Wow – is that all it takes to be happy at work – a little praise? As I stated in an earlier post about the connection between happiness and job satisfaction you don’t have to have a perfect job to be happy with your life. If the only thing going wrong in our life is you don’t LOVE your job, then you are doing OK. But the man in this movie blames his boring job for his life being dull, and then when his job get’s better he expects his life to improve – and it doesn’t.  What does that tell us? It tells me that if you want a truly fulfilling life than work is only one part of the equation. If you work for a company that makes boring software and you want to feel like you are making a difference in the world volunteer!

At the next party you attend listen to what people talk about. The people who seem happy don’t talk about work all that much do they? This is because they have other aspects of their life to talk about.  Conversely, the people with the crappiest jobs talk about their work the most. Why is that? Because they feel like they aren’t happy so they feel like they need to “talk up” their job.

So here is my unsolicited advice for today, if you hate your job, if it really makes you miserable, get a new one. But don’t look for a new job to change your entire life for the better. I’ve heard so many people say it before, “if I can just find a new job I’ll be so much happier”. Then what happens, they get a new job, they are happy for about five months and they want a new job again. Because it is really their outside of work life that needs to be fixed, not their job. I know what this is like because I was one of those people who focused so much on finding the perfect job that I thought a new job would perfect my life.  I still slip into this mode every once in a while, but for the most part I try to remember “you’ve got to love what it is and not hate what it isn’t”. Which means, learn to love your job for what it is and stop thinking about what it could be. Unless it is really a horrible job or you have a boss that treats you poorly, and as long as your job offers you challenges and opportunities to learn there your job is ok. If your job is ok but not exactly exciting, do things outside of work that are. There is no reason your job has to be your only source of joy. If your job is only good enough, make the rest of your life exceptional.

Related Posts:

• July 20, 2009 -- Networking for smart dummies (1)
• July 2, 2009 -- Creating Work (3)

Someone gave my name as a reference for a service I use as part of my marketing efforts (not to mention that I made some profit out of it) and I managed to turn the call into what seems to be a great opportunity in disguise.

It took me 10 minutes on the phone to learn that everything I’ve heard about the Research Triangle Park in N.C. is true, and at the same time I managed to make a contact in the Marketing world over there, someone nice to talk to and who could open some doors for me.

We have all heard about Networking activities, dinners and such, but could it be that just having your eyes open for the right kind of people would prove more successful than walking around with your resume in one hand and a martini in the other to one of those networking cocktails?

I would like to hear some networking experiences.  How do you network your professional career?

Related Posts:

• July 22, 2009 -- What Revolutionary Road Taught Me about Work and Life (3)
• July 2, 2009 -- Creating Work (3)
• June 29, 2009 -- Promotions are like Santa Claus (2)
• June 25, 2009 -- The Connection Between Happiness and Your Job (4)

My first job out of college was at a software company where I was a Marketing Associate. I started in this position literally one day after graduating college, so to say I was green is almost an understatement. Sure, I had completed plenty of internships while in college, but even though I worked really hard at those internships at most they were a 20 hour a week job and I had specific tasks assigned to me.

At this new job I had a short list of core responsibilities, and I would complete my daily tasks by lunch time each day. I would spend the rest of the day bored and I would often ask for more responsibility or more things to do.

I ultimately left this job because I wanted a position that would allow me to be more creative and that would offer more responsibility. Looking back I realize it wasn’t the company that needed to change it was me. Instead of sitting around waiting for more work, I would have been more successful creating my own projects. In fact, as I move along in my career I find that the best jobs out there offer this kind of opportunity.  Unless you are a heart surgeon or some sort of stock broker there will be times in any job that you find yourself without a lot on your plate. Use this time as an opportunity to develop project that you find interesting and that will benefit the company in some way. Not only will you be more satisfied in your career, you’ll be seen someone with initiative and drive.

Some of my best ideas have come to me when I am sitting around at work with not much to do. Instead of checking Facebook surfing other sites, I try to “create work” for myself. I can honestly say it works, and it does impress your boss when you knock on their office door and say “I have an idea”. Of course you can’t just have the beginnings of an idea, you have to have a well thought out project with goals, objectives, benefits and a plan on how you will execute the project.  Try creating work for yourself when you have little or nothing to do, and watch your career bloom. I’m also willing to bet that if your organization needs to “down size” at some point they are less likely to cut the person who comes up with creative and beneficial projects on their own.

What are your experiences with creating work for yourself?

Related Posts:

• June 18, 2009 -- How old ARE you? (1)
• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• July 22, 2009 -- What Revolutionary Road Taught Me about Work and Life (3)