Happiness Expert: 2 Common (But Terrible) Bits of Career Advice
A professor at Harvard University, (last name Brooks – first name unknown from the news article upon which this career-related commentary is based), teaches Harvard students (or, as he puts it, “hundreds of anxious young people”) how to be happy in your work.
Recently, Brooks warned new graduates against two common but “terrible” pieces of advice:
- “Go find a job that you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life!”
To the first, Brooks noted, “Good luck with that. It’s a great way to ruin your life.” He explained that expecting a job to be fun all the time will set you up to hate any job – when the work – or some of the people working around you – inevitably become difficult and not fun.
- “Go save the world!”
To the second bit of advice, Brooks scoffed his response: “No pressure!” To expect your day job to solve the world’s myriad problems is another recipe for disappointment.
Some may guess that the actual ingredients for job satisfaction are money, prestige, power and admiration. “No, no, no and no” Brooks said.
TWO EXPERT SUGGESTIONS FOR FINDING HAPPINESS AT YOUR WORK
- Earn your success. Dedicate yourself to learning job tasks and trying to improve your performance every day. Attention to both details and the ‘big picture goals.’ Be the best but be humble about your achievements.
Maybe you’ll work in your college major – probably not. Maybe you’ll land your dream job – probably not, especially if you don’t yet know what your dream job is.
None of this matters, as long as at the end of the day, you can say, on most days at least, I did my work with love and with excellence.’
- Do your job in a way that serves others, not just yourself.
For ultimate happiness, it does not matter if your job is fun all the time or whether it “singlehandedly” fixes the world. Instead, deeper satisfaction comes from work that can make a difference in the lives of some. And serving others comes from how you do your job, not what your job is. You can serve others whether you work in a bank, put roofs on houses or raise children.
Service to others is loving everybody for their talents and their differences. Respect people and you’ll be respected in return.
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This career-related commentary is based on a news article written by Rebecca Picciotto, published online May 16, 2023, by CNBC’s Small Business Playbook.
