How to Come Home Happy While Succeeding at Your Job Few people are euphoric doing their jobs but misery is definitely not the price of getting ahead.
By Alexander Maasik •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
One of the most problematic issue about being good at your job is staying positive throughout a stressful day and keeping your spirits, when things are not going as planned. And even when you're the best, you often have some setbacks.
If you're not happy at work, you're not alone. Only 42 percent of employees are happy with the rewards and recognition their company provides. So it's up to you, personally, to make sure you enjoy your days as much as possible.
Have a plan.
It's important to go to work knowing what you're going to do.
To combat anxiety and confusion, you need to know what you're going to do next. It's up to you whether you lay out your plans for the next week on Fridays, which makes Mondays a little more bearable, or if you finish each day with a road map for the next.
Not knowing what you should do next is a big source of insecurity that's definitely not good for you.
If your workplace doesn't use a good progress planning system, you can make one up for yourself. Easiest to use would be the Plans Progress Problems methodology. You can set three to five big tasks each week in advance and later get the satisfaction of moving them to "progress.''
Related: 6 Common Barriers to Happiness and Productivity for Men
Develop a morning ritual.
An early morning start each day is very beneficial. A lot of successful entrepreneurs are early risers who do specific things to kick start their day.
It doesn't matter if your morning ritual is meditating, jogging or reading newspapers, having a constant in your day increases stability and daily satisfaction.
Work smarter, not harder.
Jessica Stillman has compared working with doing workouts: As anyone who has ever gone to the gym can tell you there are two components to a workout's difficulty: intensity (how heavy is the weight) and duration (are you lifting it five times or 20).
Might the same be true of work? Can you find the sweet spot of professional happiness by reducing duration but amping up intensity?"
Spending less time at work leaves you with more energy that can be used to focus on important tasks and with that, get better results.
Related: 12 Ways to Stop Undermining Your Self Esteem
Take breaks to relax.
Staying energized throughout the day requires regular breaks to your work. Statistics show that the highest performing 10 percent of employees take small breaks every hour.
That way you still have some energy left at the end of the workday.
Find something good in each day.
You don't have breakthroughs at work every day. Sometimes you feel you've achieved nothing at all. This is probably not true because we seldom appreciate the small things. After doing the 100 Happy days challenge last year, I realized how important it is to find at least one thing good each day. Every day, before leaving the office, I try to find something that made me proud or makes me smile. That's what I take home from work to share with my family.
We create our happiness.
The Dalai Lama has said "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."
We can work really hard each day, be very successful and go home drained and tired. Or we can take action to enjoy each day at work as much as possible.
Related: 3 Strategies for Hacking Happiness
