24 Mar Happiness at work – myths, misconceptions and reality
For most of my working life over the last few decades, I’ve been studying and speaking about happiness at work.
Interestingly, I’ve found myself spending a significant proportion of this time challenging myths and misconceptions about happiness; and this is especially true in the workplace.
Many people still believe happiness at work means being positive all the time, loving what you do every minute, or avoiding stress, pressure, and difficult emotions. It’s an appealing idea … but it’s not realistic and it’s not what the science shows.
Research from positive psychology and organisational psychology consistently finds that real wellbeing at work is not about constant positivity.
– It’s about having a sense of meaning and purpose.
– It’s about feeling connected to the people you work with.
– It’s about making progress on things that matter.
– It’s about feeling psychologically safe enough to speak up, make mistakes, and be human.
– And it’s about having the skills to deal with challenges, setbacks, and uncertainty; because these are unavoidable in any worthwhile job.
In fact, people don’t thrive because work is easy. They thrive when work is meaningful, when effort feels worthwhile, and when they know they can cope with the hard parts as well as enjoy the good parts.
The more we let go of unrealistic ideas about happiness at work, the more likely we are to actually create workplaces where wellbeing is real, sustainable, and shared.