Comments on: The Connection Between Happiness and Your Job http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/ Perspectives on business from young marketing and public relations professionals Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:23:44 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: What if I want to change careers? | Young and Employed http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/comment-page-1/#comment-162 What if I want to change careers? | Young and Employed Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:14:47 +0000 http://youngandemployed.com/?p=41#comment-162 [...] If your job doesn’t make you happy find another one that will. (Just remember not to tie your overall happiness to your job!) Plus, if you like what you do and are happy you will do a better job and that will [...] [...] If your job doesn’t make you happy find another one that will. (Just remember not to tie your overall happiness to your job!) Plus, if you like what you do and are happy you will do a better job and that will [...]

]]> By: joseanes http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/comment-page-1/#comment-13 joseanes Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:40:55 +0000 http://youngandemployed.com/?p=41#comment-13 This topic of happiness and jobs, we can probably bring discussions to last an eternity. Something that could be good, as I like to see this topic expanded more on this blog. I think we both agree that it is not a good idea to take a work related situation as if someone is personally attacking you. That is definitively not the way to advance. Even if they are indeed personally targeted at you, responding against a co-worker, a company, or a boss will not advance you. You may be better finding a way to switch a more advantageous situation (better job or company, for example). Some other things may be personal indeed... Just as personal as failing a final exam at your last college course. Not a terrible thing to do, but not a desirable one either. Nothing to blame others, and nothing to let it affect your friends/family relationships either. Something to fix, as you mentioned -- yet something to avoid the next time. Some experience to build on. Imagine a young lawyer. Loosing a court battle/case is indeed personal. His/her record will eventually haunt him/her. Same thing for a young doctor loosing too many patients, a young architect making buildings too ugly, a young website designer with sites that nobody visits, or a young graphics artist making hideous logos. There may be a point where a failure at the workplace may bring more than just a financial loss to the company shareholders - it may detract the career. That is not to say that a single failure will be bad - we all fail. But repeated failure may not be a good idea either. There are other times when there may be personal issues indeed. Take the environmentalist/pacifist who works for Raytheon or Lockheed Martin. The doctor who works for Altria / Phillip Morris. Or the capitalist who works for a company who requests taxpayer grants to provide free internet service (as was my case). Sometimes there are moral struggles in the job that people do - where people are doing exactly what they believe is immoral. And as I write this comment, I keep thinking about the spectrum of job passion vs. the need to earn a living. There is some gray area in the middle, that brings some struggles -- at least to me, when I have been in those situations in my life where I was balancing my desire to do a career on a job that was not exactly what I was passionate about. This topic of happiness and jobs, we can probably bring discussions to last an eternity. Something that could be good, as I like to see this topic expanded more on this blog.

I think we both agree that it is not a good idea to take a work related situation as if someone is personally attacking you. That is definitively not the way to advance. Even if they are indeed personally targeted at you, responding against a co-worker, a company, or a boss will not advance you. You may be better finding a way to switch a more advantageous situation (better job or company, for example).

Some other things may be personal indeed… Just as personal as failing a final exam at your last college course. Not a terrible thing to do, but not a desirable one either. Nothing to blame others, and nothing to let it affect your friends/family relationships either. Something to fix, as you mentioned — yet something to avoid the next time. Some experience to build on.

Imagine a young lawyer. Loosing a court battle/case is indeed personal. His/her record will eventually haunt him/her. Same thing for a young doctor loosing too many patients, a young architect making buildings too ugly, a young website designer with sites that nobody visits, or a young graphics artist making hideous logos. There may be a point where a failure at the workplace may bring more than just a financial loss to the company shareholders – it may detract the career. That is not to say that a single failure will be bad – we all fail. But repeated failure may not be a good idea either.

There are other times when there may be personal issues indeed. Take the environmentalist/pacifist who works for Raytheon or Lockheed Martin. The doctor who works for Altria / Phillip Morris. Or the capitalist who works for a company who requests taxpayer grants to provide free internet service (as was my case). Sometimes there are moral struggles in the job that people do – where people are doing exactly what they believe is immoral.

And as I write this comment, I keep thinking about the spectrum of job passion vs. the need to earn a living. There is some gray area in the middle, that brings some struggles — at least to me, when I have been in those situations in my life where I was balancing my desire to do a career on a job that was not exactly what I was passionate about.

]]> By: Jessica http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Jessica Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:48:04 +0000 http://youngandemployed.com/?p=41#comment-12 Jose, That is a very interesting observation, and I think you have a really good point there. I've been a part of several corporations where part of the corporate culture was to hate the company. For people like me who want job satisfaction but don't want their job to be there life, I think it is possible to be engaged in your career and to be happy at work, as long as you don't make it personal. That is the key, not making it personal - if something goes wrong at work, it isn't about you, so stop getting upset, fix it and when you get home enjoy your family. What do you think? Jose,
That is a very interesting observation, and I think you have a really good point there. I’ve been a part of several corporations where part of the corporate culture was to hate the company. For people like me who want job satisfaction but don’t want their job to be there life, I think it is possible to be engaged in your career and to be happy at work, as long as you don’t make it personal. That is the key, not making it personal – if something goes wrong at work, it isn’t about you, so stop getting upset, fix it and when you get home enjoy your family. What do you think?

]]> By: Jose http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Jose Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:08:21 +0000 http://youngandemployed.com/?p=41#comment-10 This is where different people have different experiences. I have heard from people who see their jobs as just a way of putting food in the table - and they are happy with that. I have seen other people who love to do what they are doing even if they weren't paid to do so - and the job is just an opportunity to enjoy their hobby/career. Both extreme kind of situations seem to lead to happy lives. I think the middle of the road kind of situation has some work-life-balance struggles. There may be ideal ways to achieve work-life-balance... However, I have found it easier to pursue either of the two extremes (leaning towards the latter). I have also found that the middle of the road situation leads to resentment against 'the man', 'the evil corporation', or 'the boss'. Some times it even brings resentment to 'self', for allowing the situation to continue and not doing something to remediate it. This is where different people have different experiences. I have heard from people who see their jobs as just a way of putting food in the table – and they are happy with that. I have seen other people who love to do what they are doing even if they weren’t paid to do so – and the job is just an opportunity to enjoy their hobby/career. Both extreme kind of situations seem to lead to happy lives.

I think the middle of the road kind of situation has some work-life-balance struggles. There may be ideal ways to achieve work-life-balance… However, I have found it easier to pursue either of the two extremes (leaning towards the latter).

I have also found that the middle of the road situation leads to resentment against ‘the man’, ‘the evil corporation’, or ‘the boss’. Some times it even brings resentment to ’self’, for allowing the situation to continue and not doing something to remediate it.

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