We are 1/12 through 2010 and how much happier are you at work?

February marks the two year anniversary of this blog. My main reason for creating this business was to help other people who feel tired and weary of the grind.

I rarely feel stressed out, trapped and alone at this stage in my career. Instead of continuing to be pushed around I took control of my own work happiness. For the past two years I’ve researched stress, relationships (self, co-workers, and boss), and productivity.

The same conclusions keep coming back. If we want to get our desired results, we need to be happy now. The more we delay our happiness, the more depressed and disconnected we become.

Help Me

I want businesses to build a work environment that encourages career and personal growth. The only way to get the most amazing results is to allow people to shake their fears.

We all need to believe in who we are and recognize our unlimited potential. This is a process that every organization needs to help with. The more an organization can help their employees reduce their stress, build better relationships, and expand creativity, the happier they will become.

We are not here to live quiet lives of desperation. We are here to make a difference in people’s lives.

I created a questionnaire that will help me help you.

Please fill it out and let me know what I can do to make your 2010 dreams a reality.

Work Happy Now Questionnaire:

Here is the link to the Work Happy Now Questionnaire. If you have time I will would really appreciate it. If I get over 100 people to fill out the form I will give you my Work Happiness Dance. It’s a little embarrassing because I probably dance worse than your grandmother. You know, the one with the bad leg.

* Don’t miss out on any more great articles. Sign up for my RSS feed or email feed and you’ll stay updated on the latest tips and ideas to bring more happiness to your working life.

* Marelisa over at the Abundance Blog wrote a wonderful article called Toolbox For Would-Be Entrepreneurs: 69 Fantastic Free Resources. I love free resources.

If you enjoyed this post then you will probably like this one too:

- 5 Reasons to Stop Trying to be Perfect

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week. The best way to learn from our experiences is to step back, be honest, and reflect on pain and joy of our work week.

Using my blog to meet amazing people has been a huge perk. I’ve interviewed Steve Pavlina (Personal Development Master), Jonathan Field (Career Renegade), Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) and many others.

I’m saying this because I’m interviewing someone else that I’ve admired for a long time. She is an amazing writer and business woman. You’ll find out very soon. I can’t give it away yet. A little suspense is good for the soul.

Without all my hard work this never would have happened. None of these interactions would have happened.

We create our own luck. The harder we work, the more opportunities arise.

Let’s begin…

Hard

Getting things just right.

I love the idea of being a perfectionist. I read all the stories of artist who pour hours over one small detail to make sure everything looks…well, perfect.

I’m not that person. I’m an idea guy. I love coming up with new ways to tackle a problem. I love writing from fresh angles. I’m not good at refining my posts until they come out perfect. I know that I need to do it and I do the best that I can, but I don’t enjoy it.

I do what is needed and a little more, but then get back to being creative.

Fun

Preparing for my interview.

I picture myself on the phone with this person, talking about all kinds of ideas. I have my questions planned out, but hope to go off track and really let her lead the way.

Beautiful

My afternoon cup of green tea.

There is something magical about tea that I haven’t put my finger on quite yet. Besides the small caffeine energy boost. There is something calming about sipping hot tea that keeps me relaxed and balanced.

With coffee I get anxious and grumpy after the caffeine wears off. I never have that feeling with tea. Maybe because there isn’t as much caffeine, but whatever it is, it’s a gift from the heavens.

What about you?

What has been hard, fun and beautiful in your life? I’ll see you in the comment section.

* Join over 500 people who have already subscribed to the FREE Happy at Work 10 Week eCourse. It will arrive in your inbox every Monday morning. When you need it the most. (Sign up is in the top left corner)

* Evita over at Evolving Beings has a wonderful post highlighting another favorite blogger of mine. It’s called Evolving Being In Action: Megan Bord. There are some great takeaways that you can use to improve your happiness.

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- The Target in the Bull(y)’s Eye

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

Relationships are built on trust. If I trust you to help me finish a project and you flake out on me, that trust is gone.

