Do you experience joy at work? Take the gratitude challenge
One of the easiest ways of experiencing more joy is to practice gratitude. Leah Sparkes explains how we can increase our feelings of happiness and wellbeing at work.
In an effort to not get swept up in the craziness of Christmas, I always pause to reflect on what Christmas means to me. I celebrate in a non-religious way. It is about friends, family and giving thanks for all that I have in my life. Joy, gratitude, celebration and eventually peace (once the turkey has been eaten) are the key themes that guide me through the silly season.
It got me thinking that it is easy to feel gratitude for family and friends and we often experience joy as a result of appreciating those special people in our lives. But what about our work? We can spend 40-50 hours a week at work. Can work be a source of joy? Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure or happiness. Possibly one of the most foolproof ways of experiencing more joy is to practice gratitude.
Gratitude may be broadly defined as the appreciation of what one has and is meaningful to oneself. It represents a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation.
So I challenge you to practice gratitude at work – you will increase your feelings of happiness and wellbeing.
The practice of gratitude is a simple task. Write a list of what you are grateful for about your work. You can come up with a reasonable list pretty fast, I think.
An obvious one is a regular paycheck. That seems like a very solid start. But perhaps let’s make list of some other things that people hopefully experience through their work:
Some of the big ticket items include intellectual challenge, social connection and friendships, a sense of purpose and growth. Some minor items might include Friday pizza lunches, health insurance, a company petrol card, a good chair or the latest technology.
For maximum benefit the next step is to drill down and get specific. Think about the people you work with and list what you appreciate about them. Even your least favorite person at the office will still have some redeeming features or skills they bring to the team (a nice smile for example or, if you are really stuck, a tidy desk). Think about the kindness you may have observed your colleagues show to you or others. Maybe it is just the cheery good morning they chirp every day. So go ahead, make your list, dig deep, get creative and aim for 25 things you appreciate about your job. This will indeed make you happier.
Do not take my word for it! Check out some of the research that has been done. The power of gratitude to promote wellbeing and happiness has become widely accepted by the academic and scientific community. The University of California recently launched a $5.6 million, three-year research project, Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude, with the goal of building on the body of scientific research on the benefits of gratitude that already exits.
If you are interested in finding out about the science of gratitude, check out this blog. It gives a good summary of some of the research that has been done so far.
Also here is short clip from my favorite teacher Brene Brown. She is a wonderful author, researcher, academic and teacher. She talks about the connection between joy and gratitude.
Regularly look up from your computer, find the things that are good around you and have a little ‘appreciation break’ and maybe, just maybe, joy at work could become an everyday event.
So go ahead, make that gratitude list and I would love to hear how you go with it. Extra challenge for the advanced gratitude practitioner: Express out loud some of that gratitude and spread the joy!
“To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth” Pearl S. Buck
Leah Sparkes is head of Candeo Consulting. She has always been fascinated by what makes people tick and helps them flourish. Leah has a BA in Business and studied Psychology at the University of Technology in Sydney. She has also studied with the Institute of Executive Coaching & Leadership and the NeuroLeadership Institute. Over the last eight years Leah has worked with many executives, coaching them on and in their career, supporting them in areas of leadership development and personal growth. She is active on LinkedIn. Leah@candeo.com.au
Sherryl Caulfield
December 6, 2013 at 6:07 am
Living Joy and Gratitude
Such a timely post Leah. And today I had a little reminder of gratitude. I was having a bad hair day (I know trivial) but as I was driving a long I had a flash of insight which was – be grateful that you have hair on your head. A friend last year went through chemo and lost all her hair and was not comfortable wearing a wig – in the end she found a fringe wig which she wore under a bandana. All of which makes my bad hair day look like a great hair day. And yes, even though my work is feast or famine at times, it does provide another F word – Freedom. Thanks for writing this today 🙂
pam inglis
January 31, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Joy at work.
Great post Leah. Gratitude in the workplace is now on the top of my list to do this year. I have found how infectious moods can transfer from one employee to the next on a day to day basis. I love the challenge of making a conscious effort on being positive and having an upbeat attitude to maybe boost moral, which could effectively create motivation within the workplace. My workplace has just recruited some younger members and being a leader Iam always open to finding ways to help them develop.
morecess
February 12, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Take the gratitude challenge
What an article Leah. It is so deep, gratitude is a very nice attitude and being thankful of whatever you might have; however little it might be, should be our motivating factor. In fact it creates a sense of acceptance and builds happiness within us. so start being nice to yourself and extend it outwards then you will see how happier you will become.
chrisan
November 6, 2014 at 12:30 pm
intellectual challenge
The human mind can hold only one thought at a time prominently, since there is nothing to be gained . Everything in our Universe is made up of Energy and it is the Law of Attraction that brings it all together, this explains why atoms are attracted to some atoms and repelled by others. Everything is energy in motion. If one accepts this premise then: nothing is fixed, there are no limitations, and everything is vibrating Energy. So therefore everything in the universe is vibrational energy: be it all inanimate objects, including our physical body, and also our thoughts, desires, experiences, and so on. Vibrations are all around us, they are in us, they affect everything we do, and in turn they are everything we do.