Searching for Happiness in Your Job

I recently came across an article from the iNeedMotivation Blog titled, “10 Ways to Find Happiness Within Your Work” which goes over, well, you guessed it… 10 different ways to “find” happiness within your work.

Reading this article, I thought back to my previous job (before I quit to work full-time online) to see if I could have applied these tips, and imagine if they would have done me any good. I have tried a few of these a time or two, but honestly, I disliked my job so much that even trying to tell myself how much I enjoyed it, and “not focusing on the bad” never really worked… the bottom line was, I felt like I was completely wasting my time by trading my time for money.

Don’t get me wrong, the advice found on that article is in fact very good, and for those who enjoy their jobs but have minor gripes and complaints every now and then, the article just may help you find your happiness… but I do have a question for you.

**Are You Really Happy?**

If you have to “find” happiness with your job, can you honestly say you are happy with it? Or are you only happy with your job because you tried so hard, and finally landed your current position? Is it because it pays the best you can “possibly get”? Perhaps it’s the prestige your job gives you? Or maybe the fear of shame?

These are just a few examples, among the multitude of reasons and rationalizations that only reflect the world’s idea of happiness and stability, but most likely not your own if you are searching for ways to “find happiness” in your current line of work.

Wouldn’t it make sense to just do what you love doing, so that happiness can find you instead?

To say you HAVE to put up with your current job for certain reasons (the money, your debts, the prestige, whatever) would only be succumbing to the social conditioned notion that, “If you have a job, you better keep it. If you don’t like it, then suck it up and wait until you retire and THEN you can be happy.”

I personally don’t agree with that statement, or any variations of it, because I believe that you should do your best to try to find what your passion is. Find out what you really want to be doing with your life, something that will allow you to experience personal fulfillment while at the same time providing value to others. It may take some critical thinking, but most likely what you love doing most can be translated into some kind of service for others—because not everyone has the same skills, talents, and interests.

Passion + Service to Others = True Happiness

Wouldn’t it best if we were all to work on, and provide value to others doing something that involves our individual strengths and passions? I personally think the world would run a lot smoother if more people were to come to this realization, and had the courage to carry it out in their own lives.

Once you discover what kind of service you can provide to others, that is also congruent with your passion (or your sense of purpose), you can then spend your time figuring out how that service can support yourself and your family—and that’s how you really “find happiness” in your work.

Once you have figured that out, you’ll be able to do what you love, live happily for a change, and experience true personal freedom—despite any pay cuts you receive by leaving your previous line of work. The bottom line is, your true potential can only be reached if you are happy with what you are doing. When you are unhappy, and just “dealing with things”, you may be working hard, but there’s no way you can be at your best—because your absolute best would require your heart to be involved.

So if I had to sum it all up, I would say, instead of trying to find ways to “cope” with your job that you’re obviously not happy with, find something you can really put your heart into. Once you do that, you’ll no longer have to “find happiness” in your work, that’ll just come naturally

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