If you are a stand up person who sweats, bleeds, and cries by my side and also encourages me to be great than you’ve earned my trust. I’ll love you until the end of time.

This video was shot on my lunch hour because that morning I worked on a project with a group of guys I would go to business war with. They are smart, fun, and we get a lot accomplished. Yes, I’m talking about my day job. Hey, I’m doing this for you, so I can learn first hand how to make people happy at work.

We need to learn to build trust with our co-workers, bosses, and clients. That means being there and supporting them when they need it the most.

Now it’s time to watch the video and find out one more way to build better relationships at work.

* Want to be able to Kick Butt at Work and Be Happy Too then check out my teleseminar on February 23^rd to help you do amazing work that doesn’t stress you out. Click here to find out more details.

* One of my favorite books by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith is called Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust (Affiliate link to Amazon. If you end up buying a book. I’ll be able to buy a box of tea. A great way to keep me energized for a month.) The reason I like it so much is it’s ability to encourage all of us to earn trust. Without trust we can’t build the type of career that makes our moms proud.

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- Never Stop Expanding Your Network

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

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.

Here is an example of one day:

I averaged a 6.73 over 30 days.

This somewhat low score didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was my conclusion after the month was over. I realized that happiness is nice, but consistent happiness is unattainable. A smarter method is just to be with my emotions.

On August 5^th I woke up feeling awful. I wanted so desperately to go back to sleep. I couldn’t because I had to go to work. At this time my son had only been in the world for about a week. The adjustment was intense.

Upon looking back over the month, I realized that I felt a lot happier than the 6.73 indicated because all of my experiences were interesting. I may not have been dancing on table tops with a big grin on my face, but I was never bored.

I realized that I needed to reframe what being happy meant to me, especially at work.

Do you notice yourself wanting to feel happier at work?

Do you notice that if you take the time to look back on a situation and give it some space, that you were happier than you realized?

Let’s chat in the comments section.

* Need a boost to your work happiness? Then check out the Happy at Work Project and start one yourself.

* Naomi over at Ittybiz wrote a brilliant piece called The One Thing You Have To Know About Sales Pages. I don’t use brilliant very often, but this is a fantastic piece. If you write copy in any shape or form this is a great article to learn from.

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- Creating A Project Ritual to Encourage Happiness

Image courtesy of coleypauline

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

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 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 our own perspective and see what other people are doing to be happy at work.

Today we have a social media extraordinaire, Nathan Hangen with us. He has recently published an ebook called Beyond Blogging that case studies 15 successful bloggers and how they were able to make their dreams a reality. He is on his way to making his blogging dreams a reality too. He has blown up in the last few weeks and I wanted to catch him before he stopped taking my calls.

Karl: On a scale of 1- 10 (10 being very important) how important is work happiness to you? Why did you pick that number?

Nathan Hangen: Work happiness is a 10…absolutely. When Gary V said that he changed direction because he was only something like 99% happy, that really resonated with me, because I’m always trying to find the path that leads to 100% happiness.

At the same time though, I don’t want to get caught in a pattern of never being happy, so I try to remember that it’s a journey, not a destination.

What is one activity that makes you happy at work?

Music is big for me. I listen to music all day when I’m working. It keeps my spirits up and keeps my energy level high enough to be able to keep working hard. Outside of that, Twitter is really important to me.

People not using it wouldn’t understand, but the community there is really tight, and it’s nice being “where everybody knows your name,” especially for those of us isolated in a home office.

How do you maintain harmony between your working and non-working life?

This is something I struggle with every single day. Quite honestly, I’m not sure I have maintained harmony. Between my Army job and my blogging/writing job, I’m working nearly 12-16 hours per day…which means that my personal/family life could do with a little extra attention. I try to take breaks, and when my kids come in my office and want attention…I try to remember to be present and completely immerse myself in what they need at that time.

