Achieving happiness

Achieving happiness

Most parents will tell you they just want their kids to grow up to be happy (even if they’re nudging them toward the Ivy League). But how does an adult achieve a high level of contentment while living a frenetic and distraction-packed life? The two of us have just reviewed results from our new survey designed to elicit insights into short-term satisfaction (happiness) and long-term benefit (meaning)_ã”both at work and away from it. Our respondents weren’t randomly chosen. They’re well-educated (more than 60% have graduate degrees) managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals (split almost evenly between the sexes), numbering over 3,000.

Our findings were in many cases unexpected but clear-cut. There is an incredibly high correlation between people’s happiness and meaning at work and at home. In other words, those who experience happiness and meaning at work tend also to experience them outside of work. Those who are miserable on the job are usually miserable at home.

The implication is unmistakable. Since work and home are very different environments, our experience of happiness and meaning in life appears to have more to do with who we are than where we are. Rather than blaming our jobs, our managers, and our customers_ã”or our friends, family members, and communities_ã”for our negative worklife experience, we might be better served by looking in the mirror.

Read more about happiness from BusinessWeek – click here