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These 3 Tasks May Help You Love Your Job

January 8, 2016 by Iman

These 3 Tasks May Help You Love Your Job

Source: Seeking happiness at work? Try these simple practices to turn it around

Many of us live for Friday, that coveted day that indicates the weekend is on its way. This attitude exists because only 13 percent of us enjoy the time we spend at work, according to a Gallup poll. But have you ever thought how much better your experience at work and in your life would be if you enjoyed more of the time where you spend it most during the week?

Negative thoughts are easy to come by; it’s the positive ones that are harder to instill. That sounds counterintuitive, but that’s how many of our brains are wired. In an effort to enjoy more of your time at work, try these three simple tasks:

Start doing 5 minutes of a mindfulness practice – Take 5 minutes just to sit in silence and focus on your breathing. When thoughts start to wander, bring your focus back to your breath. In as little as 30 days this practice can build the part of your brain associated with attention, emotion regulation, and decision-making.

Reflect on 3 good things – Being grateful and showing gratitude is one of the keys to changing your attitude. Although your current job may not be your dream job, you can be grateful that you have a place to work and a source of income. Try writing 3 things you’re grateful for at work.

Be kind to others – Take some time and analyze your company’s emotional culture; are people joyful, loving or fearful? Be a change agent in your environment; extend an act of kindness to someone who needs it. Research shows that people can “catch” feelings through behavioral mimicking. So just by doing a good deed for someone else, you can set off a chain of good deeds that may help change the emotional culture of your workplace.

Let us know how these positivity tasks work for you.

This article covers three pillars of the Living Happier at Work program, mindfulness, kindness, and generosity.

Mindfulness Could Save Your Job!

January 6, 2016 by Iman

Mindfulness Could Save Your Job!

Source: Mindfulness Isn’t Just Trendy, It’s a Powerful Tool | Big Think

So, you’ve probably heard a lot about mindfulness and thought: what exactly is it and how can it help me? Well, according to Webster’s, mindfulness is; the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis. In lameness terms, it’s a way for you to control your thoughts when life gets in the way.

When we experience an intense time in our life we have two choices; let the emotion take over however it may, or to use a mindfulness practice to handle those negative thoughts or interactions in a better way.

Try this: Next time you’re in an intense meeting with your boss or co-workers take some time to take deep breaths from your abdomen. You’ll be surprised how something so simple as breathing can change your whole attitude and set you on a positive path.

If you’re ready to take your mindfulness practice to the next level, you can start with your job. More and more companies like Google, Intel, and Aetna, are investing in mindfulness programs for their employees. And you can always practice your mindfulness techniques at home. Be sure to check out the videos in this post from Big Think, which will help you start your journey to a more mindful life.

The Best Way to Build Your Happiness

January 4, 2016 by Wilma Jones

The Best Way to Build Your Happiness

It’s the first Monday of a new year and most of us are at work hoping to start the year off on the right note. At least I know I am. Recently I read a blog post on the Business 2 Community website that totally reinforced the perspective of happiness at work that I so wholeheartedly believe in.

I know from personal experience that your outlook and perspective drive your success on the job. Hundreds of research studies have been completed that prove that happiness leads to success, not the other way around. So the natural question folks ask is, what can I do to increase my happiness? Well we know from research and experience that the tools of gratitude, kindness, exercise and mindfulness are critically important. Incorporating these into your life create a regimen that leads to a happier life, both a professionally and personally. The article, “The Importance of Happiness at Work,” took a little different perspective and it was a view I found quite interesting.

It advised that “Happiness is not an end goal, but rather the actual joy we feel while striving towards our potential.” So basically, the premise is that happiness isn’t something to be achieved but rather the feeling we have when we’re pushing ourselves to do something a little further than what we’ve done before.

I had to think about that in perspective to working a day job. Sometimes we’re not the one who determines what the most important objective is at the job. Even still, we can set a goal regarding our potential at the job that is something important to us personally. For example, in a sales position achieving (or overachieving) quota is the ultimate mark of success. But in looking at that goal you know one of the benchmarks is getting enough opportunity in the funnel to actually have some business to close. That means you need to find more people who want to buy what you sell. So having a benchmark about meeting a specific number of new contacts every week and meeting that goal is something that will give me immediate happiness and pride in the short term. However, it should also lead to achieving that ultimate goal of quota attainment and the accompanying dollars earned.

