The secret of finding happiness at work
Changing how you find satisfaction in your job is key
Good morning, and happy Monday for those who celebrate.
About that clickbaity title… it’s not mine.
But like you clicking on the subject header just now - this headline piqued my interest when I saw it on the printed pages of the Australian Financial Review.
And here’s me assuming the readership of the AFR is somewhat happier with their working lives than most!
Arthur C. Brooks wrote this piece you’re about to read.
He is the author of thirteen books, including Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with co-author Oprah Winfrey (2023), From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (2022), Love Your Enemies (2019), The Conservative Heart (2015), and The Road to Freedom (2012). Since 2020, he has written the Atlantic’s How to Build a Life column on happiness.
So he’s somewhat coming off the long run here.
Brooks says:
“The most common question I get from my students who are starting out in their careers is about this idea of work as a calling. My response is the same as the Zen story’s lesson: don’t wait for your life’s calling to find you with the perfect job; turn whatever job you find into the way you seek that calling”.
I reckon that’s hard to do if you’re packing groceries at Woolies.
Brooks goes on:
“You don’t have to be a career-obsessed go-getter to believe that work should be about more than financial success or just a necessary evil to pay the rent.”
“Psychologists have conducted in-depth studies of a desired sense of career calling. Writing in the Journal of Organisational Behaviour in 2005, two researchers at Boston University distinguished between “objective careers”, which they defined as jobs chosen for entirely practical reasons (such as a salary), and “subjective careers”, which were selected for a sense of calling.
They argued that subjective careers deliver greater satisfaction, even during difficult periods.
The definition of success in an objective career generally revolves around money, power or prestige. In a subjective career, the definition of success is much more profound than these worldly rewards.
You might conclude, then, that the luckiest people in the world are those who are sure of their calling. You might look at a terrifically gifted athlete or an amazingly talented musician, and assume that they’re blessed to be born with this knowledge.
That assumption would be wrong, however, because children who choose their path in life according to an unusual vocational talent can easily wind up quite unhappy.”
According to Brooks then, the secret is not finding the perfect job but making your work, whatever that happens to be, your calling.
This involves three steps:
1. Look for intrinsic motivation
“The first step is to home in on what economists dryly call “intrinsic compensation”. This is in contrast to “extrinsic compensation”, or the material benefits of employment, such as wage, benefits, and prestige.
Intrinsic rewards include the inherent psychological recompense you get from working. Although you do need extrinsic rewards to pay the rent, intrinsic rewards are what give you meaning.
Researchers have consistently shown that when people are intrinsically motivated, they like their job more, work harder, and stick with it longer than when they are only extrinsically motivated.”
2. Focus on your interests
“One intrinsic reward that especially corresponds to calling is interest. Interest is a basic positive emotion that has a clear evolutionary root: ancient humans who were motivated to learn were surely more inclined to prosper from exploration, and were therefore more likely to pass on their genes than incurious troglodytic layabouts.
So seek a job that is intrinsically interesting to you.
Understandably, you might be in a particular work situation out of necessity, and would note that you don’t have the luxury of being fascinated by what you need to do for a living. That is fair, and no job is interesting all the time. But even a job taken out of sheer desperation may have some interesting facets.”
3. Help others at work
“A second, important type of intrinsic reward can be found in service to others. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that researchers have found the highest satisfaction and morale in workplaces where a strong culture of helping and reciprocity exists.
They have also shown that an impulse to assist your co-workers will raise your own job satisfaction. In other words, if you avail yourself of opportunities to help others, your job will become more satisfying – more like a calling, in fact.”
So if you think Arthur C. Brooks is onto something - I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Will it change anything you do at work this week?
See you next Monday Morning,
Wade