Three signs of a miserable job

Do you hate your job? While Gallup finds that 77% of Americans hate their jobs, a University of Chicago survey shows satisfaction at 86%. Let's see, they were either talking to vastly different survey samples, or the questions were wildly different.

The reality is that there are a lot of people who feel trapped in their jobs for financial reasons, who feel unappreciated by their bosses, and who face each day's work as another day of drudgery. There are a lot of self-help gurus out there who would suggest that you should find your passion, and the money and satisfaction will follow. Easier said than done when financial security is shaky and others are depending on your earnings.

Another school of thought is that the job is about the money. If you want satisfaction, you should seek it in another area of your life. Certainly more practical, and worth factoring into job choices; but this denies the reality that work takes up a very large portion of our waking hours.

Nash and Stevenson in their book, Just Enough: Tools for Creating Success in Your Work and Life, suggest that success has four components:

• Happiness – feeling about pleasure and contentment about your life
• Achievement – accomplishments that compare favorably against similar goals others have strived for
• Significance – the sense that you’ve made a positive impact on people you care about
• Legacy – a way to establish your values or accomplishments so as to help others find future success.

In an ideal world, maybe our job can give fulfill needs in all four of these areas; but most people live in less than idea worlds. Rather than seeking everything from one aspect of our lives, perhaps it would be more useful to find happiness in hobbies, family and community work; to find significance with your friends and in service to others; and to find legacy through your families and other creations from your heart. Who knows, maybe in looking for satisfaction out of the job, it will be easier to get out of bed in the mornings.

For more on the three signs of a miserable job and what managers aren't doing about it, see Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's blog through the title link.

Enduring Success

Research done at the Harvard Business School has shown that enduring success is seen across four areas :

• Achievement: Do you measure accomplishments against an external goal, e.g., for example, power, wealth, recognition, competition against others?
• Happiness: Is there contentment or pleasure with and about your life?
• Significance: Do you have a valued impact on others whom you choose?
• Legacy: Have you infused your values and your accomplishments into the lives of others to leave something behind?

Stevenson and Nash contend that in fact, all four areas are required to achieve enduring success. Achievement or what we often see as success often arrives in the business world without balance across the personal, spiritual and service spectrums. The research points out conflict often arises across these areas, as they compete for your attention and resources.

As we move into the Year of the Golden Pig - year destined for prosperity - consider whether your success is balanced.

Achievement: What measures of success have you established for your work life? What have you achieved in your life? What challenging goals have you set for the future? Are you progressing toward your goals? Is there a way this could or should be accelerated?

Happiness: Is there contentment or pleasure in your life? Have you surrounded yourself with people and things that bring you enjoyment? Where are your sources of frustrations? Are there actions you could take today to reduce them? What small step could you take that would bring you a smile? Can you make it last?

Significance: When you look at the people that you interact with in your personal and professional life, are you added positive value to their lives? Consider your spouse/significant other, your children, your co-workers, your subordinates, your clients, and your friends. Are you adding to their achievement? to their happiness? to their development? What more could you do? What are your aims as you consider your impact on others?

Legacy: What impact will you leave behind you, whether small (influencing the life of one person) or large (improving the world)? What impact would you like to leave? What could you do today that would begin to use your success in other areas in a way that leaves positively influences the world?

Consider the words of Robin S. Sharma, from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari,

...the purpose of life is a life on purpose. Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually. Clearly defined priorities and goals for every aspect of your life will serve a role similar to that played by a lighthouse, offering you guidance and refuge when the seas become rough".

Have you set goals and priorities that will lead you to enduring success and a life on purpose?

Lagace, Martha. “Four Keys of Enduring Success: How High Achievers Win”, June 24, 2002, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2990.html. HBS professor Howard Stevenson offers insights from research he and HBS senior research fellow Laura Nash are conducting on the meaning of success for high achievers.

Sharma, Robin S. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, 1997, New York: HarperTorch.