How to make work enjoyable
How to make work enjoyable is one of the big questions facing the world today. So many people have fallen into the trap of believing, or at least accepting, that work is something you only do because you have to. Not because it’s what you’re here for, and because it’s fun.
I’m often asked, what should you do if you’re not enjoying your work. The glib answer is: do something different.
But for many, it’s not that simple. With mouths to feed and bills to pay, sometimes any work is better than no work. And my belief is that any work that doesn’t actively conflict with your values can be made enjoyable.
Ups & Downs of Work
On my MBA I came across Herzberg’s 2-Factor theory of job satisfaction. It’s aimed mainly at corporate managers trying to get the most out of their team, I think it’s just as relevant to individual employees doing work that’s got a bit stale. Herzberg worked out that there are positive factors and negative factors that affect how we feel about our work.
The positive, or as Herzberg called them, Motivating Factors tend to be the things you would actively seek in your work. Things like it being aligned with your purpose, meaningful, rewarding, etc. It might also include things like, you can do it from home, or if you’re a social type, maybe that you get to meet lots of interesting people. What these are for you personally is going to be specific for you, so I’m not going to try to list them all out here. You’ll know what yours are.
The negative, or in Herzberg’s language, Hygiene factors tend to be a little less obvious. They are the things that niggle you, but you maybe don’t even notice. At least consciously. Things like the light that reflects off the office block opposite my office window at around 3:45 every afternoon. Or the drab décor in your office. Or maybe just the whole culture of an office you have to work in.
Hygiene factors can have a much greater impact on how to make work enjoyable than you realise. Because they’re just sort of ‘there’, they don’t come into your conscious awareness. But at a subconscious level, they are each sucking just a little bit of joy from your workday. In aggregate, they can make an enormous difference to how much you look forward to your work.
How to make work enjoyable when it isn’t
Some of those hygiene factors are things you can do something about. For example, it used to annoy me to close the blinds against the blinding reflection every afternoon. I like my daylight too much. So now I have a small square of thick paper that I put on the window as soon as the sun reaches that particular point.
But the décor of a client’s office isn’t something I can easily fix. That’s one of those hygiene factors you just have to live with. But there’s an enormous difference between choosing to live with it, and unconsciously accepting it. When it’s unconscious, it’s going to affect your mood, but you’re not in control of how. When you make a choice to be in allowance of their boring taste, it no longer has to impact your enjoyment of working with them.
The mindful way to make work a joy
The trick of how to make work enjoyable is to take a mindful approach to it. Be consciously aware of what’s great about it and seek out ways to get more of that. And also be consciously aware of what’s less great. When you notice your level of enjoyment at each moment of the working day, it becomes a lot easier to get more of the good stuff.
And if you can’t find a way to get less of the crap, a mindful approach also makes it easier to choose to be OK with it. When you’re able to realise “OK, right now that boring décor is rather sapping my energy”, you get to make a conscious choice about it. You can say, “OK, so the walls may be dirty grey, but I’m getting to do some good work here.” And then watch your energy brighten, regardless of the surroundings.
Making work enjoyable is a choice
There’s a great quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”. I take that further: nobody can make you feel anything without your consent. Nor can any ‘thing’, and certainly not your work. Not unless you let it.
YOU get to choose how you feel about your work. You can choose to let the hygiene factors spoil it for you. Or you can make the choice to remain in allowance of them, and to enjoy your work regardless.
It’s up to you. Love your work or hate it.
The choice is yours, what will it be?
(This post is based on this episode of Joyful Genius Live)
To get a free download of The A to Z of Loving Work, visit the Home Page