Sometimes when you aren’t the master of your fate for those 8+ hours a day you need to break things down to a level that gives you a little sense of accomplishment on the regular. There are up days and down days. And after being away from the office for a week, or two – or even more for the holiday season maybe your goal is going to be to clean your email by Tuesday afternoon. Whatever you need to set as a goal and then achieve in the short term is something that can actually make you happier, believe it or not. As that article also makes pretty clear, managing your thoughts, basically your outlook and perspective is critical to happiness at work. So on this first workday of the new year, maybe we should start right here.

1 Amazing Way to Practice Mindfulness Right in Your Cubicle

December 23, 2015 by Wilma Jones

1 Amazing Way to Practice Mindfulness Right in Your Cubicle

1 Amazing Way to Practice Mindfulness Right in Your Cubicle: I love my smartphone and I use it all the time, especially to listen to music at the day job. However, I had never thought about putting the headphones in my ears as a sort of, “Do Not Disturb” sign to my colleagues at the office. The idea was presented in a recent New York Times article. This is not just about using the headphones to listen, but to have them on with nothing, no sound – just to give the impression to others that you’re busy.

In the article one of the sources mentions that you could even use this tactic to practice a few moments of meditation or mindfulness. What a wonderful idea! It’s the ability to kill two stones with one little set of headphones. Putting the headphones on tells people, ‘don’t bother me,’ while you can then focus on being mindful of yourself and your thoughts in the moment.

Some of the people in the story state they regularly wear their headphones around the office with no music or podcasts playing just to gain a sense of privacy in the midst of the cubicle farm. I feel fairly certain this is a strategy I will start using the next time I am in the office and I find the need to zone out and be mindful. I can see this being especially useful prior to important meetings where you expect there to be a stressful situation.

This could also be a solid solution to the problem that arises when the office chitchatter wants to stop at your cubicle to drop the latest office gossip. Looking up from your monitor and removing one earbud surely lets them know right away, ‘I’m busy.’

In the ongoing search for peace and a moment of mindfulness at a busy job, using headphones to create silence and sense of privacy – even if it’s only in our minds, is a great solution. I guess you don’t always have to listen to music, do you?

The 3-Part Formula for a Happy Employee

December 21, 2015 by Wilma Jones

The 3-Part Formula for a Happy Employee

The 3-Part Formula for a Happy Employee: The past weekend was full of holiday events with people in my life I met through work, who have now become friends. At one time or another many of the guests at an open house all worked at the same company, which was led at that time by the party host. Now we’re at different organizations, some still employees, some consulting and others are entrepreneurs.

As we shared experiences and compared notes, it became clear that some people were working in environments that helped them thrive and feel very positive about their jobs. Others fled constrained and misunderstood by their company leadership.

I was reading an article on AdAge.com about the best companies in their industry to work for, and what set them apart from the others. The piece states, “employees who adore their bosses, understand their company’s vision and feel valued.” It’s so simple but yet extremely complex, too.

We know that the most important factor in whether someone is happy at their job is ‘social connection.’ The relationships you have with your coworkers. And the relationship with your boss is the most important one relationship there is regarding whether you will be a happy worker. If you work for a crappy boss, your chances of happiness at work are far lower than the average.

Understanding the company’s vision is one where a lot of publicly traded companies lose the employee’s admiration. They are so focused on Wall Street and shareholder value that employees and customers are secondary. And trust. They can tell. And if you ever have a question about that you can check social media. Customers will let you know whether things are going well or not. And if customers aren’t happy, neither are the employees.

The last component is feeling valued. That one pretty much goes says it all. You want to feel like your contributions matter to the over result. That your experience and insight make a difference. At least that’s how I feel. And the research confirms it. If only more companies could get this right.

Do you have those three components at your job?

These 3 Tasks May Help You Love Your Job

Mindfulness Could Save Your Job!

The Best Way to Build Your Happiness

The Best Way to Build Your Happiness

1 Amazing Way to Practice Mindfulness Right in Your Cubicle

1 Amazing Way to Practice Mindfulness Right in Your Cubicle

The 3-Part Formula for a Happy Employee

The 3-Part Formula for a Happy Employee

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