Can Work Be More Significant and Enjoyable? Yes, If You Find What You Value
There’s a controversial singer form my neighboring town that sings, “the happiness of life is placed in work.”
He’s mostly right though. There’s a lot of happiness to be found in work. And given that we spend countless hours doing it, we’re lucky that it is.
As Sarah J. Ward and Laura A. King concluded in their meta-analysis of ‘work and the good life’,
“It is well-established that people who are employed have higher psychological well-being than people who are unemployed.”
Unfortunately, however, there are people in employment that doesn’t feel that their work is a contributor to well-being.
It’s not what they want. It feels mundane, repetitive or even like something that drains the soul. It’s very much the opposite of well-being.
But why is this? Why is there so much potential happiness in work, and yet not everyone gets to experience it?
Well, part of the reason is because of values. As Jeanne Nakamura, an author and psychologist explained,
“[For] felt significance… the key condition is the connection or integration of the self with something that is valued.”
