Happy at Work: 60 Simple Ways to Stay Engaged and Be Successful

Have you ever noticed how easily we criticize ourselves and others for even the most minor mistakes? Most people have no problem finding fault, especially with themselves. In many cases, unfortunately, managers see this as a way to embarrasses people into performing better.

Verbally berating someone expecting them to perform better, is like hitting your computer with a hammer expecting it to run faster. It doesn’t work. I doubt that it ever did but it certainly does not work in our present society and, if you do this with certain generations, you’ll soon see your workforce walking out the door.

Managing by “bossing people around” was a popular practice back in the Industrial Age, however, we’ve learned over time that there are much more effective ways to manage people.

If you must criticize an employee’s performance be sure to do it in private. Correcting someone’s behavior publicly can cause, not only the person in question to suffer, but have a negative effect on those within earshot. Criticizing someone while there are customers nearby, as I have witnessed several times in retail establishments, reflects poorly on the entire organization. The old adage, “Praise people in public, correct them in private,” still holds true today.

If you want to improve productivity and well-being in both yourself and your company, become a “good finder.” Catch people doing things right and praise them for it. When you do something really well or complete a task efficiently and on time, reward yourself.

Create some simple way that you can reward yourself for reaching a milestone. This could be anything from a simple cookie break, for a small accomplishment, to a week-long vacation for accomplishing a major task.

Organizations with large sales forces know the value of reward programs and use everything from books and gift cards to exotic trips as ways to motivate and reward their people for excellent performance.

Develop some creative ways you can reward yourself and, if appropriate, your team for reaching and exceeding goals.

A simple compliment and saying, “good job” to someone goes a long way toward showing them that you are recognizing their accomplishments. Use personal rewards to help you overcome reluctance and embrace the task at hand. Focusing on the reward enables us to get through the work faster and easier.

2. Put your problems to work for you

It his book “Illusions” Richard Bach wrote, “There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for us in its hands. We seek problems because we need their gifts.”

Whether or not we seek out problems is not nearly as important as how we handle them when they do appear in our lives. For starters, a great technique I learned many years ago is to reframe the word “problem” and change it to “challenge.” I realize this may seem to be a matter of semantics but hear me out.

Problems tend to be things that we try to avoid while challenges are something we step up to and fix. This seemingly insignificant change in vocabulary can have a big impact on how you deal with a given situation.

If you view it, as Bach suggests, as having a gift for you or at least containing an opportunity for you within it, your “challenge or problem” could be turned to your advantage.

A challenge in the work place, while representing an obstacle for some, can actually present you with an opportunity to showcase your talents.

The next time a challenge presents itself, rather than trying to avoid it, welcome it.

Ask yourself what you might do to turn this into an opportunity. Explore how you might best use it to your advantage.

A case in point is what happened when Domino’s Pizza asked their customers how they like the company’s pizza. What they learned was that people didn’t like their pizza, they thought it was terrible and told the company so, by the thousands.

This must have hurt the folks at Domino’s but, rather than bury their heads in the sand, as some companies to, they chose to embrace it. They made major changes to their product line and, from all indications, have transformed the company and won back customers with their newly improved pizza.

Making necessary changes can be difficult for many companies, as I’m sure it was for Domino’s but it generally pays off. When you and your team are faced with what appears to be a problem, try approaching it differently. Ask a better question. We’ll explore the idea of “Powerful Questions” in a later chapter but, for now, simply change the way you typically handle those less-than-desirable occurrences at work and, for that matter, in your life.

3. Break your patterns

It always amazes me how little people know about their company, coworkers, or the world around them. Many otherwise intelligent people become stuck in the rut of their daily life, doing the same things each day, driving the same route to work, eating the same breakfast, and so on, rarely deviating from their patterns. If you think about it, you are most likely frequent the same five or ten restaurants even though in most communities have fifty or more.

Most of us tend to eat the same five or six vegetables although there are ten times that to choose from. We drive the same roads to and from work, school and home, hang out with the same friends, and engage in the same social events. We listen to the same music typically made up of less than hundred songs, watch the same TV shows, and on and on. It’s no wonder people are bored.

If you want to have a happier, more interesting life, at work and at home, start breaking your patterns. An added benefit is that you will be stimulating your creativity as a result. By changing your everyday patterns and habitual processes, you will be creating new neural connections in your brain.

For example, simply changing your route to and from work will expose you to new visual and auditory stimulus. As you drive, ride, or walk past new sights you will see things you had not noticed before. This is why so many creative people, Steven Spielberg among them, go for long drives in their cars to stimulate ideas.

4. Become curious

“Discovery is the fuel of competitive advantage” Jay Abraham

If you want to be happier both at work and in your personal life, cultivate your curiosity. Become a curious person. Learning about the world and people around you will not only make your job more interesting, but will likely increase your value to the company.

The more you know about your company and its products and services, the more effectively and efficiently you can perform your work. This will lead to increase productivity and eventually to a better position within the organization. By cultivating your curiosity, you will be more engaged with your work and as a result, feel more a part of the organization.

