Happiness, Satisfaction, & Change: Day I
Wow.
Three words we don’t often see in the same phrase. Yet they are so closely connected that I’m not sure they are inseparable.
Let’s spend the week together finding out how Happiness, Satisfaction, and Change are connected. We’ll start with a question:
Does Happiness at Work make a difference?
This month’s issue of Forbes magazine lists the 100 Best Companies to Work For. (The list is U.S.-based).
The #1 place to work?
Google.
According to Google co-founder Larry Page: “It’s common sense. Happy people are more productive.”
Is that really true?
Or are productive people happy as a result of being productive in their “Zone” (The Zone=the place where talent, passion, and a sense of service all converge to create a unique experience that transcends the ho-hum of grinding out a task).
Hmm. Perhaps what we are looking at is the idea of an internal perpetual motion machine: one that creates productive work experiences that lead to a sense of satisfaction that creates the feeling of happiness that makes us want to create another positive experie…. (You get the idea).
Did I see the word satisfaction sneak in there?
It’s time to check out some definitions so that we have a common starting point to take us through the series:
Happiness: good fortune; a state of well-being and contentment; a pleasurable or satisfying experience
Satisfaction: fulfillment of a need or want; the quality or state of being satisfied; contentment.
I’m feeling rather peaceful just typing the definitions.
What happens when we add Change?
Change: to make or become different; modify; making an essential difference often amounting to a loss of identity.
Whoa.
We spend many of our waking hours in workplaces filled with never-ending Change. Disequilibrium. Yet what we seem to seek is Happiness and Satisfaction whose basis, by definition, includes contentment.
How can we reconcile those?
We’ll make that our focus between now and Friday.
How do you reconcile–or integrate–Happiness, Satisfaction, and Change?
Steve Roesler of All Things Workplace is sitting in the CHO chair while Alex is on holiday.
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Alik Said,
February 4, 2008 @ 8:34 am
You set achievable goals - daily and weekly. 3 very concrete things each day. You conclude the day with satisfaction if all three are done. You conclude the week with happiness if all the days are concluded with satisfaction.
Tune yourself for happiness, anticipate satisfaction – set achievable goals and execute. So far works for me :)
Andy Baird Said,
February 4, 2008 @ 9:40 am
I think the key to that is first accepting that change is inevitable, in fact change is the only certainty. From there it is a matter of recognising that we have a choice to move the change in a positive or negative direction. If we’re moving it in a positive direction happyness and satisfaction should follow :D.
Andy Baird
Cash. Free Time. Luxury Travel. Are you getting yours?
http://go.yourwebcash.biz/
Kasper Said,
February 4, 2008 @ 10:21 am
I very much agree with Alik ..
The essence of maintaining a good worklife is to achieve something everyday.
A little but could be the word goal - I think it is used and misused in so many ways that we sometimes misunderstand it and gets a negative idea. Therefore i suggest that instead of achievable goals we use the words “happiness condition” :-)
And thank you for all your positive input here on the site .. both from Alex and all the comments !!!
Mark Harrison Said,
February 4, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
Where did the implication that “contentment” is somehow related to “status quo” come from?
Thinkers as far back as Maslow identified “self-actualization” as a core human need - indeed, the one at the top of the hierarchy. Self-actualization implies, well, CHANGE rather than stasis.
I view “change” as a continuum - at one end is perfect statis… and the other is the kind of rabid upheaval you get working in organisations with “initiative overload” problems. The ideal for me is somewhere in the middle - where we can see change happening (in a positive way), and help make it happen.
Earl Nightingale, back in the 1950s, used the phrase “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”
My personal definition could substitute the word “happiness” instead of “success”…
Michael Lee Stallard Said,
February 5, 2008 @ 1:27 am
The Greek language has two words for happiness that are relevant here. Hedonism is the word for happiness that comes from enjoying good food, entertainment, relaxation and similar activities. Eudiamosnisn is the word for the happiness we experience from personal growth(flow and optimal experience are similar notions). Personal growth requires enough change to stretch our talents so that they are further strengthened. in this state we lose a sense of self and time passing quickly. Beyond these Greek concepts are the feelings of happiness we experience when our needs for respect, recognition, belonging and meaning are met. The highest degree of contentment is met when all of the forms of happiness are experienced during the seasons of our lives. I should point out that the degrees that we experience these forms of happiness tends to fluctuate from season to season. It’s a mystery why this is so. It reminds me of El Gallo’s question in the Fantasticks, “Who understands . . . why we must all die a bit before we grow again?”
Steve Roesler Said,
February 5, 2008 @ 3:00 am
Alik, Kasper, Mark, and Michael,
By now you’ve all received an email response to your comments and a note lamenting the fact that I didn’t have access to the “Comment” page in the back end of the blog.
And then it hit me: I’ll just log in like everyone else…no problem! Just goes to show that we are, indeed, creatures of habit. I’ve been using a certain system over at the blog daily for about 18 months: so it’s like, “Oh, this is the way it has to be done.” (Please don’t rat me out to any of my clients).
Your collection of comments touches on so many facets of life that I’ve decided to use them for the next post.
Gracias…Danke…Grazie…Merci…Shukran…Thanks!
Tech Said,
February 5, 2008 @ 5:33 am
Google definitely have the right idea. Happy an motivated employees will be far more productive.
Steve Roesler Said,
February 6, 2008 @ 11:19 am
Right, Tech. I’ll bet it makes the employees yell “Yahoo!”
Corporate governance must be grounded in ownership despite the difficulties | Managing Leadership Said,
February 8, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
[...] tip: Steve Roesler, author of All Things Workplace, is presently continuing his important series on change at the vacationing Alexander Kjerulf’s site, The Chief Happiness Officer. Please stop over [...]