In today’s corporate scenario, majority of people we come across appear under stress – stress of performance, of meeting timelines, of continuously trying to prove their worth, of gaining acknowledgement by management, so on and so forth. This leads to a mechanical approach to work, and in the process they overlook the joy associated with their work. Being joyful at work, is, to a large extent, intentional. It’s a skill that needs to be practiced and to be worked upon.
Start by doing something in the morning that makes you feel good and keeps you joyful during the day. Attitude plays a major role in productivity. Starting your day on a negative and complaining note has a cascading effect further leading to a negative atmosphere at work, in terms of interpersonal relationship with colleagues and impacts productivity.
It is vital to stay joyful at work and to create a positive working atmosphere. Try to help your colleagues in little small ways. Offer to help them with their tasks. Something as simple as smiling can improve your happiness at work because it tells your brain to be more happy. Smiling is also contagious and will make your co-workers smile as well. But on the contrary, you can’t change who people are. Instead of letting their personalities or actions affect you, take a step back. You could try techniques like counting to 10 before responding to them, avoiding finger-pointing, and maintaining a professional attitude.
It is said that our brains are better equipped at remembering the bad than the good. Negative impact of setbacks at work is considered as more powerful than the positive impact of making progress. This makes it difficult to stay happy. Well, but the good news is, we can train our brains to remember the positive things and to fight the negativity.
A sense of meaning can contribute to happiness at work. Any size of work – small or big – can bring us happiness provided it has a sense of meaning. Most productive employees are the ones who know that their work is meaningful and has a positive impact on others.
To stay joyful at work, you must create your own space since you spend a substantial amount of time at work. This definitely results in better productivity which automatically leads to happiness. It is important to have an organised workplace which helps in making the work environment seem less hectic and stressful. There is enough stress at work, so avoid the additional stress that clutter and scrambling for lost items will cause.
Making a best friend at work results in high engagement as this can create a support system, camaraderie as you have someone to share your day with, and to share your success and failures with. Having a colleague as friend helps in turning the job as more fun, enjoyable and satisfying.
Keep your plans and goals in the forefront. You will make better decisions and be more satisfied with your results if you know that most of what you’re doing at your work fits into your long-term plans and goals.
Burning out during the work day is very easy which hampers productivity and makes us feel miserable. It is imperative to take a short breather before moving on to the next task. Without some breathing space in the face of constant demands, we won’t be creative, competent, or cheerful. Short and timely breathers are an absolute necessity to keep us sane and joyful, and work as stress busters. Whether it’s finding the time to take a walk outside, run up and down the stairs on your break, stretch, or do a 10-minute exercise, moving around throughout the workday has a number of beneficial effects.
In short, creating joy at work is not such a difficult task after all!
She quit her corporate career in the beginning of 2018 to try her hand at various related things within communications space. She turned into a published author in 2020 with her maiden book ‘Little Joys of Communication’.
Currently Ritu is Senior Director at SCoRe and, Executive Director Communicators Guild – India (CGI).
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