“It’s work! You’re not supposed to like it. You’re paid to do it.”
You’ve probably heard this statement before. It overlooks the possibility of contentment with your work. That kind of work involves swapping your time for dollars and putting your nose to the grindstone to fulfill your part of the bargain. And if you’re not satisfied, you can always leave.
But anywhere you go, it’s still work.
Even if this point of view is true, so is the possibility of recognizing your contentment. You can fulfill your part of the employment contract and still look for ways to appreciate your work by choosing to focus on what’s going right. Disney’s “Snow White” referred to this ability we all have as ‘whistling while you work,’ a metaphor for how you should be thinking while working.
In any job you take, or even in your life more broadly, you have the option to make yourself content even in dissatisfying situations. This self-sustaining ability is made possible by the fact that contentment is an emotional response to your own thinking. Emotions aren’t dependent on your circumstances or what employers do, they’re dependent only on how you choose to think.
The benefit of thinking intentionally in a non-negative manner is your improved attitude, motivation, and performance. This is in addition to your increased resilience, your ability to persevere when faced with frustrations linked with such things as low pay, long hours, lack of recognition, poor supervision, etc.
You also have the option to think habitually in a negative manner about your work. Rather than look for what’s going right, you could ruminate about what’s going wrong. So instead of whistling, you whine and complain.
But when you allow yourself to think this way, you risk creating the emotions of fear, worry, envy, doubt, and anger. You risk jeopardizing how well you feel and perform and the impressions you create. You might even lose your job and the income it provides.
The following is an excerpt from my book titled, “Career Contentment: Don’t Settle for Anything Less.”
This is about a man called Clay, who managed to recognize his contentment while painting an old rusty fence.
Clay discovered how each of us has the option to recognize contentment in any work we’re given to do. He knew the task would be difficult before starting. But he also realized that unless he focused his thoughts, he might not finish or receive a paycheck.
He succeeded in controlling his thoughts, finished the job, and was handed a check. In the process, Clay unexpectedly created contentment in a dissatisfying situation. Furthermore, his contentment with this task lasted for years, and will probably continue for the rest of his life.