Over the last few weeks, I have been sharing this idea of being happy at work. Why? Because when you ask the members of Generation Z(the next generation coming into the workforce) what they value most in life, most have a simple answer: Happiness. Happy people are “12% more productive” than those who aren’t, according to a comprehensive study from the University of Warwick.
This week, I’m pursuing the idea that doing meaningful work can help people be happier.
We Spend a Lot of Time at Work
When I talk about work in this post, I’m referring to the thing that we do for our “vocation.” The thing that we show up 40 hours a week to do for the majority of our lives. It doesn’t have to be a “typical” job we think about like working at a startup or large corporation. Rather, it’s the activity (or activities) we do to create and restore things to their best and highest use as a means to build thriving cultures. This can be done via almost any job — financial planning, art, computer programming, construction, being a parent, and so many more. The bottom line is that the way we spend the majority of our days is actually important.
Most of us spend at least eight hours of our day pursuing some sort of vocation. The United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics now shows that the average American…
