The next time somebody asks you “How was your day?” wouldn’t it be amazing to say “It was great!”
A happy workplace seems unachievable to many workers with employee dissatisfaction on the rise, but it’s not only an achievable goal, but a relatively easy one—when we take a more spiritual approach to our work day.
1) Stay in the Moment
Try to do one thing at a time, do it well and move on. Don’t burden yourself with the totality of the day. Remember that you have only one thing to do—that’s whatever you are doing in that moment. Drawing from the past (that you have all this work) or the future (I’ll never get all this work done) will only lead to unhappiness. Your power to generate happiness always comes from the present.
2) Don’t Turn a Mole Hill Into a Mountain
Things are never as bad as they appear, but we can (by our perception) make them seem that way all the same.
I have found that when I look at my work as a mountainous chore, it tends to become just that. I fret and worry about even where to start. I think it’s just too much. I may procrastinate and become angry that I have too much to do. I might become spiteful or jealous of my co-workers who seem to have less to do. As such, I fight and struggle with the work all day. By 4:30pm I still don’t have it done and I feel drained and unaccomplished. But, on those days when I take a different approach and look at the pile before me with “soft eyes”, I see it in a different way. I see the work without all the weight and pressure. I reduce it down to nothing more than a small pile of paper.
3) Mind Your own Business
Practice “seeing through” the affairs of your co-workers—see but do not react, observe but hold no opinions. By doing so you learn not to dwell on what you feel to be the negative aspects of what you see.
Try going about your day in the quiet understanding that those things happening around you have little to do with you. As Paul McCartney suggested, “Let it be.” Let the comings and goings of others pass through you. Yes, be sociable and engaged, but do not allow yourself to identify with what you see. Take no ownership, make no judgements. Then simply go back to your duties and you may find that you feel more peaceful and relaxed.
4) Relax
When time seems to be dictating the pace, turn the tables on the clock and step back from the rush and single out one thing to focus on and give that your full attention.
5) Are you an Oak or a Palm?
How flexible are you at work? Can you bend and adjust with problems and unexpected events, like a palm tree. Or is your thinking rigid like an oak? Have you allowed your expectations to become hard and unyielding? Has your self-image become solid? In nature, the palm tree bends with the wind. It does not try to stand against it in a show of strength, but bows—as if in subjection. As a result it weathers the storm. Flexibility eliminates resistance that can cause unhappiness.
Workplace happiness doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be nearly instant, if we are will to make a few small tweaks to our work day—you’ll be glad you did.
For more information about creating a happy workplace and a happier life check out my new book: My Happy Workplace at Amazon.