Are You Enjoying What You Do?
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Dec 22, 2010
I have a program for my personal email that rotates funny taglines with every new email I send out. One of the taglines that comes up occasionally states this: "Not having fun at your job? That's why they call it 'work'".
There are a lot of people who believe that you're not supposed to have any enjoyment when you're at your place of employment, or in any career you do. Unfortunately, that's often reinforced by managers and supervisors who think they have to keep people on a tight leash in order to get the job done. If there's suddenly a burst of laughter, these leaders feel like they have to tell everyone that "this is a workplace; let's get back to work."
Something that many supervisors and managers haven't learned is that if you can keep people happy to a degree, they'll work much better and be more efficient. People who are always on edge, worried that they're going to do something wrong or upset someone will be concentrating more on that than on what it is that they're supposed to be doing.
I used to do a few things to try to lighten things up. For one, I didn't have a problem with people being able to talk on the phone. There was a limit, of course, but telling people they couldn't take personal calls was ridiculous, especially when so many of them had children.
I also selected employees from different departments that I was responsible for and created a committee that was responsible for setting up a monthly lunch event, as well as keep track of birthdays within the office. That worked well because everyone knew that on their birthday they'd be feted to something nice, and that once a month we'd have something special to participate in. I paid for some of it, and every once in awhile the CFO ponied up some money as well. Strangely enough, the hospital I worked at eventually picked up on some of what I was doing and had special events hospital wide for all employees.
But what about you? Do you enjoy what you do? I have to say that I enjoyed what I was doing back in the past. As an independent consultant, I enjoy what I do now as well. There are times when I run into challenges that aren't so much fun, but on the whole I'd have to say that I've enjoyed doing what I do, and of course would add that I'd love to be doing more of it, helping people much more while getting paid for it.
If you don't enjoy it, what could you do so that you can enjoy it more? And how can you help others enjoy what they do as well?
Hi Mitch
I do enjoy what I am doing cos it is associated with my blog and my passion.
Sure there are challenges but being self-employed means I can set the standards and work when I choose. At the moment the hours are longer, income less but still worth all the hard work and know that it will eventually be a viable business.
Also have the opportunity to diversify and make those choices for myself. Years of being in a very hierachical profession (nursing) great to be free of all that and make all my own decisions now.
Patricia Perth Australia
That’s great stuff, Pat. I applaud you on your quest for self sufficiency. 😉
Couldn’t agree more! Fun and enjoyment are extremley important, and no less in your work life.
Perhaps one of the best “philosphies” I’ve seen around enjoying work is the “Fish!” philosophy.
Apologies for the poor spelling!
Daniel, I read that book and many others; I like those types of things. One of these days I’m going to learn how to write one that short. And yes, it should always be about fun.