8 steps to finding happiness at your workplace as an employee

Happiness in the workplace is a necessary ingredient to building a successful career. Before successful career can be built, there’s a need to embrace what you do, and enjoy doing that thing which put meals on your table. According to Dalai Lama he says ‘’ happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions’’. So therefore, happiness is not something you just develop overnight, it is built and constantly nurtured through healthy practice.

Below are some of the eight steps to follow in order to find happiness in your workplace.

Develop a positive self-image: As an employee who seeks to find happiness in his/her place of work, you need to respond to life positively. As an individual, your reactions to life and the decisions you make are completely within your control. And so therefore, you need to set a positive image for yourself in order to promote happiness.

Control your actions: One of the key indicators of happiness at workplace is being able to control your actions. One of the habits we unconsciously engage in that stands in the way of our happiness is that we worry so much about the things that are uncontrollable. Like; chaos at work, complexity of managing different projects, and the difficulties in assigning duties. All these things happens in a real work environment. Sometimes I ask myself why worry about these things that I can’t control anyway? Because if these things turns into a habit, then I am setting myself up for a lifetime of frustration and mystery. So what I do is take my mind off worries and control the things that are within my reach.

Avoid caring too much about what others might think: As an employee in a corporate world, I discover that most of the things that puts us down and steals our happiness as individuals are minor things we can control ourselves. But because we care too much about other people’s opinion, we get swayed away by it. To an extent, we all care about what others might think. And that’s ok in a way. The opinion of others, especially those whom we love and respect – helps us stay on the right track. However, if you are making decisions and doing things to please people; I think it’s high time you STOP IT! You are not in this world to live up to other people’s expectations, rather, do what makes you happy!

Please note, that am not asking you to go against you company’s policies or your bosses’ ideals in the name of not pleasing others; but my point is ‘listen carefully to your heart and do the right thing’.

Look for opportunities for growth and not excuses for failures: Most times we often worry about protecting ourselves at work. Sometimes we look at situations not as an opportunities to grow, but as a chance to fail. According to napoleon hill he says that ‘’success requires no explanations, and failures permits no alibis’’. So whatever you find yourself doing at your workplace, see it as an opportunity to grow. Find happiness in the fact that there’s always a new project to start at your workplace. View every project as an opportunity to succeed. It doesn’t matter what you do or where you work, there’s always something new that could be done. Break bounds, see every task you are given as an opportunity for growth and quit making excuses.

Picture yourself as a successful employee: Visualize the person you desire yourself to become, and set aside time each day to picture yourself in that position. Get comfortable and relax. Close your eyes and concentrate on your goals and aspirations. See yourself in a new environment, as a capable, and self-confident person.

Quit being envious of your colleague’s success: When you are jealous of another person’s success – it is as good as saying the universe is limited, and there’s not enough success in it for me. I found out that some of the things that steals employees happiness in the workplace is envy, hate, bitterness and jealousy of other people’s success. As an employee, instead of wasting your energy and time hating on other people’s success, be happy, because whatever happened to him/her will definitely happen to you in your current job or elsewhere. Quit sacrificing your happiness all in the name of envy.

Be resilient: Resilience is the ability to recover fast from adversity. I discover that most times in a work environment, we spend much time in needless, and fruitless self-recrimination and blaming others for our failures. Instead of focusing on the task ahead. Sometimes, we waste productive time beating ourselves up on our set-backs or past failures, instead of forging ahead to create something out of our adversity. As an employee, one of the major problem we face is that we worry too much and in the end we end up sabotaging our happiness over minor issues. Be resilient, pick up yourselves when you fail, and don’t beat yourself over it. Know that your scars are a symbol of your strengths.

Be at peace with yourself: as an employee who has worked with different organisations in the past, I was opportune to work with different kinds of people ranging from those who doesn’t want to see you succeed because they see you as a threat; to those who are more like a family, and are willing to help you succeed in your chosen career. I was able to discover that the former will only get into your head only if you let them. Nothing can bother you except your own mind. With this little experience of mine, I was able to realize that each day brings with it a choice: ‘to practice stress or to practice peace’. As an employee you have the power to choose what you want. Choose to be miserable and you will find plenty of reasons to be miserable, or choose to be at peace and you will definitely find plenty of reasons to be at peace.

Think about it. Are you skilled at making yourself miserable? With those same skills you can also motivate yourself. Know fully well that nothing in the world can bother you as much you own mind. Once you are peace with yourself, you will definitely find happiness.

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