The Genuine Importance of Happiness in Your Career

What does it really take to find happiness in your chosen career? Must you always quit your job to find and pursue what you are passionate about? What about work and life balance? These are some of the questions that a lot of the people today are asking themselves as they search for career satisfaction. With an innumerable amount of people struggling to find a good work-life balance, it is no wonder why many are asking these questions.

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The Truth About Your Job

Finding career satisfaction is one of the most important factors in choosing a job. This is especially true with Millennials, and with more people from this generation entering the workforce, someone might already be filling the position of your dream job. So how do you solve this? Looking for a backup plan sounds good and all, but is it really worth it when you know you like something else? Research shows that you are not alone in this dilemma. Around 61% of employees feel they have been misled during job interviews and about how working for company would be like. If you are one of these people, the truth is, you might have set your expectations too high. No job is going to be all fun and games. There will always be stressful situations that are sure to make you feel like quitting, but if you’re looking for happiness in your career, days like these are something that you have to go through.

Your Passion: Should You Pursue It as a Career?

To some people, working at least 40 hours a week doing their job means spending more time at work than at home. If this is the case for about a million other people in the world, would you want to spend this much time on a career you hate or would you spend it doing something you love? Nowadays, career happiness is often associated with pursuing your passion. In fact, it’s easy to actually think this way due to the many benefits of choosing a career you love.

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The idea of never feeling like working, having a fun and easy job, and experiencing lower stress levels is very enticing to anyone. However, unknown to a lot of people, pursuing your passion does not always turn out how you think it would be. There are a variety of problems with pursuing your passion. One of these is the fact that most people’s passions are do not fit the job market. This means that though you may be passionate about sports, music, or art, there are only a handful of jobs in these industries which make job hunting, let alone career growth, very difficult.

What It Takes to Be Happy with Your Career

Many studies have revealed that the most consistent factor for career happiness is having an engaging work. Different jobs have different features and research has shown that it is these features that actually determine career satisfaction.

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One of these determinants is independence. Most people, particularly Millennials, prefer to have control over their jobs to a certain extent. Things like the manner of carrying out a task and when to do a job are some of the things that people like to maintain control of.

Another is factor is having a sense of completion—feeling involved in a company is something that a lot of people are looking for. Though you may not admit it, everyone likes to feel like they are part of a team and see that they make a difference in the company. This is where career growth and corporate culture come into play. Corporate culture affects career growth by instilling a sense of purpose while letting you expand your skill set and providing proper feedback.

Happiness is Up to You

Now that you know the factors behind career happiness, do you think your company is able to give this for you? The fact is, you need to decide whether or not you are satisfied with your career. If you continue to dread going to work every day, you know that you need to change something. If what you need is a change of environment, then perhaps that is what you need to do. Remember that career happiness should always be your number one priority.

Nevertheless, not everyone has the luxury to change their chosen careers easily. Most of the time, we are powerless to change our work environment no matter what we do. Instead of trying to change our surroundings, sometimes the best that we can do is to learn how to enjoy our jobs and be professional. There are many ways to learn how to do this. If you are artistic, why not find ways to express your creativity through your job? If you are able to find what you love in your job, then you can find happiness in going to work. You can start doing this by asking yourself what your strengths are and how you can utilize these in different way as well as surrounding yourself with like-minded people.

Once you are able to find what you love in your job, feeling satisfied with it becomes effortless. Doing this not only lets you enjoy the time you spend working since it also allows you to develop new skills and be more productive, increasing your chances of moving up the career ladder. Keep in mind that the importance of happiness in your career affects not just work, but also your entire life. If you don’t put yourself first, then the stress you get in your job would lead to health issues and depression among many other problems. So consider changing the way you think in your current job, help yourself out by learning how to communicate better. You never know you, that way you may help you land a promotion faster. Then maybe you can find the fulfillment you are looking for. Remember, one of the most important elements of living a good and happy life is doing something that you love.

By Emily Harper