The reality of most people is that they suffer from Sunday night blues, which continues not only till Monday morning, but also throughout the week. Friday night may be the happiest time!
If this is what is happening to you, you are probably a person who is not happy at work. Depression rates of people have increased, and every year the unhappiness aspect increases.
It is common belief that one becomes happy when one is successful. True? Not really. If we turn around this perception we can get the truth. Happiness is not after success or due to success only. Happiness can also be considered a precursor to success. When you increase your happiness you tend to enjoy life, and every aspect of it, including work. This is what leads to higher success rates and increased productivity. And then you enter the “happiness cycle!”
Here are some strategies that can make you happier at work.
The social network.
When you are facing a pressure situation, like a tight deadline, a difficult person to deal with, a high-stake sales presentation, you would tend to get into your own corner and forget the world for a while. If you keep facing such situations most of the time, think about what you would end up doing? You would tend to spend lesser and lesser time with family and friends.
The interesting part is that most successful people do not take this approach. Instead of moving away from others and into themselves, they tend to be more interactive, and keep the social support going.
This social support is extremely important for our happiness. When we become comfortable in being in groups, we learn and improve, and enjoy the discussions and the support we get from these groups. A quality social network, which includes good friends, is worth investing time in.
Breaks.
This is something that people probably understand but don’t do. We get entangled in our daily hassles so much so that we forget to take our breaks. If you check your own work patterns and energy levels, you will find that on an average your brain function slows your body after two hours of continuous work. That is when the body starts accumulating stress. So, if you continue to work for a longer period without a break it does more bad than good. Your performance and productivity actually goes down.
To avoid burnout it is important to take short breaks of five minutes after every 1.5 to 2 hours of continuous work. What kind of break? Well, anything that is not connected to your work! Like watching a funny video, follow some people on Twitter, eat a small snack, say hello to a friend, anything that you enjoy!
Circles.
The Circles concept is very effective. This involves setting goals. It is definitely important to set higher goals, however, trying to achieve huge, ambitious goals at one go would be overwhelming.
This is where the concept of circles comes in. When we break down a bigger goal into smaller ones, we create numerous small circles around us. We fight our way through each of this circles, one at a time. Once you achieve some smaller goals, the mind starts believing it can do more. That’s how you start widening your circle.
So begin with a small goal, like deleting the unimportant emails from your inbox, or writing that short report. You will start accomplishing more and will be happier at work!
Take advantage of the Tetris effect.
If you are always playing one game, that game and its images will keep replaying in your mind even when you are not playing. You may even dream of the same! This is sometimes referred to as “cognitive after image,” which means that if you keep seeing something for a long period of time it clouds your vision.
What it therefore means is that the longer you think in a certain way, the more it has an effect on you. So negative people, for example, get stuck in negative thinking patterns. So is it for positive people, the difference being the thinking patterns are positive.
When we start focusing on the good aspects of life, we begin opening our minds to various ideas and opportunities. This in turn makes us do more and be more successful, and happy!
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