Articles

Happiness is what we make of it

Monday, 21 December 2009 21:39

Your relationships, and the flow of information between them, affect how you perform and how happy you become at work and at play.

There is an incredibly high correlation between people's happiness and meaning at work and at home. In other words, those who experience happiness and meaning at work tend to also experience them outside of work. Those who are miserable on the job are usually miserable at home.

Since work and home are very different environments, our experience of happiness and meaning-making in life appears to have more to do with who we are than where we are. Rather than blaming our jobs, our managers, and our customers - or our friends, family members and communities - for our negative work-life experience, we might be better served by looking in the mirror.

That is the conclusion from a study by Marshall and Kelly Goldsmith designed to elicit insights into short-term satisfaction and long-term benefit both at work and away from it. The study respondents weren't randomly chosen. They're well-educated managers, business entrepreneurs and professionals (split almost evenly between the sexes) and numbering over 3,000.

One commonly expressed excuse for not getting more happiness and meaning out of life is: "I'm working too many hours." But the survey results show that the number of hours worked had no significant correlation with happiness or meaning experienced at work or at home.

However, feeling you have to do more tasks or activities at work and/or home than others may just keep you an arm's length away from experiencing happiness. Whereas, playing sport or spending time with people you love would provide more satisfaction with life. Feeling challenged is also linked to greater satisfaction....so go ahead and challenge yourself to spend more time on activities that produce happiness and meaning in your life!

After all, life is the real performance - not a dress rehearsal, and I can’t recall too many people saying on their deathbed….I wished I’d spent more time on my work - so go for it this holiday season!

Happy Holidays

Source: BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK, December 21, 2009