The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

  • The great Christmas blogger book give-away

    Alexander KjerulfI will celebrate Christmas and the new year here on the blog by celebrating the blogging community.

    I’ve been blogging for almost four years and blogging has given me energy, inspiration, new friends, feedback and help.

    The spirit of blogging is, in my opinion, generosity. Therefore, it would give me great pleasure to give away 100 pdf-copies of my new book on happiness at work to the first 100 bloggers who ask for one.

    Happy Hour is 9 to 5Here are the rules:

    1. If you’re a blogger and would like a copy of the book in pdf, sign up by leaving a comment on this post. Make sure to enter both your email and the URL of your blog in the appropriate fields. I will (of course) not save or abuse your email in any way.

    There are no further rules!

    I wish you a spectacular Christmas!

    UPDATE: I’m flabbergasted!! In less than 24 hours 100 bloggers signed up to get a copy. Thanks to each and every one. I’ll mail the book out later today.

    UPDATE UPDATE: I mailed out the books at 6PM GMT Friday. If you signed up and the book doesn’t show up in your inbox soon there may be a problem with the email address in your comment. Send me a mail and I’ll re-send it to you.

  • Huh?

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    This blog often gets trackbacks in languages I don’t speak but this one tickles me no end:

    Motivation

    It’s a summation/translation of this post. Woo-hoo!

  • The Economist cramps my style

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    Here’s the author photo I had taken for my book about happiness at work:

    Alexander Kjerulf

    It was taken by Rune Heickendorf who takes some amazingly great pictures.

    And now my friend Lars alerts me to the cover of the new issue of The Economist:

    The Economist on happiness

    How much do you think I should sue them for?

    Seriously: It’s great to see how happiness is becoming a central theme in economics. There’s a growing realization that once your basic needs are covered, more money does not make you any happier. Therefore it makes sense for societies, politicians and economists to focus more on maximizing a nation’s happiness instead of its GDP. For a great book on that, read Richard Layard’s excellent book Happines – lessons from a new science.

  • I don’t mean to brag but…

    Happy Hour is 9 to 5David Maister, one of the world’s leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, read my book and says that:

    It’s very, very good. I learned a lot. It’s incredibly well written, full of insights, and there are exercises to improve your own happiness at work. You can’t ask for more than that!

    I’ve been smiling all morning at the thought of the words “Very, very good” and “Incredibly well written”. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

    Read the book free on line or buy it on paper or pdf.

  • Quote

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    Work should always be fun for all colleagues. We all only have one life. A third of life is work. Without desire and fun, work becomes hell.

    – Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA

  • Workbook

    WorkbookI have just uploaded a workbook containing the exercises for my brand new book Happy Hour is 9 to 5 – How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work.

    Download it here:

    These exercises will work fine even for people who haven’t read the book and you’re more than welcome to:

    • Email the workbook to as many people as you want.
    • Use it at work with your team, department or work group.
    • Modify the questions to fit your specific work situation.
    • Or whatever else you can think of. Knock yourself out.

    mp3’s for some of the exercises are coming very soon!

    Read the book free online here and buy it on paper or as a pdf here.

  • A question for ya: Losing a job you love

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    QuestionOn my post about Liking vs. loving your job, Love Lost asks:

    I had a job that I loved, I worked hard, loved what I did, did well with the people I worked with. But then the 18 month contract ran out and I can’t go back for six months and they can’t make me a permanent employee.

    So what do you do when you lose a job you love and take a job you may hate?

    That’s a really good question. What would you do? Write a comment, I’d really like to know!

  • Why “Motivation by Pizza” Doesn’t Work

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    Motivation

    My store manager implemented an embarrassing (and happily short-lived) safety incentive: Employees caught violating safety procedure were immediately given a two-foot rubber chicken on a string to wear around their necks–in front of customers. To get rid of the chicken, an employee needed to catch another employee behaving “unsafely.”

    The practice quickly descended into a game of hot potato, with employees chasing one another around the store in search of the slightest violation to rid themselves of the safety chicken.

    Source: workingamerica.com’s MyBadBoss contest.

    Many people don’t feel motivated at work, and there’s a very simple explanation for this: The motivational techniques used by most managers don’t work.

    While few companies use rubber chickens (fortunately), most of the standard motivational tools like promotions, bonuses, employee of the month awards, pep-talks and free-pizza-nights are downright harmful to the drive, energy and commitment of employees. It only leaves them feeling manipulated, cynical and demotivated.

    The result: According to one Gallup study 60-80% of workers are not engaged at work. They feel little or no loyalty, passion or motivation on the job. They’re putting in the hours, but they’re not doing a great job and they’re certainly not happy at work!

    As the illustration above shows, there are four different kinds of motivation. Only one of them works and unfortunately, many managers focus exclusively on the other three. Kinda silly, huh?

    These are the four different kinds of motivation:
    (more…)

  • First reviews of Happy Hour is 9 to 5

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    Happy Hour is 9 to 5The first reviews from readers of my just-published book about happiness at work Happy Hour is 9 to 5 are coming in and people seem to love it. Yaaaaay!

    Sheldon Cooke says:
    “…by far one of the most refreshing books on work culture that I’ve ever seen.”

    Lars Pind says:
    “I just purchased my copy, and it’s looking really good… It’s easily worth the $19 price tag for the PDF version.

    stic writes:
    “…the tips & tricks and recommendations will certainly take you closer to this euphoria.”

    Read all about the book, read it free online and buy it here.

    If you’ve read it, you can also add your own review.

  • Monday Tip: Send a co-worker an anonymous present

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    The Chief Happiness Officer's monday tipsFirst go read this inspiring story from Kenny Moore, a catholic monk who went corporate.

    My plan was to anonymously send a $40 floral arrangement to two unsuspecting employees every Monday morning… Attached to the flowers would be a note: “Don’t ever think your good efforts go unnoticed.” Signed: “From someone who cares.”

    Then do the same: Send someone in your organization an anonymous present. Flowers, candy, balloons, a cool gadget. Something fun, happy, cheap and positive. Attach a note similar to Kenny’s

    Then watch what happens and tell me about it in a comment.

    The Chief Happiness Officer’s Monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.

    Previous monday tips.

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“It’s very, very good. It’s incredibly well written, full of insights, and there are exercises to improve your own happiness at work. You can’t ask for more than that!”
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