Every now and again, I like to bring you 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 develop their superpowers and live their passions.

Alexandra is a career expert, published author, and blogger. She gives career advice that is honest and interesting. One of my favorite posts was How to Launch Your Own Business. Your options are limitless if you follow our passions.

Alexandra was kind enough to give me an interview. Enjoy!

Karl: Do you believe that you must love what you do to be successful? Why?

Alexandra Levit: No, I don’t, and this is a trap a lot of people fall into. They’re good at something, so they think they should stay in it, even if they hate it.

Karl’s note: Many experts believe that you need to focus only on your strengths.This is a terrible idea. Only focusing on strengths doesn’t take emotional connections into account. You may be a good writer, but you won’t become great if you don’t love it.

What was the most difficult part about building your brand?

Standing out in what has become a very crowded career advice marketplace. Also, not focusing too narrowly but not trying to be all things to all people either.

Karl’s note: Pick your niche, run with it, master it, then expand out into new areas. If you aren’t known for one thing in the beginning of your career no one will remember you.

If you could go back to the beginning what is one thing you would do differently?

I wouldn’t put so much pressure on myself to have my whole life figured out right away. I would take more time to travel, to explore, to work on acquiring skills in my twenties rather than climbing the ladder.

How do you cultivate work happiness in your career?

I try to keep my personal and professional lives balanced, and I complete work tasks in a way that works for me. For example, I know that struggling to meet a deadline at the last minute stresses me out, and I plan carefully and spread things out so I don’t have to do this.

What do you do to help yourself stay motivated and productive?

I break complex tasks down into smaller, more manageable chunks and I reward myself after starting a task I’ve been procrastinating.

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

I have a flexible job and a supportive spouse.

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

I leave the house – either have dinner out with friends or hit the gym.

Karl’s note: Good friends are always a great remedy for a bad mood.

What is your biggest detriment to work happiness? How do you deal with this issue?

I tend to achieve a goal and then immediately move onto the next thing without celebrating the accomplishment. Also, my temperament is naturally to focus on the more negative occurrences in my day and overlook the positive ones. I’m working on this by being conscious of the thoughts coming into my head and rationalizing why they may not be the most accurate.

Karl’s note: Celebrating your wins is vital to keeping your motivation and productivity at a high level.

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

Don’t expect overnight success. Build your business a little at a time and think about keeping your day job while you’re doing it.

Check out Alexandra’s blog Water Cooler Wisdom and learn a few new tricks to boost your career.

* Are you on Twitter? Then join over 3,500 people who get my stress relief tips, happiness ideas, and thought provoking quotes – @workhappynow

* Random Acts of Kindness is sweeping the nation and Tess of The Bold Life has a great post inspired by Lori of Jane Be Nimble. They both performed 40 acts of kindness for Lori’s birthday.

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

> Why You Should Start Your Own Business

> 10 Ways to Simplify Your Work Day

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 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.

On this blog I try to push myself outside of my comfort zone to a place where I’m a little afraid. I have to admit that I was a little afraid of interviewing Penelope Trunk. Not because her blog is űber popular or because she was the CEO of Brazeen Careerist a popular career networking site.

I was afraid because of how honest she is. She wouldn’t be afraid to call me out.

She wasn’t afraid to tell me that career happiness really is a crock of shit. Her words. She actually said it a few times. She explains how we overcomplicate life in the audio interview that I posted below. You’ll just have to listen to the audio to find out why she believes so strongly in her ideals.

The Pitfalls

She is right. We expect too much and almost always feel disappointed.

What a career really comes down to is our relationships. If we work with good people and enjoy the person that we are, that’s all that matters. The tedious tasks don’t feel so torturous.

Penelope makes reference to all the business data that indicates one of the best jobs for happiness is being a janitor. This career is usually filled with good-hearted people. They feel like they are making a difference at their job. They can easily see that if they aren’t there the place would go to hell. Many of you work in an office and don’t get such instant satisfaction. You don’t see a dirty room become clean in a half hour. Most office work seems invisible. There is always more and the work is always there.

Building Lasting Relationships

I liked that Penelope said that if you don’t like the people you work with, you need to quit. I agree. Not every job or workplace you work is a good fit. Sometimes you need to cut your losses and find a better place to work.

She also said that career advice is a “crock of shit.” I love this candor. She knows that her blog is filled with career advice, but most of it won’t make you any happier. She believes that we get more value out of building a lasting relationship with our spouse than we would get from any work. I don’t totally agree with this line of thought. I believe that our jobs can help us build our emotional intelligence, which will help us become happier. I also believe that people who are happy at work are happier at home. If we are doing something that stimulates us during the work day, we treat the people better at home. We carry the good feelings home from work.

By understanding more of our needs, we are able to connect more with our work and the people in our lives. If we feel that our work is making a positive difference, we feel happier because of the influence that we have in other people’s lives. It all comes back to relationships.

My Favorite Part

My favorite part of the interview is the ending. You’ll just have to listen to it and see what we laugh about. It’s a contradiction that pulls the whole interview together.

Enjoy. I know I did.

*Join over 600 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)

* Lance of the Jungle of Life and Katie of the Levity Project are trying to bring more fun and laughter into our lives. Check out what they are trying to do with car dancing videos.

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

- Career Renegade Interview
- Have Fun and Be Weird

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