At the same time, I try to create boundaries and work hours so they know when I’m free and when I’m working.

This is an area I’m working hard to improve, but as it stands, I’m at a place where I’m working hard so that I don’t have to (as much) in the future. I’m working hard now so I can hang out with my family whenever and wherever we want to.

What is your favorite stress reliever?

It’s a tie between running and meditation. Two activities that I don’t do often enough, but they work best for me. Running gets me out of my own head and helps me see the big picture. Meditation helps me regain my focus and realize when I’m straining too hard for answers.

How do you work on being happy at work?

I’m hyper-sensitive to my own energy levels and I try to monitor my activities to see what makes me happy and what brings me down. It’s a constant process of evaluation and re-evaluation.

I’m a super analytical guy (to a fault) and I’m always thinking in terms of systems, so I try to create an environment that is efficient and relaxed…one that permits work happiness. Everything from the chair, to the lighting levels comes into play for me.

If you are feeling down, what do you do to lift your spirits?

I’ll either listen to some music (usually techno/trance/metal), or take a break and go outside to breathe some fresh air.

When I’m working on post in my Army job, I tend to get overwhelmed a lot…mostly because there is a lot to do and the deadlines are very short. It helps to just change the scene for a minute and gain some perspective. I try to realize that no state, whether happiness or unhappiness, is permanent.

What is your biggest detriment to work happiness?

Probably trying to make everyone else happy. I’m someone that wants to please everyone, and it carries over to my online business too. I’ve had to learn that you can’t please everyone all the time and it’s OK to say no.

What do you do to stay motivated and productive?

I use mental imagery a lot. Sometimes there’s a certain type of music or movie that reminds me of why I’m doing what I’m doing, and I use that to motivate myself to work harder. I’m kind of a workaholic, but it’s because at 31, I’m feeling the heat of turning my dreams into reality. I’m getting close, and things are coming in to place, but those visions of the perfect house, the perfect vacation, the perfect life, etc…they drive me.

It also helps that I really, honestly love this online business. Not just blogging, but writing, creating digital assets, meeting people, running workshops, etc. I just love it.

If you could give work happiness advice to someone just starting their career in 140 characters or less (Twitter style) what would it be?

Give no man the power to claim your dreams from you. If you aren’t happy, then start planning how to become happy. Let no one stop you.

* It’s Spread-the-Love Day, when I encourage you to spread the word about Work Happy Now. You might:
- Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
-  Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @workhappynow)
- Sign up for my FREE 10 Week E-Course and join over 450 people who have already improved their happiness at work. You will also receive a bi-monthly newsletter that give you great tips and ideas on how to improve your career.
- Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks! I really appreciate any help. Word of mouth is the BEST.

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- Career Renegade Interview

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

Lately I’ve been thinking of the pain that I’ve been through at all my jobs. From co-workers to bosses to tedious tasks. Each experience has helped create me.

There are some days where I miss standing for 8 hours a day checking people’s items out at K-mart. It was a job that wasn’t suited to me at all, but I miss the relationship building that I practiced.

There are some days I miss pulling heavy wire or trying to squeeze a wire down a wall to get power to a ceiling light.

There are some days I miss my cubicle. Sharing such a close space forces a person to interact and share funny stories.

We all have our painful days, but this just comes with every job. Even working for yourself brings just as much pain in a whole new way.

What pain are you enduring right now?

Try to step back and imagine the person you will be in 5 years floating over your body right now.

What does “future you” think about this pain? Can your “future you” look at this situation as a emotional building experience?

This little imagination technique always helps me.

* Are you on Twitter? Then join over 2,800 people who get my stress relief tips, happiness ideas, and thought provoking quotes. @workhappynow

* Gretchen Rubin over at the Happiness Project wrote a cool piece on reading. It’s called Twelve Tips for Reading More. If you are a big reader like me, you’ll find this post very helpful.

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- How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week.

