Being happy is hard. Being happy at work is harder. Unhappiness at work starts the moment you enter your mode of transportation. It continues when you arrive and have to interact with co-workers. Furthermore, you compare yourself to your peers or your former classmates. You watch people get promotions, raises, big bonuses, and you wonder, “why can’t I be as happy at work as them?”
Being happy at work is hard, but with a small change in mindset, it doesn’t have to be. Here are four of the most common causes of unhappiness at work and how a shift in mindset can make it easier to be happy at work.
The commute makes it hard to be happy at work
Take the commute. You can’t always predict if traffic will be heavy or light. On any given day, there can be an accident that causes an extra hour, so you miss an important meeting. As a result of your unpredictable commute, you arrive to work frustrated, angry, stressed out and far from happy.
Instead of thinking the morning commute as a means to get to work, think of it as “me time.” Play a podcast or audiobook. Play something that makes you laugh or music that pumps you up. Consequently, you can make the commute predictable by knowing you get to do something you enjoy.
Co-workers moan, gripe, complain and gossip
Adding to your stress and frustration, around every corner, someone is whining about something. It can give you the feeling that more is wrong than right. The absence of information leads to endless gossip and matter-a-fact speaking. Therefore, it creates a false sense of what is real, and that kills your joy, making it hard to be happy at work.
Happiness at work isn’t hard if you stop entertaining the limited mindset of your co-workers’ complaints and gossip. Choose to leave the conversation when nay-saying starts, or change the discussion by adding a positive perspective of the topic. Seek out co-workers who are happy at work and surround yourself with them.
Bad behavior and performance seem acceptable making it hard to be happy at work
You see behavior that you feel isn’t right. There are co-workers whose performance always appears below expectations. You think these things are going unnoticed. As a result, you begin to wonder why you deal with the commute, why you surround yourself with complainers and why you try so hard.
Being happy at work is hard if you focus on the bad behavior and performance you feel others get away with, so instead, concentrate on your opportunities for growth. Changing your focus to you helps you improve, advance, and find happiness at work.
Pursuing someone else’s definition of happiness at work
Images of success bombard you daily. At any given moment, you can open Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and see friends and peers buying new cars, homes, or taking extravagant vacations. You see them attending trade shows and conferences that resemble your best college parties. In contrast, you never get to travel for work and are stuck in the same non-descript cubicle. And so this makes it hard to feel happy at work.
Happiness at work isn’t hard when you understand that what people post on social media are specific moments in time. You see the one win, not the thousand failures it took to get there. People don’t post the struggle or the effort. They post outcomes. People also don’t post the sacrifices that come with business travel or how much they are missing their family. Instead of romanticizing their results as a never-ending success, ask them out for coffee and to talk about their journey.
Being happy at work is hard, but it can be a bit easier with a simple shift in how you view things.
