Many Management Theories Say Find A Job That Will Make You Happy. Is That True?
By Steve Schumacher
Early in my career, when I was transitioning between jobs, I got some advice to find a job that truly made me happy. Of course, happiness is a relative term. What makes one person happy may or may not make another person happy.
So, for me, I needed to define what exactly being happy meant to me. For me personally, happiness at work meant that the job was providing me with a lot of education, challenges and variety.
Money, of course, was important but it was more of a foundation that other things were built upon. Luckily, I was able to get in the consulting business, which provided me with the very things that I defined as making me happy on the job.
There is a great deal of pressure on all of us to be happy on the job. Career counselors say it, books say it, parents say it, friends say it, co-workers say it, and mentors say it. Sometimes, the stress involved in trying to be happy at work keeps us from being happy. Not everyone has the time, or money, to keep searching for the one job that will make us happy. Happiness often takes a back seat to paying bills and taking care of our families.
My experience says, try to be content with your job, not necessarily happy. Seek happiness from your entire life and all of its facets, not just the job you have chosen.
Re-think work/life balance. There have been tons of things written and said, over the years, about achieving work/life balance. Try to think of work as part of your life, not in conflict with your life. Your life includes family, friends, hobbies, work, recreation, health and other things. Happiness comes from feeling good about each of those individually and feeling good about how you balance all of them. At various times throughout one’s life, each part of life becomes a main priority. Work that you feel good about is important but only one part of life, not everything in life.
Time management. I have heard a lot of people bemoan the fact that they do not have enough time to get things done, and wish they had more time. The sad reality is that everyone has the same amount of time – 168 hours per week. Instead of worrying about getting more time, focus on the time you have and make sure you spend that time wisely. Just because co-workers spend an inordinate amount of time working does not mean you have to. It is all about life balance and making sure you spend the amount of time in each part of your life that will make you feel fulfilled.
Slice and dice your priorities. Over the years, I have done an exercise with groups of managers and leaders all around North America. It is a basic list of things they want to accomplish over the next 12 months. After giving the participants plenty of time to complete the task, I ask them what percentage of the items are work-related. It should not surprise you that the lists are overwhelmingly work-oriented items. Ideally, if you did the same exercise, there would be more of a balance between the things you want to accomplish at work, and what you want to accomplish in your personal life. Prioritize the personal life items just like you do with work items, and put a timeline on them.
Competition. We talk a lot about moving up in organizations with the proper technical and interpersonal skills. In reality, people move up because of competition with co-workers, also. If you choose to achieve the best balance possible in your life, it may act against you in terms of promotions, advancement, etc. As we all know, sometimes people get promoted because of politics and visibility and not necessarily skill and attitude. Just like most of life – these kinds of decisions are tradeoffs. Greater life balance will reduce your stress and make you feel like a more complete person. Focusing more of your time on work will get your promoted perhaps, but at what cost.
Discuss with your boss. Have a frank discussion with your boss about your desire to focus time and energy all aspects of your life, and not with work weighted so heavily. One of the pluses of the recent pandemic is that it has caused all of us to look closer at our lives and what makes us fulfilled. The response you get will tell you a lot about your future ability to achieve life balance while working here.
Work is part of your life. It is important, but so is every other aspect of your life.
Steve Schumacher is a management consultant, trainer and public speaker with more than 25 years of experience in numerous industries throughout North America, including aggregates operations. He can be reached at [email protected].