Good Life Tips: Work Stance

Posted by Jerry Lopper Apr 3, 2007

The new and growing field of positive psychology offers much good advice and tips to help you be happier, more fulfilled, and enjoy a good life.

For more Positive Psychology material see Positive Psychology Tips and Tools in the index.

Good Life Tip:

Consider three views or stances you might hold toward your work:

• a. My work is a job, it pays the bills.
• b. My work is a career, a stepping stone to future positions.
• c. My work is my calling, I was meant to do this work.

Research shows that those for whom work is a calling have a strong sense of overall life fulfillment.

What can you do for greater fulfillment if your primary arena of work, whether a paid position or an unpaid volunteer, which includes homemaker, feels more like a job or career than a calling?

Look for areas within your work that give you great satisfaction.

Many of the demands on parents and homemakers lack inherent avenues for self-satisfaction and appreciation. Yet there are also opportunities to recognize meaningful undercurrents, such as imparting strong values on young children or providing a clean and healthy environment for the family.

Likewise, within routine jobs that one holds simply for the income needed, there are also opportunities to recognize meaningful and fulfilling components of the job.

Obviously, the best solution is to find work which brings purpose and meaning to your life. Finding work that feels like your calling brings the greatest opportunity for life fulfillment and satisfaction.

Source: Positive Psychology and Coaching class notes, Fall, 2006, P.A. Linley