How to Find Happiness at Work: 4 Keys to Greater Contentment on the Job

Both employers and employees seem to know that a positive work environment is better for everyone in terms of team-building and productivity, especially thanks to recent research on happiness and job satisfaction.

Yet, you may have daydreamed at one point or another about quitting your job, or finally getting your dream job so you can leave your current one.

With any occupation, there are good days and bad days. And even if you’re already working your dream job, wouldn’t you like to know what you can do to make those bad days a little less gloomy? In this post, we’ll take a look at four areas you can focus on to make your time on the clock more enjoyable.

Finding Happiness at Work: The PERK Formula

Dr. Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas and her colleague, Dr. Dacher Keltner, have been teaching a course on happiness since 2014.

In it, they specifically examine happiness at work, and introduce what they believe are the four key pillars to finding happiness on the job: Purpose, Engagement, Resilience, and Kindness (or the “PERK” formula).

Purpose

Every job has a purpose, even if they aren’t all celebrated or given equal recognition. Sure, if you’re a food server at a restaurant, you may not be saving lives every day like an ER doctor—but you are giving families, couples, and other diners an experience.

Same goes if you’re flipping burgers in the kitchen: you’re actually helping to provide an affordable meal to someone.

Now, these might not be the primary reasons why you do the work that you do. Often, it comes down to compensation. Some path led you to your current job, and you do it because it pays the bills.

No one’s saying that you need to believe your job in retail management is your life’s calling. But if you can find purpose in even one aspect of your job, it certainly makes it easier to stay positive and focused. If you only focus on how rude some customers are or how much you hate your schedule, of course you’ll feel miserable just thinking about work.

So how do you find purpose in your work? In his book Great at Work, UC Berkeley management professor Morten Hansen explains, “You have a sense of purpose when you make valuable contributions to others (individuals and organizations) or to society that you find personally meaningful and that don’t harm anyone.”

Here’s how you can find more purpose in your work:

Reflect on your job duties. Grab a journal and make a list of your job duties. Try to brainstorm everything you can, from your primary responsibilities to the more peripheral or indirect ones. Then, for each duty, try to think of everyone who is impacted by those tasks, even if it’s something as simple as sending an email, delivering files, or washing dishes.

Connect what you do to what you care about. For example, if you value diversity, make a point of collaborating with people of different backgrounds from yours.

Personally, right now, I’m writing this post with the purpose of helping you find greater happiness in the hours you spend at work, which makes me feel pretty good. When I think about the possibility that someone will read these tips, apply them, and see a positive change in their lives, I feel happy knowing that I’m doing something that aligns with my values.

Engagement

Engagement doesn’t mean that you have to actually enjoy the task you’re working on (although you’re more likely to enjoy activities you’re engaged in). Rather, engagement means you feel involved in the process.

It can be quite depressing to think that you’re just passively going through motions, with no say or autonomy over your work.

But when you are engaged and feel a sense of ownership over your work, you’ll not only feel greater satisfaction, but you’ll also notice that the time seems to fly much faster.

Here’s how you can feel more engaged at work:

Be future-oriented. It’s hard to be happy if you can’t see the road ahead. Even if you know your current job isn’t right for you or that you don’t want to be there forever, remind yourself that any accomplishments you make now can be steppingstones to a job you actually want.

Return to your journal or notebook and think about where you would like to end up, assuming you’re not content with your current job. Brainstorm connections between what you currently do to and what you want to do. Remember that you may need a reference from your current employer, so it’s important you try to stay engaged and maintain positive relationships.

Treat yourself. While rewarding yourself with little incentives (like your favorite candy or a coffee break after you finish a certain task of X amount of work) can serve as great motivation, experts have actually found that giving yourself a feel-good buzz before attempting the task is actually more effective at helping you tackle the job.

So take a hit of caffeine or chocolate before settling into your work and see how much more engaged you are!

Resilience

No matter how much you enjoy your job, challenges will inevitably arise from time to time, and to face them effectively, you’ll need resilience.

To be resilient does not mean preventing every possible setback, but being able to handle eventual setbacks with grace, and without letting those challenges weigh you down.

Here’s what you can do to be more resilient at work:

Practice mindfulness. To be more present and engaged in your work, you need to take those much-needed breaks from work. Try to eat lunch away from your desk or workspace. Use your breaks to meditate for a few minutes and practice mindfulness so you can return to your tasks with a fresh perspective, and also better manage stress.

Recall past successes. When you’re facing a tough challenge at work, it can help to think back on past successes and other times that you’ve risen to the challenge. This will boost your confidence and help you to endure without feeling overwhelmed. Write down a list of past victories, no matter how big or small, so you can remind yourself of your strength when times get hard.

Kindness

Everyone feels better in a workplace where people are generally kind, compassionate, and empathetic. If you show those qualities to others, not only will you feel better yourself, but it’s likely that they’ll reciprocate as well.

Here’s how you can practice kindness at work:

Offer praise when warranted. Your colleagues are your team members, not your competition. If you see something you think deserves praise or recognition, offer it. Say “thank you” when someone helps you out. Simple things like this help to build trust, and when you feel like you can trust the people on your team, you’ll be happier and less stressed at work.

Be supportive. Being a team player also means sharing resources when you’re able, and working with others to achieve a goal. Practice being a good listener, whether there’s a conflict or you’re simply chatting with a colleague in the elevator.

Why Is Happiness at Work Important?

Numerous studies have found that being happy at work corresponds with greater productivity, as well as greater contentment outside of the workplace.

Of course, it’s not really easy to define or quantify happiness, as it’s a subjective emotion. In such studies, it’s often defined as “job satisfaction.” To feel satisfied and content with your job might not feel like the same happiness that makes you want to skip down the street and sing a song.

Perhaps it’s enough that you feel safe and respected in your environment, and you understand that what you’re doing is not totally pointless, even if all you get from it is your bills paid and food on the table for your family (which is already a lot).

Does Work Bring Happiness?

Research shows that it’s better for your overall wellbeing to be employed, as social relations, daily structure, and goals all influence your overall sense of happiness.

But while work can certainly can bring happiness, it’s equally capable of making some people miserable. Considering most of us spend a great deal of our lives at work, it’s not surprising that our jobs can have such an influence on our overall levels of happiness.

Many people will tell you that you should do what you love, so that you’ll never really “work” a day in your life. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, and for any number of reasons, working your dream job may just not be practical or possible at the moment.

As Professor André Spicer points out in this Harvard Business Review article, “If your job feels depressing and meaningless, it might be because it is depressing and meaningless. Pretending otherwise can just make it worse. Happiness, of course, is a great thing to experience, but nothing that can be willed into existence.”

If you do have a job that feels depressing and meaningless, I’m not trying to suggest that following the advice in this post will miraculously turn that job into the best occupation ever. But I do hope this article has shown you there are things you can do to make your experience at work more tolerable or enjoyable, even if it doesn’t align with your passions or dreams. This will give you more energy to pursue other things that make you happy outside of those eight hours.

Find Contentment at Work and Home

Work is a significant part of most of our lives, but it’s not the only area where you can seek greater contentment.

Learn more about how to increase your happiness using the foundations of authentic happiness theory.

How do you find happiness at work? Share your tips in the comments below!

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