There are tons of ways being truly happy can help you out in the workplace, whether it’s interpersonal relations, or simple motivation. Here’s what you need to know.

What is Happiness to You?

Firstly, you’ve got to re-evaluate all your traditional definitions of the concept of happiness. Unrelenting joy from waking to bed is never going to be a realistic goal, and would probably be just as clinically diagnosable as depression.

What we’re talking about when we say happiness is that intangible fusion of contentment, fulfilment, security and passion, which only certain approaches to life can cultivate. It’s all about creating, modifying and hitting your goals, remaining challenged and growing, and selecting the people around you properly.

Happiness is about creating, modifying and hitting goals, remaining challenged and growing

One major strut of happiness within a modern life is your career. In a best case scenario, it can give you a sense of place, worth and value in the world, while continually challenging you, and providing you with a living besides.

Career Choice Remains Hugely Important

You need a career where you can progress and succeed. We’re not necessarily saying something you’re inherently and irreverently passionate about. You don’t need to turn it into artistry. You just need to find it tolerable and enjoyable.

The issue with picking your passion as your career is two-fold. First off, it can leave you forever on the side-lines, thinking about what you’d do if only the right circumstances presented themselves, if only you were given the right chance to succeed at music, film or whatever your pipedream passion job is.

The other issue, for those lucky few who do get to work in an industry or area they are madly passionate about, is that doing the mundane day-to-day of something you care that much about becomes soul-destroying. It inevitably crushes and depletes your passion.

That’s why you should be ignoring ‘dream jobs’ and be pragmatic. Choose something you can thrive in, and find joy in becoming top of your field, and the benefits and salaries that come with.

You should be ignoring ‘dream jobs’ and be pragmatic. Click To Tweet

In order to truly excel in your career, however, you have to be happy. Not bursting with joy, endless smiling, falsely happy, but properly and deeply comfortable in the direction your life is taking, and not dreading Monday mornings every week. You need to be relishing challenges, and striving in spite of adversity. Happiness is the key to that.

To excel in your career you have to be happy. Not bursting with joy, endless smiling, falsely happy, but comfortable in the direction your life is taking, and not dreading Monday mornings

If you can make optimising yourself, and your life, to be more joyful and at peace, then here are some benefits you can expect in your career.

Productivity and Motivation

Being happier will definitely have a huge impact on your productivity and motivation. If you’re looking forward to going in, seeing people, and getting on with the task in hand, whatever that may be, you’ll get more done, and feel better about it.

At its core, the most obvious way happiness makes itself known is in your productivity and motivation. As you feel better, you’ll feel more confident, and capable, and less held back by anxiety and laziness. It’ll see you getting on with jobs that you used to dread.

Thinking Outside the Box

When you’re in a substantially better mind-set, and feeling more ambitious and optimistic towards your work, you will come up with much more creative and interesting solutions and ideas, which probably wouldn’t have occurred to you as a traditional work-hating, tired employee.

Happiness can help you assert your ability to creatively think within the work space, and see you really proving yourself, while being pleasant and friendly the whole time, which brings me onto this.

Work and Managerial Relations

You know what everybody loves? Someone who is happy, enthusiastic, and glad to be here. Always. If you’re someone who boosts peoples morale around you, that is going to be hugely helpful, regardless of whether or not you’re in a managerial role or not.

You know what everybody loves? Someone who is happy and glad to be here Click To Tweet

What’s more, it forms something of a positive feedback loop. If you’re making people around you happier, they’ll respond better to you. Expect smiles, compliments and genuine interest. That’ll perk you up and make you happier. Everybody wins, you remain thoroughly well-liked.

You don’t need it spelling out. No matter what industry you work in, if you rub people up the wrong way, and are disliked, it will set you back, and stop you progressing as quickly as you might of otherwise. No one is saying be a sycophant though, just be happy, and glad to be there, and people will see that and like it.

Dealing with Setbacks

One of the biggest parts of success in any arena is how you deal with failure and rejection. If you look into any legendarily successful person, any true industry leader or artist, they didn’t get where they are by doing something amazing, and being recognised for it. Their talent will have been ignored and rejected time after time. The fact they kept plugging away, improving and trying harder is why they succeeded.

But the key to copying that is happiness. You need to both be content with your life, and strive hungrily for more. That combination of happiness and ambition is key to long-term success, and dealing with failure.

continue to part 2