Psychologists such as Amy Wrzesniewski believe there are three ways to view your work:
As a job-you work for your pay check, often watching the clock while day dreaming about the weekend.
As a career-you have set goals and wish for promotion and recognition.
As a calling- something you would continue to do even if your numbers came up on the Lottery. You find your work fulfilling and satisfying resulting in a positive and happy approach to your work.
However, it is now thought that it is not just your ‘job’ which effects your happiness at work but the way you actually view your job, to quote Marcus Aurelius ‘life itself is but what you deem it’.
There is actually a branch of Psychology now dedicated to the study of happiness and nowhere does it mention having lots of money, being stick thin, having a huge house, a beautiful partner or owning a flash car. The 6 areas which are thought to affect our happiness are:
Wisdom: love of learning, intelligence
Courage: perseverance and integrity
Humanity: kindness and love
Justice: Citizenship and fairness.
Temperance: self-control and prudence
Transcendence: gratitude, forgiveness and hope.
There are some very good websites dedicated to helping people become happier (www.authentichappiness.org) and (www.happinesshypothesis.com). So if you’re unhappy at work, it might be useful to think about changing the way you perceive your job rather than simply changing your job???
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I completely agree with you here and I think that too many of us fall into the trap of just viewing a job as something you HAVE to do to survive.
Dont get me wrong, I am not going to fall into the third category and view work as 'my calling', but I do think that we need to start being more positive in work and start changing our own attitudes rather than blaming our jobs.
Post a Comment