Do you know the history of your company? Do you know who the CEO is or the top management? Depending upon the size of your organization, these people may be across the corridor or around the world. Nevertheless, you can still know about them. Similarly, depending upon the length of time your company has been in existence, there may or may not be a rich or fascinating story behind it.
It astonishes me how little most people know about the company they spend a third of their lives working for. Many people I’ve met, especially in large organizations, do not even know the name of the chief executive.

If you want to be happier and more successful in your career learn what you can about your present company. Make a point of learning something about the top management. If at all possible, meet the key executives. I realize that this may sound crazy, especially if you are in an entry level position, but I assure you, you will benefit from the experience. You maybe surprised how accessible and friendly the top people are. On top of that I can guarantee you that your CEO will be impressed that you had the initiative to seek her out. This could be a huge help to your career.

By learning about and studying the history of your company, especially those who have been in business for a few decades or more, you will feel more a part of the organization. You will have a better appreciation for what it took to build your company.

The end result of this is that you will be happier and, according to most studies, your performance will increase. Since performance leads to advancement, expressing your natural curiosity will have a positive impact not only on your mood but on your career as well.

If you work for a large organization you may not have any idea as to what the company’s founder faced in the early days of trying to grow the business. For example, how many employees of the Ford Motor Company know that Henry Ford would probably not have built the Model “T” were it not for his wife’s involvement. According to the story, as told by Napoleon Hill, Mr. Ford was having a hard time figuring out how to find the money for the transmission for the automobile when his wife suggested he simply take it from his own savings and lend it to the company.

Employees of FedEx today have the pleasure of working for one of the world’s most successful companies but how many of them know that, in the early days, the company almost went out of business several times? There are stories of FedEx, during the early days, moving their planes around to keep them from being repossessed.

What about your company? Large or small I’m sure there’s an interesting story about the company’s beginnings. Taking the time to learn about your employer and the history of the company will give you an appreciation as to just what it took to create the organization that, today, provides you with a means to provide for yourself and your family.

I wonder for example how many people working for KFC formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, know that it’s founder Colonel Sanders was bankrupt at 65 years old when he began his, now famous, chicken franchise.

Or how many Sears employees know that Richard Sears (1863-1914), the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company first started as a clerk on the railroad until one day he had the opportunity to buy some watches, which he did and then sold at a fair price up and down the rail line.

I wonder how many Honda employees know that in the years following World War II, with gasoline in short supply and most Japanese were using bicycles as their main form of transportation, Soichiro Honda invented a small engine that attached to the bicycle enabling it to go faster while still conserving fuel. That little engine was the beginning of the Honda Corporation.

Knowing all you can about your company and it’s products and services will give you the sense of pride in your work, help make each day at work more enjoyable, and you’ll feel more connected to your work. Knowing about and when possible, meeting your top executives, will give you a better sense of who they are as people and some insight as to how they got where they are. They may even serve as role models for your own career and contribute to your own success.

5. Know your purpose

A number of years ago I was attending a talk given by Jack Canfield, co-author of the legendary success, “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books. It was a cold and rainy winter night in February in New Jersey. Jack, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several times and who was kind enough to write a testimonial for my first book, “Handbook to a Happier Life,” (New World Library, 2003) was on tour at the time with his best-seller, “Success Principles,” (Harper Collins, 2005).

As I was waiting for Jack to arrive I could not help but wonder why this well-known author, who lives in Southern California, was in Edison, NJ to speak to a small group of about forty people so, as Jack entered the room I shook hands and said how nice it was to see him again. Thinking how much easier it would have been for him to stay in the warmth of California instead of being here in the icy rain of a New Jersey winter, I asked him why he was giving this talk.

Without hesitation he replied, “To change people’s lives.”
Jack clearly knew why he was doing the work he does, as do I for the same reason. He knows what his purpose is at this time in his life and is dedicated to carrying out his mission no matter what the weather.

What about you? Do you know why you’re doing what you do?

Zig Ziglar, the late success legend once said to an audience, “If you’re going to a job today just because you went there yesterday, you may want to reconsider your life’s plan.”

Are you living your purpose? Perhaps the work you do is your purpose and passion; your gift to the world, so to speak. Or maybe you’re still working on discovering what it is your truly want to do with your life.

Either way, it’s important to understand that whatever it is you do and wherever you work right now is just where you need to be at the moment. It may only be a stepping stone to where you are ultimately going, however, it’s where you are at the moment so you owe it to yourself and your employer to do your best work.

When Jack’s publisher asked him to go on a book tour on the East Coast in the middle of winter, he didn’t remind them he is a famous and wealthy author and would rather wait until spring, he went on the tour. Understanding his purpose in doing the work he does, it was an easy decision to make. If you are truly committed to having a positive impact on people’s lives, you do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

How does the work you do bring you satisfaction? How are you serving humanity? What could you to feel even more satisfaction from your work?

Regardless of how important or menial you feel your work is, it is an essential part of something bigger.