this…
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Work Happiness Tip – Keep Track of Your Mood
Every week I like to bring you a work happiness tip that can help improve your mood, relationships, productivity, or reduce your stress. The idea is to put you back in the driver’s seat. This week’s tip: Keep track of your mood.
For a whole month I kept track of my mood and recorded it every morning, afternoon, and night. I added it as a chapter in my soon to be released book.
For a month I rated my mood three times a day to discover how I actually felt. My rating was on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being severely sad and 10 being so amazingly happy that I could barely contain my joy.
I was surprised by the results.
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Work Happiness Tip – Buy a Plant
I was having a rough day at work. I couldn’t seem to get any words strung together to teach you about work happiness.
How could I teach you when I wasn’t feeling it?
I couldn’t give up that easily!
Then I realized what I did when I first sat down. I got a cup of water, was about to sip it, then I looked over at my bamboo plant. It needed water more than I did.
I leaned over and slowly poured the water into the small pot.
The world felt right again. I’m not going to blow smoke up your butt and tell you that I went on to write three blog posts, book a keynote, and sell a Work Happy Now package to a company. This would feel great, but it would also undermine everything I stand for. Working happy is not just about feeling great. Working happy is also about finding ways to stay emotionally balanced so we don’t fall into a depression and wreck any chance of achieving good results over the next few weeks.
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Work Happy Tip – Go Hug a Tree
You don’t literally need to hug a tree, but…I mean if you really want to, go right ahead.
I just want you to get in tune with your senses. When was the last time you smelled a flower?
Been a while?
When you step outside of your comfort zone and do something like hug a tree, you’ll be surprised by the reactions you feel.
I literally went and hugged a tree. I pressed my cheek to the tree, wrapped my arms around it and squeezed. I felt this warm feeling come over me, like somehow the tree understood my appreciation for all the good that it does filtering the air for us.
I know this idea will feel weird, maybe a little too uncomfortable, so it’s time to use your imagination. Take two minutes to imagine yourself hugging a tree.
Feel the bark on your skin.
The smell of the bark.
What feelings rise up?
The strength of the tree.
The strengths within you.
I guarantee your stress will lower and you’ll feel more appreciation for the next tree you touch.
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Work Happiness Tip – Tag Your Co-Worker
I posted on Twitter about the importance of rewarding your co-workers. I love Twitter, by the way. The ability to connect with fun, smart and quirky people is brilliant.
A friend on Twitter told me that she likes to create tags for her co-workers.
I asked her what she meant and she explained that she likes to give out random acts of kindness to the people she works with. She draws beautiful pictures on pricing tags. She sent me these photos so I could share them with you.
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Work Happy Tip – Remember 3 Good Things
There will be days when there seems like nothing is going well. The back pain is flairing, the co-worker next to you finds it funny when he is a little extra annoying, and you can’t seem to get anything done (constantly interrupted).
A few weeks ago I felt like this and I remembered a great technique that always helps.
Remember 3 Good Things
I learned this trick from my friend Alex.
At the end of your day on your commute home (or if you work from home before you leave your home office) – remember 3 good things that happened to you that day.
They can be the tiniest things ever.
They could be:
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Work Happy Tip – Lucky Pen
So you probably carry around a gnarly looking rabbits foot whenever you have a big meeting. You know, that memento from 9th grade that has patches of bald spots all around it from you rubbing it too much. Right?
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Oh, you probably don’t believe in superstitions.
Come’on, I know you do. I know you have one, admit it.
This post started because a woman at work told me that her husband was mad because she wore her red coat during a big college football game.
Create Your Mindset
The other team’s colors are red.
Crazy, but it works. Not in the “change the outcome” kind of way, but in helping us create a mindset that lets us feel involved and more at ease.
These superstitions help us stay a little more relaxed and confident during a stressful time.
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Work Happy Tip – Just Ask
So many of us want people to read our minds, like when we want a co-worker to notice how we are feeling. Life doesn’t work that way.
A few months ago I was feeling blue. The world’s sorrows were just sitting on my shoulders, giggling at my struggle.
A number of factors were contributing to my heavy feelings. I wanted more money. I wanted to buy a gadget that I couldn’t afford. I wanted to feel like a million bucks, but my back was killing me.
I hated the fact that I wanted so many things I couldn’t have.
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9 Bold Tips to Work Place Happiness
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tess Marshall of The Bold Life.
According Deepak Chopra, a senior scientist for the Gallop poll:
29% of employed people in the U.S. are happy, passionate and take interest in their work. They are passionate and have a sense of belonging.
56% of employed people in U.S. are disengaged and sleep walking through their workday.
15% of employed people are actively disengaged, unhappy and make others unhappy as well.
If you aren’t in the top 29% of the people happy at work the following suggestions can help if implemented:
Attitude
Expect positive outcomes. Establish a sense of reverence and appreciation for your company, co-workers and work. I worked in a prison as a psychologist for one year. Anyone whose crime was related to alcohol/drugs attended my group therapy sessions. Without respect for the prisoners, guards and probation officers I wouldn’t have been effective. They were the most important people in my world when I was with them. I had their respect because I respected them. When you give what you want to gain, you can’t lose.
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