Do you love what you do- your job or do you maintain it to pay the bills? How to be happy at work is what Karl Staib specializes in.
So, I ask him- what needs to be done to be happy and here are some great tips from him. Enjoy the interview.
How can work make you happy or can it? Most people I meet keep their jobs, so they have the money to do they like to do.
I believe work can make us happy. We need external elements to understand what excites us. For example I may love filming videos in my mind, but when it actually comes down to the preparation and execution I need to actually do it. The imagination is fluid, but actually doing the work is a whole different game. Our actions create results. It's these results that help us measure our development.
We need to do work that excites us. It's this work that we can connect with and also helps us bring value to other people.
Money is really far down on the list of things that make people happy at work. Relationships bring us the most happiness. When we share an experience we create bonds that support our development.
So, even if someone is not happy right now- what can they do to be happy?
I'm glad you asked this question. Happiness is really a state of mind. It's amazing how some people can connect to their work and others can't. I really believe it depends on the person's ability to reflect on the positive, make adjustments, and try new angles (finding a way to be creative at work) that help us build our happiness. It comes down to believing in what we do.
My favorite tool is a gratitude journal. Whenever I feel sad I write three things that I've enjoyed about my day. By refocusing my mind back on the positive I'm creating new synapses that build my emotional strength. Now it's become such a habit that I do it automatically, helping boost my mood, so I can do great work.
When you start your job and you are the newbie in the office and you don't have the best projects- how should you train your mind to be happy?
This is where happiness is overrated. We want a job to be perfect. We start our new job and we get the crap work. This is normal. We can't run the company in just 6 months. We need to find ways to develop ourselves at work while at the same time being so helpful that managers and co-workers notice you.
My suggestion would be to think of every task as a way to work on your emotions. If you are getting frustrated with the work use the "5 Whys" method. By asking yourself why 5 times you'll get to the root of the problem. 99% of the time the root cause will be your lack of emotional development.
What does happiness mean for you?
Happiness is helping business create an environment that loves its employees so much that they are dedicated to make their employees happy. Also hugging my son, going for a walk with my wife, and throwing the tennis ball for my obsessed dog. You should see how happy my dog is when chasing her ball; it just makes me laugh out loud.
Happy employees are productive employees- what should employers do to keep their employees happy?
Where do I start? Employers need to give their people the freedom to create great work. They also need to show appreciation for the hard work their people do and celebrate it as much as they can. They should also be given career and personal counseling. When you understand an employee's motivation it's easy to encourage great work out of them.
Relationships are the glue to work happiness. Most people leave a company because their manager is a terrible leader and/or they don't have any friends at work. Companies need to help their employees create better relationships that focus on employee's needs too.
Thank you Karl and hearing from you was certainly helpful.
