7 Habits of Happy People at Work

Your happiness at work isn't your boss's job. It isn't your colleagues' or team members' responsibility either. It's yours. Your manager and organisation also have to play their role to ensure conditions for increased employee well-being and happiness, but that is something you don't have control over. You can ask, you can suggest, but you cannot control your boss's response. This article only addresses some of the most important actions, behaviours and changes you can take, adopt and implement to further your happiness. 

People who are happy at work don't wait for other people and ideal conditions to make them happy. They take responsibility for their own happiness and success. 

What do happy people do for their happiness? 

1. They find meaning and purpose in their work.

They see the overall contribution of their work to their organisation's output, mission and vision. The values incorporated in their work, the organisational values and their core values are aligned. They see a clear connection between their work and their life purpose and vision. These are not possible without knowing their own core values and life purpose, and having a clear vision for their future career and life.

Questions you can ask yourself to find meaning and purpose in your work:

• What is the contribution of my work to your organisation's output, mission and vision?
• What does my organisation stand for and what does it promote? What are the values incorporated in my work? Are the work and organisational values aligned with my core values?
• How is my work connected to my life purpose and vision?

2. They shift their limiting beliefs about work into empowering ones.

They pay attention to how they talk about their work and themselves at work, as the words and phrases used in self-talk are a reliable indicator of beliefs. They question the negative sentences and the underlying causes, discover the limiting beliefs that hinder their happiness and success, and replace them with positive, empowering beliefs.

Questions you can ask yourself to uncover and replace your limiting beliefs:

• What do I say about my work, joy, company and my relationship with them to myself?
• How do I talk about my work?
• What do the words and phrases I use when I talk about my work indicate?
• What do I believe about my work and myself doing the work?
• Do these beliefs support my happiness and success? 
• What new empowering beliefs can you adopt instead of the limiting ones? 

3. They change their attitude toward their work.

Instead of focusing on the negative and complaining, they are grateful for all the good things related to their work. They focus more on the positive aspects. When they notice something negative, they look for a solution instead of complaining and ruminating on it. They accept with serenity those aspects of the job they dislike, but it is not within their power to change, as long as they represent a smaller percentage of what they enjoy in their work. They acknowledge and accept that there is no perfect job, and some things need to be done because they are necessary to make things work. They focus on the aspect of necessity instead of their negative feelings toward the task.

Questions to ask yourself to change your attitude toward your work:

• What can I be grateful for about my work?
• What do I complain about? What can I do to eliminate the causes of my complaints?
• What new viewpoint can I adopt regarding this task I dislike, but I must do? What is its role, importance and meaning in the overall mechanism? 

4. They are more assertive and proactive.

They speak up for themselves and ask for what they need, put forward solutions and offer to participate in new creative projects. They are always the first to try out something new. They don't complain or wait for someone to notice how miserable they feel and eliminate the cause of their unhappiness. They look for a solution and propose it in a team meeting or discuss it with the boss. They are happy to embrace new tasks and projects, improve their skills, offer to mentor or teach newcomers and share their expertise and experience. On the other hand, if a solution they proposed is not implemented, they don't start blaming their boss and play the offended person. They accept the decision, knowing they did what was in their power. If the situation deeply affects them, analyse the possibilities and if needed, start looking for a new job, focusing on a better future instead of resentment, blaming or complaining.

Questions to ask yourself to be more assertive and proactive:

• What are the situations when I should speak up and ask for what I need?
• How can I reduce, automate or eliminate some of the boring, routine tasks from my job?
• What solutions can I propose to negative situations that make me dissatisfied and annoyed?
• How can I phrase my suggestion to reach my boss's ears so that it doesn't sound offensive to him/her? How can I "sell" the proposal to my boss?
• How can I get involved in creative projects and new tasks?
• How can I use my best skills more at work?
• What are the opportunities to develop my skills? 

5. They build great work relationships and support other people.

Happy people are kind and supportive. They are grateful for the support and help they receive. They practise active listening and ask questions. They don't take anything personally and don't suppose anything; instead ask for more information. They offer constructive feedback by being specific, suggesting actionable tips, using "I" statements and involving the other person in the elaboration of the solution. They show respect to everybody they work with, regardless of their job or hierarchical position, building mutual trust.

Questions to ask yourself to build better work relationships:

• Who could benefit from my expertise and experience to perform better?
• What is the best way to offer my support?
• How can I improve my listening skills?
• How can I change my feedback to help others learn and grow?
• What can I do to build work relationships based on mutual respect and trust? 

6. They acknowledge and celebrate their results, acknowledge their mistakes and learn from them.

Happy people reflect regularly on their actions, behaviours and results. They celebrate their results and are grateful to those who helped them or contributed in any way. They own their mistakes, don't try to blame someone else for them. Instead, they are ready to correct a mistake, draw conclusions and learn for the future, letting go of the emotional charge of the experience and taking forward the improved understanding and learning points. They don't ruminate on past events and mistakes.

Questions to ask yourself to celebrate results and learn from mistakes:

• What is the progress here? What results can I celebrate?
• What skills have contributed to achieving them?
• To whom can I be grateful for their support and contribution to achieve the result?
• What can I learn, change or do in a similar situation to avoid making the same mistake? 

7. They don't use social comparison.

Happy people don't use other people's achievements, career and material possessions as reference points for themselves. They compare themselves to how and where they were the day, week, month or year before and where they are on their journey towards their goal. This is possible if they have solid reference points for where they were in the past, from regularly reviewing their progress, and for where they want to be in the future, based on their long-term goals broken down into intermediary goals. If they have a model, they compare the habits and skills and look at what they can learn from their model in terms of skill and habit development.

Questions to ask yourself to stop social comparison:

• What are my long-term goals? What are the milestones on the journey to my goals? 
• What short-term goals can I establish to make planning and implementing easier?
• What is the most suitable frequency of reviewing my progress, and what should I include in it?
• What do I gain by comparing myself to others? What do I lose when I compare myself to others?
• What are the skills I admire in a person? Which of those skills do I need to be successful and happy? What did the person I admire do to develop those skills? What can I learn from this person?  

Some of these behaviours will require collaboration from your boss or even colleagues. For example, if you want to get your job redesigned, you will need the approval and participation of your manager. However, you don't need any outside approval and cooperation to stop complaining, change your mindset and attitude, stop social comparison, etc.

This article only addresses some of the most important actions, behaviours and changes you can make to further your happiness. Your manager and organisation also have to play their role to ensure conditions for increased employee well-being and happiness, but that is something you don't have control over. You can ask, you can suggest, but you cannot control your boss's response. 

Sometimes changing jobs is the right solution to increase your happiness at work. But if you haven't done the internal work, most likely, the new job won't give you lasting happiness. Don't forget, you take yourself, your mindset, attitude and behaviours with you to the new job.