How to Experience More Joy at Work

It is possible to enjoy our work lives more than we do and it often requires just a few basic shifts in our thinking to provide us with a greater sense of purpose at work.

Unfortunately, sometimes we’re under great stress or we’ve been in a job for so long that we have difficulty seeing the beneficial aspects of our work or understanding ways to make it work better for us.

 Here are five ways to go about experiencing more joy in the work place.

Focus on the meaning you derive from your work. A key aspect to finding joy in your work is to recognize and celebrate the good that results from your job, the ways your products or services make life better for your customers and clients, and the difference your company makes in the world. If you cannot identify this important part of your job, then you might need to consider a job move. 

Cultivate positive relationships with your colleagues. It’s difficult to enjoy our work place if we don’t enjoy those we work with. Of course, you cannot control the behavior of others at work, but you can make every effort to develop good working relationships with your co-workers and manager. It will help if you seek to recognize the strengths in others rather than focus on their failures and shortcomings.

Recognize how your job makes you change and grow. If you’ve been in a job or at a company for several years you have changed during that time. You have developed new skills and grown in ways that it’s important to recognize. Take some time to appreciate this growth and it will help you to experience greater satisfaction in your job.

Use your job to strengthen your weaknesses. You can look at your job as a laboratory and a place to make improvements. Be clear about the areas you need to work on, whether related to job skills or character traits, such as patience, and seek to measure your development. Paying attention to self-improvement on your job can add a level of enjoyment to your work experience.  

Pay attention to your attitude. There are a lot of things we can’t control at work, but we always have the ability to take control of our attitude and the ways we respond to the events on the job. Greater enjoyment at work is more likely when we approach our job and our relationships with our colleagues with curiosity, and a positive and helpful attitude.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Focus on Your Strengths

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In this video author and speaker John C. Maxwell encourages us to focus on strengths rather than on areas of weakness.

What are Your Weaknesses. How to Answer this Interview Question without Jeopardizing your Interview.

In an interview, the hiring manager is often looking for a reason NOT to hire you. Instead of looking for positives, the truth of the matter is that most interviewers take a negative approach to the screening process. Therefore, your goal in an interview is to ensure that you do not provide them a reason to say no to you.

However, one of the questions we are often asked is “What are your weaknesses?” If we are trying to avoid providing negatives about ourselves, it is difficult to properly answer this question. In the past we were told we should bring up a negative that really is not so bad. For example “I am such a perfectionist that I go above and beyond in everything I do.” However, this answer does not seem sincere and is not the approach I recommend in today’s market.

My rule of thumb when interviewing is that whenever you have to bring up a negative, state the negative and cover it up with a positive statement. The best approach to answering this particular interview question is to define a weakness that you have learned to overcome. Here is an example of how you can effectively answer this question.

“I am not very good at saying no and in the past I have taken on more than I can handle. This led to me missing deadlines or producing work that was not my best quality. I learned to overcome this weakness in several ways. First, I have learned to delegate and am a much better team player. I have also learned to manage my time, organize my daily tasks, and prioritize my day much better. I make a list for the next day at the end of each work day and review it first thing in the morning in order to better plan my daily priorities. Learning to deal with this weakness has led me to be a better time manager and to realize that I am not superwoman who has to say yes to every request myself.”

With this strategy you demonstrate that you are self-aware and that you are willing to admit that you are not perfect. However, you are also able to show your ability to solve problems and overcome obstacles. So, what weakness have you learned to overcome in