Happy Work, Happy Life

“I complained because I had no shoes… until I met a man who had no feet!” So goes an Arab proverb.

They say that we live to work, and we work to live. Working and living appear to be inseparable. Can we then deduce that he who is unhappy in work is unhappy in life?
Fortunately, happiness is a matter of choice. There are many things around us that may affect us. But in the end, we choose how we respond to them. We, not circumstances, make a stepping-stone out of a stumbling block. Or vice versa. We decide whether to be content — or not.

What makes a happy worker? Let us consider some points:

He enjoys the toil. A socialite lady passed by a pig farm. Smelling the repulsive whiff of the animal dung, she whined, “Kadiri, amoy dumi!” A doctor went by the same place and blurted, “Sus, amoy sakit!” A businessman came next and exclaimed, “Uy, amoy pera!” Finally, a chef rushed by. He savored the aroma as he uttered, “Wow, amoy hamon!”

I’ve been through several jobs, and I’ve realized that most displeasure is all in the mind. This reminds me of a parishioner’s text: “If you worry about what you don’t have, you wont be able to enjoy what you do have.”

No work is hassle-free. Nearly all jobs under the sun entail some amount of scuff. There are times that we need to do things we are not paid for. And this is fair enough, because there are also times we are paid for things we don’t do at all. There are times that others do not please us. And this is also fair enough, because we, ourselves, do not please others every time.
From time to time, we may have to exert extra effort at the expense of our personal convenience. In any profession, we need to bear with adjustments we don’t clearly understand, live with views we don’t fully accept, deal with people we don’t completely like, and so on. These are things that help broaden our perspectives, heighten our wisdom, and deepen our virtues.
L. P. Jacks said, “A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”

He enjoys the task. Asked about where its endless happiness comes from, a bird promptly chirped, “I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.”
The tie between motivation and performance operates in almost all cases: the more we love a task, the better we do it.

Don’t we teach this to graduating high school students when we go out for career guidance? Now we realize that this same principle operates in our very career. And since in most cases we cannot change our tasks, surely we can work on changing our view of these tasks.
Somebody said that there are only two types of worker in the world. When he wakes up, the asset says, “It’s another good morning, Lord!” The liability says, “It’s another morning, good Lord!”

James Barrie wrote this about the secret of happiness: “It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do.”

He enjoys the team. Who can demand for perfect teammates or a perfect boss? Answer: a perfect worker. In real life, when we start to look for more from people we work with (or people we work for) we start to become unhappy.

The juvenile mind has a tendency to require other people to be perfect, while expecting these “perfect others” to understand his imperfections. He asks, “Shouldn’t have they done that?”
The mature person, on the other hand, is more apt to require himself to be perfect, while understanding others’ imperfection. He asks, “Shouldn’t have I done that?

At any rate, we cannot afford not to bear with other people’s imperfections: remember, others bear with ours, too.

Perhaps one of the prima facie features of an effective worker is the ability to effectively work with a team. Even amidst diversity in culture and orientation, it is not difficult to characterize an effective team member: He offers his sincere time and effort (not just words and ideas) to others. He gives or passes praise to whom it rightfully belongs (and doesn’t claim praises that do not belong to him, for God’s sake). He helps keep the team going, not only by giving right concepts but also by setting the right mood (and doesn’t ruin other people’s spirit by losing his temper in times when it should be in tact). He doesn’t simply get the team working: he gets himself working with the team.

A student who enjoys studying, they say, is likely to perform better. So is a worker who enjoys working. And whether or not one is happy with his work is eventually because of his choice.
A Latin proverb encapsulates my point: “Not he who has little, but he who wishes for more, is poor.”

As for me, I choose to be rich. I choose to be happy.