This week was a lot of fun because I’ve been building on my strengths. I’ve been doing the soft sell on my teleseminar How to Kick Butt at Work and Be Happy Too. It’s hard to find the balance between encouraging people to buy a good product and begging.

I want 10,000 people to sign up for this amazing teleseminar, but I know that won’t happen. It’s all about baby steps.

Each day is exciting, especially when someone new signs up. I know my marketing is working.

I do have to work on letting my upset feelings go on the days when nobody signs up

Let’s begin…

Hard

Finding the marketing balance.

I don’t want people to drop from my newsletter or to stop following this blog because I keep talking about my teleseminar.

The best way to find this balance is to go with my gut, throw it out there and test. One person dropped off my newsletter list because they believed that I was sending out too many notices. I’m sending out a notice every few weeks, not every day. Jeez.

No one told me that creating a work happiness business would be easy. I think that if it was easy I would probably have given up. What’s the point without a challenge?

Fun

Relaxing with editing my book.

I’ve been guilty of rushing to get my work done. This week I’ve been applying my “Theme of the Week” for January. I’ve put on some good music and chipped away at each section.

The editing process has actually been enjoyable. A big step forward in my career/personal development.

Beautiful

After a cold snap my wife and I took our little boy and dog for a walk. I was in shorts and t-shirt. Texas has crazy January weather.

We mozied, walked, strolled, and ran throughout the two hours that we were outside. I didn’t want to go back home. It was just one of those “so lucky to be alive” type of days.

What about you?

What has been hard, fun and beautiful in your life? I’ll see you in the comment section.

* Don’t miss out on any more great articles. Sign up for my RSS feed or email feed and you’ll stay updated on the latest tips and ideas to bring more happiness to your working life.

* Lance of the Jungle of Life has a really cool interview with Katie West called Powered By Laughter. Very much worth your time.

If you enjoyed this post then you will probably like this one too:

- How Your Company Can Bring the Fun Back

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

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.

We have to find ways to appreciate the little things.

I recently posted a quote on Twitter that is still jumping around my brain:

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.”
- unknown

I may not be dancing in my seat and knocking out great work, but I can still relax and enjoy the small things.

That means having a plant on my desk that I can baby when I feel like being babied. By taking the focus away from myself and putting it on to someone (or in this case something) else, I am able to feel much happier.

Do you have a plant at work?

Do you think it helps your happiness?

*Need a boost to your work happiness? Then check out the Happy at Work Project and start one yourself.

* Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership wrote a stunning piece called Conan O’Brien’s ‘Tonight Show’ Farewell Speech: A Class Act

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- Work Happy Tip – Lucky Pen

Image courtesy of TKCS

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

You may have heard about the 24 employees at France Telecom who committed suicide because work was too stressful. I’ve been thinking a lot about this problem.

Many employees are afraid to speak up for fear of being fired or looked down upon by their peers.

France Telecom is going through a restructuring in order to stand out competitive communication industry. They are trying to trim the fat and fix the problems. This isn’t easy in France where demand for employee rights is very strong.

I was thinking about the times in the past when I was depressed and worn down by work. That’s why I quit that old job.

I really think people should quit instead of putting their lives at risk.

Too Late

The problem is that people don’t realize that something is seriously wrong until it’s too late. They feel like their life is out of their control.

It’s easy for me to say, “Just quit,” nothing is worth putting your health at risk, but that’s not fair.

I endured a lot of crap while working for some pretty awful bosses. I’ve talked about my depression at work and bullying that I endured.

On 14 July, another 52-year-old employee killed himself in Marseille, leaving behind a note blaming “overwork” and “management by terror”. He wrote: “I am committing suicide because of my work at France Telecom. That’s the only reason.”
- Angelique Chrisafis of The Guardian UK

We don’t think that a man would stab himself in the stomach to show his company that he is in pain. This is what happened at France Telecom. A 52 year old man stabbed himself while in a meeting to send a message.

He was not happy!

