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Happiness is not just a mood but a form of wisdom. Happiness is not the result of external stimulation but is generated from within.
In work, our unhappiness is not caused by others but by ourselves. It's normal if you don't believe this right now; please read on.
Why are we unhappy? In practice, there are three reasons: I. You believe the environment is unfair. II. You think work is tiring and annoying. III. You feel there is no hope for the future and nothing to be happy about. These three points share a commonality: they are all based on your own perceptions. Therefore, unhappiness is caused by your own beliefs.
Happiness is not brought by others but is something you strive for. If you don't believe you can achieve happiness at work, you certainly won't.
Why do we feel work is tiring? First, because we don't see our value to the company and fear that our efforts won't be rewarded or recognized. In reality, employees contribute to the enterprise in three ways: first, by delivering visible results; second, by accumulating the company's methodology during the process; third, by embodying a certain corporate spirit. Unhappy employees often focus only on the first point. Second, because we often do useless and repetitive work. Why do we do useless work? Because we don't think about the value of what we do for the company, customers, or colleagues. Doing things just for the sake of doing them naturally makes you tired. It's important to note that your value often lies in making others' work more valuable. This is simple, but many don't understand it, leading to unhappiness. Why do we do repetitive work? Because we don't do things right the first time. The standard for doing things right isn't our own opinion but the other party's.
Why do we feel annoyed? Because we encounter many problems. Remember, today's problems come from yesterday's solutions. The problem itself isn't the key issue; the key issues are: first, why did today's problem arise? If we had anticipated possible problems and prepared, "problems wouldn't be problems." Always strive for the best and prepare for the worst. Preparation means planning, and planning means simulation. So not making plans is making your future unhappy. Second, when problems occur, an unhappy state makes us more impatient. Things won't change because you're unhappy; on the contrary, your unhappiness makes problems worse. So happiness belongs to employees who are planned and organized.
Why can't we find happy things? Because we don't know what we want. When we don't know what we want, we actually want everything, and that certainly makes it hard to find happiness. When we clearly know what we want (or what we want to become) and use that standard to guide our current work, we'll find that many things become steps toward our goals, and we'll enjoy the process. So happiness belongs to employees with aspirations and plans.
Why do we think things are unfair? Because we haven't understood fairness. Fairness isn't about comparison; it's about self-adjustment. When you think the boss takes the biggest profit and you get only a little for your hard work, don't forget that the company paid tuition for you before, and the value you gained (experience accumulation) is also due to the company giving you opportunities to make mistakes. These are intellectual income. (Of course, if you don't accumulate, it's because you don't want this income.) So income isn't just money. When you think someone who works as hard as you gets more, consider whether your value to the company is the same, because the company needs employees' value in three aspects, not just results. Also, the value you create isn't solely from you; it's the entire company system that creates value. Don't forget, if someone else replaced you, the results might be even better. So happiness belongs to employees with positive thinking and accumulation.
We often think we are the chess players, wanting everything to go according to our design, or thinking we can just muddle through. But don't forget, each of us is a chess piece in the company; the market is the chess player. The more we worry about something, the more likely it happens. Problems today remain problems tomorrow. So happiness belongs to employees with wisdom, not just cleverness.
If you've found the reasons for our unhappiness, let's change our perspective and make ourselves happy, because happiness can increase your work value by 30%. Of course, if you don't agree with the following, then let unhappiness continue to accompany you!
Happiness Tip 1: First, learn to let go. Let go of what? Let go of unhappy things. If you can still remember a day three years ago when your superior criticized you or fined you, then you're unfortunate—you've been carrying that unhappiness for three years. Aren't you tired? The more unhappy things occupy our brains, the fewer happy memories we have, because our brain space is limited. Let go of unhappy things and pick up happy ones.
Happiness Tip 2: Let your strengths shine at work. Using your strengths to work is the key to happiness. Do things in the way you're good at. If you're good at drawing, use drawings to convey work content to others. If you're good at writing, communicate with others through text. If your strength is being down-to-earth and hardworking, then move your customers and superiors with your diligence. Letting your strengths play out will make you happy. As for weaknesses, changing them is hard, but just don't put yourself in environments that easily expose your weaknesses. For example, if you're forgetful, since you know that, you can ask others to remind you or write things down so you can see them daily. Any weakness can be avoided with external help; the key is whether we think of ways to use external help. If you know you're not careful, double-check and have others double-check too.
Happiness Tip 3: Treat every conflict as an opportunity to understand! When customers scold us, it makes us clearer about their needs and temperaments, shows us what we could have done but didn't do well, and teaches us how to deal with them in the future. Isn't that a happy thing for us? When colleagues don't understand us, it shows us that our previous communication was ineffective and helps us understand them better. It's not about what you said, but what the other person felt! We need to adjust our communication style. Isn't that a happy thing for us?
Happiness Tip 4: Continuously learn from others' strengths. The greatest loss is seeing others' strengths and not learning from them. Learning isn't copying but transforming. Strengths have causes and effects; we often learn the effect but not the cause, so learning doesn't bring happiness.
Happiness Tip 5: Don't pay for your stubbornness. If you're wrong, you're wrong. We make a mistake and often make another mistake to prove we were right. Admitting your mistake to yourself is like unloading a burden. Once the burden is unloaded, we feel happy.
Happiness Tip 6: Create a happy work environment. The environment can make us unhappy, but we are also part of others' environment. When we're unhappy, we make colleagues unhappy, and when they're unhappy, it affects us, making us even more unhappy, until everyone is unhappy. Everyone likes to be with someone who makes them happy and dislikes being with someone who makes them unhappy. Behind this simple truth, what have we done?
Happiness Tip 7: You can't see your own face, but you can clearly see others' faces. So you can't see whether your expression brings happiness to others. We need to search sincerely from within to radiate happiness naturally.
Happiness Tip 8: Do your work right the first time. Much of our work time is wasted on redoing work that wasn't done well initially. Doing things right the first time is the foundation of easy work. If we spend every day revising previous work that wasn't done right, we'll definitely be tired. So to be relaxed and happy, do things right the first time.
Happiness Tip 9: Don't think you're always right. Work isn't about proving who's right or wrong but about pursuing win-win outcomes. What we see is often what we think is true.
Happiness Tip 10: Happiness is summarized from our daily work. If you want to be happy, you can be happy.