The Power Of Happiness In Business

In the past fifty years incomes have risen and our lifestyles have been greatly enhanced with technological breakthroughs. Research shows that the average person is no happier than they were before all this. What is happiness? Is happiness just a state of mind? Is it something we are genetically predisposed to . . or not? Does the power of inner happiness cause success in our business endeavors or are we doomed to be slaves to the circumstances in our lives. If things are all working perfectly as we want them to, we’re happy; if not, we’re depressed.Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher asked his students this question, “What is the good life?” There are modern psychologists that dedicate themselves to the study of happiness. Researchers actively pursue the questions of what happiness is. Some of the questions they ask are:

***Can people actually attain a greater level of happiness?
***Is happiness a choice?
***Is happiness inherited?
***Is happiness a worthy pursuit?
***What is happiness?

In his book, “Authentic Happiness”, Martin Seligman, a pre-eminent psychologist in the field of happiness, discusses the elements of happiness. He breaks down the current research to it’s simplest core. He describes key elements that can make up a “happiness formula”. In his words these are:

***”Happiness = Set range + Circumstances + Voluntary Control
Set range is our normal inherited happiness level. Researchers indicate that anything up to fifty percent of our propensity to be happy is pre-ordained by our genetic make-up.
Circumstances are the external events or factors in our lives which affect our happiness. This element is not as significant as we might think. The latest research indicates that only around ten percent of our happiness is determined by our circumstances.

Voluntary control is determined by the factors we can influence. This is perhaps the most telling element of the formula, suggesting that up to forty percent of our happiness is within our voluntary control.”

Expounding on Seligman’s last category, Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky describes three groups of “intentional activities”.  They are:

Cognitive activities – are we regularly adopting an optimistic or positive attitude?

Behavioral activities – are we regularly kind to others, do we engage in physical exercise?

Volitional activities – are we identifying meaningful personal goals.

So, it appears that the power of happiness doesn’t just come from inside of us. Nor does it depend totally on our circumstances. Modern Jonathan Haidt positive psychologist, in his book, Happiness Hypothesis, arrives at his conclusion that “happiness comes from between. That is, by balancing the set range, circumstances and voluntary control elements of Seligman’s “happiness formula.”

So what has all this happy talk got to do with business? Isn’t our job or profession what we do with a huge portion of our lives so we can eat? All the experts agree that the most important tip in knowing the power of happiness in business (and life in general) is “Do what you love”. The majority of our population might think it ludicrous to associate the word “love” with business. We might say that it is a “good job”, a “well paying job”, it’s “interesting work”, or “it pays the bills”. How many people do you know that could answer quickly and with conviction, “I love my job”?

Can we imagine the kind of business that would be such happy work that it would feel like a calling? It would look like getting up in the morning excited to begin the business day; and at night we would have a deep sense of satisfaction for our activities of the day. It would be something that we would pour our affection into. If we only dread going to work we are wasting one third (at least) of our lives.

The prophet, Kalil Gibran, puts it this way,

“And what is it to work with love?
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste,
it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple
and take alms of those who work with joy.”

Many would consider this really radical thinking. But what if we sat with ourselves as a natural process in our lives and considered, “What would I really LOVE to do?” We could actually be joyful in work that pays less if it was something we were passionate about. It really will take some time to get in touch with what we would desire to do for a calling/work.
We live lives that are totally based on the wrong priorities which leads to lives filled with stress.

How sad it would be to sit in our rocking chair when we are ninety something and be thinking, “Geez, I wish I would have done _____.” Worse yet, would be to die of a stress related condition before we hit old age because we hated how we spent our days.

It could take some time to transition into the kind of work we’re talking about here. The journey of finding the power of happiness in our lives and business is worth the travel. We might start with baby steps but consider how that little bit of joy will affect the rest of our day. Then we can recycle that happiness into the current work situation we find ourselves in. Step by step we can create a joyful life and business by practicing happiness.