Communicate Our Feelings

We don’t communicate our feelings with each other often enough. We don’t want to get labeled as a complainer.

I don’t have the answer to this problem. A company needs to stay nimble and that may mean restructuring every few years, but how far should they go?

It’s tough to see that invisible line.

France Telecom did hire counselors, help people with moving transitions, and even helped subsidize new businesses in order to assist people in creating new careers. It still wasn’t enough.

All I know is that the leaders in companies must learn to do a better job of listening to their employees. They need to take the time to hang out and understand their concerns.

Should leaders be trained to help their employees become happy?

What do you think?

* Join over 450 people who have already subscribed to the FREE Happy at Work 10 Week eCourse. It will arrive in your inbox every Monday morning. When you need it the most. (Sign up is in the top left corner)

* Mark Silver over at the Heart of Business wrote a wonderful post called Stopping the Cycle of Violence in Business. I couldn’t agree more.

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- What Hidden Emotional Anchors are Holding You Back?

Image courtesy of Yves Le Bail

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

* Quick note: I’ve decided not to do a video this week. I want to create more value with my videos and that means figuring out how to make the videos more dynamic and interesting.

Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week.

My desk is a mess. I’ve been putting off my organization until tomorrow too many times. I’m not proud of this, but there always seems to be something else better to do.

My systems are breaking down.

Instead of doing what I know is right I’ve been choosing the easier route. This route is easy in the present moment, but harder in the long term.

I have to be more diligent about putting away that piece of paper instead of just throwing it on my desk. The hard part is figuring out how to stay motivated to do the little things.

You probably struggle with this too in some area of your life. Maybe you have trouble with exercising on a regular basis or getting up on time to get to work. Whatever your struggle with, it all comes down to connecting with what is right.

I’m creating next week’s theme from this week’s challenges. I want to simplify how I handle the information in my life, so that it’s easier to make the right choice. When I have a piece of paper in my hand, instead of just placing it on my desk, I will connect with the pain that lies ahead (what happens if I don’t do the simple task of organizing now), so it motivates me to be more organized.

You should also think about how you can adjust to a daily challenge in your life. How can you find a way to connect with what is right instead of choosing the easy way out?

Alright let’s begin…

Hard

Knowing when to relax and when to try a little harder.

I’m still working with my work rhythm. There are some weeks when I’m a go getter and I knock out a bunch of work, and then there are other weeks when I struggle to get a few things done.

I’m trying to write more guest posts, but with a full-time family, full-time job, and trying to leave room for a social life, I’m having trouble finding my rhythm. I need to find my rhythm earlier in the day so I can knock the work out and do whatever I feel like doing later in the day.

I guess I’ve always felt like this. Working with these emotions isn’t easy.

Fun

Working with some friends on a project.

We laugh and share stories. This time together helps me realize that relationships are so very important to enjoying what we do.

I could have been scooping up little dog poops all day long with these people and it would still be fun.

Beautiful

My wrist guard.

I’m on the computer a lot. I’m at the computer at my day job and then I come home to help all of you to become happier at work at my computer.

On the weekends I’m on the computer again. That’s a lot of keystrokes and mouse clicks that can cause pain even in the strongest of wrists.

I wear a wrist guard whenever I’m at the computer. It helps reduce my strain and I’m able to relax my wrist and arm while working on the computer. I linked to this wrist guard on Amazon.

Rector Proformer Wrist Guards

I don’t use it, but it looks exactly like the one I do use, so it should help. If you do buy it, yes I get a couple bucks.

We are lucky to live in a society where we can get support for any part of our aching body.

What about you?

What has been hard, fun and beautiful in your life? I’ll see you in the comment section.

* Are you on Twitter? Then join over 2,700 people who get my stress relief tips, happiness ideas, and thought provoking quotes. @workhappynow

* Tess over at The Bold Life has a great guest post called How to Build a Winning Work Ethic. It’s not the advice we always want to hear, but we should really listen.

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Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!