Work, Meaning & Happiness

I’ve been reading a lot of articles on the blogosphere this week about the results of a study just released by the University of Chicago on the happiest jobs or professions.  It’s a fairly comprehensive study that involved face-to-face interviews with over 27,000 people between 1988 and 2006, so I think it’s fair to credit some weight to the findings.

And what were they exactly?  That the most satisfying jobs are those involving caring for, teaching or protecting others, and those involving creative pursuits.  Now, if you’ve been wondering for a while what will make you happy in your own work, and your current skill set doesn’t fall into one of the aforementioned categories, please don’t despair.  The real underlying reason for satisfaction in those work categories is simply this: a sense of meaning in the job that one is doing.

And the good news is that any job can be meaningful.  Yes, that’s right!  Really and truly, there is as much meaning to be found in hairdressing (helping others to look their best usually has a positive knock-on effect on how they feel about themselves), as in nursing (people who feel good about themselves have a more robust immune system and will respond better and more quickly to the care they are given).  It all depends on how you look at it, and what is true for you.  The catch then isn’t in finding a career that fits some generic, societaly recognized "meaningful" role, but in finding a role that has meaning for you. 

How do you do that? 

You look at your intrinsic strengths, what you enjoy doing most, and your purpose in life.  Each and every one of us has a unique and specific combination of these elements, and that is why we find enjoyment and meaning in different activities - what is intrinsically meaningful to one has no sense of fulfillment for another.

But the other good news is that a change of career isn’t always necessary.  Once you’re clear on the essential elements you need in place to be happy in your work, it may be very possible (though admittedly not always) to reshape your approach to your current role so that it becomes a source of happiness, fulfillment and – dare I say it – meaning in your life.

Of course, sometimes having done this self-discovery work, the bottom line is that your current job is just plain wrong for you.  In that case, to find the happiness you want from your work, a significant change probably will be required.  But at least you will have the knowledge and insights that will enable you to make the right next choice for you, rather than making a change out of desperation that could turn out to be a “frying pan to the fire” scenario.

And the best news of all is that there is a tonne of resources out there to help you realize these all-important insights.  Steve Pavlina has a very helpful article on finding your life purpose on his blog, which won’t cost you a penny (but if you find it useful you could leave him an optional donation of whatever amount you wish to pay).  Go to www.simplystrengths.com for some of Marcus Buckingham’s resources  or check out the learning project currently focussed on his latest book Go Put your Strengths to Work at Joyful Jubilant Learning - look out for the posts with the "JJL LP2" prefix.

And don’t forget that I have an ebook and ecourse ;-) which will help you discover your strengths, purpose and more that you ideally need to know and have in place in order to be doing the best work for you personally.

Finally, another key finding in the study was that stress has a major negative impact on job satisfaction.  So, when you’re pondering how you can make changes in your work life to positively affect your happiness, don’t overlook this element.  My number one recommendation to dealing with stress is to lower your tolerance rather than seeking to manage it.  (You can revisit an article I wrote on this last year here)

The vast majority of us spend half our waking lives working.  Therefore it is essential that how we feel at work contributes to our overall well-being.  This means that our work should actually help us to nurture our physical, mental, spiritual and emotional energy.  If your work drains your energy on any of these levels, then I challenge you to do something about it. 

If you’d like some more ideas about what you could do about your own personal situation, please drop me a line and I’d be happy to help if I can.

Comments

[Andy Schmitt]

Hi Hilda,

Great Post! I wrote about this in my blog yesterday, "Negative Resistance to Positive Vibration, In Five Easy Steps".

http://thedailypositive.com/archives/44

I discovered through this process that my job wasn't what was causing negative resistance in my life, but how I was approaching the aspects of my job!

Stay Positive!

Andy