Be happy at work

Dr Denise Taylor

24 October 2018

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Happy at work – – You don’t need to find your passion to be happy.

Read career articles and many will tell you that you need to find your passion to be happy.
… but what evidence is there for this?
Very little
I’m not even sure happiness is the key determinator.

Paul O’Keefe, “Parents, teachers, and employers might get the most out of people if they suggest that interests are developed, not simply found. Telling people to find their passion could suggest that it’s within you just waiting to be revealed. Telling people to follow their passion suggests that the passion will do the lion’s share of the work for you.”

 Rather than seek to find our passion, we should see this as something that should be developed. This ties in with the work by Carol Dweck on Growth vs. fixed mindsets.

O’Keefe. “A growth mindset makes people more open to new and different interests and sustains those interests when pursuing them becomes difficult”.

Happy at work. A better focus should be satisfaction – to aim for career satisfaction.

Happiness is something that comes from within, we can choose to be happy and we can find this through our wider life.
But in work – focus more on what are the elements of the job that will help you get career satisfaction.

  • Think about the things that interest you, and how these could be incorporated into a job.
  • Understand your natural ability so you can combine this with your interest.
  • Be clear on what you already know, the skills that you what to keep using.
  • Now you can get a short list of jobs that are likely to make you happy.
  • You then find out more via online research and talking with people.
  • You go deeper and do further research.
  • You then identify career options that seem a good fit.

This may not be earth moving passion, but it can be result in something you find satisfying.
A career that will play to your strengths. A career that will tie in with your values, that will meet your environmental needs – for location, salary, type of boss.
Let’s focus on career satisfaction and a rounded life to be happy at work.

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