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 develop their strengths and live their passions.

If you have never visited I Can Has CheezBurger you are missing out. It is simply one of the funniest websites around. People add comments to pictures of cats doing something weird. I borrowed one from the site. It’s in the upper left hand corner of this post. It’s a wonderful break from a tedious task. Ben Huh is the brilliant mind behind this website. I was lucky to have met him at SXSW this past month and he agreed to do an interview.

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

Ben Huh: The world is filled with accidents and chance events. It’s possible to be successful doing something you don’t love, but why would you want to take that risk of being successful in unhappiness?

How do you cultivate work happiness in your company?

The most important thing we cultivate is a culture of listening. If you can’t hear what your employees are telling you, then you’ve become deaf to the world.

What do you do to help your people stay motivated and productive?

We focus on goals, not hours worked. We set team goals and measure our ability to get there. People can’t be forced into productivity for long, the only way to sustain motivation and productivity is have it come from within.

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

I don’t. I love what I do, and I don’t see working long hours as much of a sacrifice.

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

I have a guilty pleasure and cheat a little… I visit our sites like http://icanhascheezburger.com or http://failblog.org

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

I sometimes deal with unhappy users, for one reason or another. It sucks to know that we’ve disappointed them in one way shape or form. I dealt with this by delegating the everyday task to customer service people who enjoy solving their problems and I get to work on helping the team learn about customer service, which makes me happy.

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?

Do wht U luv & luv yr customers. Spend less than U earn. nevr, evr, compromise quality & hire & keep the best ppl. Win slowly, fail quickly.

* Join over 700 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)

* Nadia of the Happy Lotus wrote a piece called Passion…It’s A Way of Life. It’s what I am all about.

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Image courtesy of http://icanhascheezburger.com.

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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Tony Hsieh of Zappos is everywhere. He was on the cover of Inc. Magazine. He speaks at large conferences and spreads the Zappos culture message. I felt lucky to hear him speak at SxSW conference this past year.

I’ve touted Tony’s leadership on Work Happy Now. I’ve also been spurred to write a few articles because of his blog. But now I landed an interview with him. Tony’s employee called him a genius. You know when an employee calls his boss a genius, this person must be something special. After all, your employees are the ones who see you for 40 to 50 hours a week and begin to see the cracks.

Tony has made me view work happiness from new angles. I’m glad he is out there in the business world. He helped create Zappos, a company that emphasizes the importance of enjoying work. His concepts are leading the employee revolution, encouraging change in the business world.

Karl: How important is work happiness to you?

Tony: I think it’s very important, not just to me personally, but I think it’s also really important for employees to be happy. It’s pretty much impossible for an unhappy employee to deliver great customer service or to be an effective brand ambassador.

Karl: What is one activity that makes you happy at work?

Tony: One of the most rewarding activities for me has been communicating to employees, vendors, and customers about what we are all about at Zappos. I do this primarily through email and public speaking, and it’s always great to watch people’s reactions as they learn about our core values, company culture, and focus on customer service.

You can learn more about our culture on our blogs:

 http://blogs.zappos.com

As well as here:

 http://about.zappos.com

Karl:  How do you maintain balance between your working and non-working life?

Tony: When you’re passionate about what you’re doing, there doesn’t need to be a clear separation between work and non-work. I think most people assume that work is something that has to be unenjoyable. Part of our goal at Zappos is for employees to look forward to coming into the office, and our company culture is a big reason why they do.

Karl: Do you work on being happy at work?

Tony: Yes, we are always looking for ways to improve our company culture. In most companies, as the company grows bigger, the company culture goes downhill. Our goal is to have the culture actually get stronger as the company grows.

Karl: How does your work happiness differ between now and when you first started working full-time?

Tony: Prior to Zappos, I never really paid much attention to company culture. In fact, at LinkExchange, which I co-founded, by the time we got to 100 people, the company culture had gone really downhill, which is why we ended up selling the company. At Zappos, I wanted to make sure I didn’t make the same mistake again.

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

Tony: I’ve found that usually a change of environment can help a lot.

Karl: What is your biggest detriment to work happiness?

Tony: I think for everyone, a big detriment to work happiness can be feeling like you are not in control of your own destiny. But what I’ve realized is that in the end, things usually end up working themselves out.

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

Tony: What are you so passionate about that you would be willing to do it for 10 years without ever making a dime? That’s what you should do.

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There are so many skilled writers on the blog-o-sphere and one of my favorite is J.D. of Sources of Insight.

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If you enjoy quick work happiness tips that will help give you a new perspective on your working life then follow me on Twitter – @workhappynow. You won’t regret it.

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