By standard, we spend around eight hours at work every day from Monday to Friday.

In practice, many people spend 10 to 12 hours at work. From the 24 hours we have in a day, you possibly sleep seven or eight hours, plus the 10 to 12 hours at work that makes 17 to 20 hours.

Therefore, you are basically at home and awake for only four to seven hours compared with 10 to 12 hours at work. Basically from Monday to Friday, you spend twice as much time at work compared to home.

This means that you have to seriously think about the quality of time you spend at work. You need to make your workplace your home. Be happy at work.

In life, we all need is to be happy. If you cannot be happy at work, where you spend the most time, then on average you cannot be a happy person. That is why today, we want to spend some time looking at being happy at work. In fact, if you are happy at work, chances are that most things will work out well for you.

For starters, by being happy, you will be happy to work hard and to clear your work fast. If you are happy, many people will be happy to work with you, supporting you in your tasks and delivering for you when you need their support.

And quite importantly, as a happy person, you will attract other happy people, making your environment even more conducive for maximum productivity.

Let us now look at some of the things that you can do to be optimally happy at work and make your workplace your ‘home’:

Choose what you like: Chances are that if you do what you like most at your work then you will already be on a good path towards being happy at work. Are you currently doing what you love most? If you look around hard enough, you should one day find what you really enjoy doing. If you cannot find work that you can enjoy, you need to accept that and train yourself to love what you do. I have met people who trained themselves to love their jobs when initially they never liked those jobs.  

Be in control of your work: Many people do not realise this, that when they are not in control of what they do, they work under pressure, thereby increasing the stress they subject themselves to. Avoid that by being in control of your affairs at work. Do not wait for people to always give you work or to remind you about missed deadlines. Be proactive in all this to gain a satisfactory level of control.

Make friends at work: Since the work place is where you spend most of your time, you better make good friends there. My experience is that if you have many general friends at work, you will experience a good amount of goodwill, acceptability and conducive environment for work. It is easy to make many friends at work. Be approachable and approach people with smiles. Take interest in what they do. Do not be selective, be open to talk with anybody at work. Be likeable and humble. This way, you will make many general friends at work.

Find time to relax: You cannot be all work at work. Find some slots of time to relax and have fun. It is all down to balance. Work hard but also find time to play and have fun. A couple of weeks ago, we shared the story of Frank Ziba, who works very hard but also makes time for fun – even with his family after work. Make some time for fun even at work. Enjoy your time at work.

Avoid negativity: You may do all the right things to be happy, but if also inject in some negative energy, then you will take away some of the hard earned happiness. Therefore, you need to avoid negativity. Kill off negatives thoughts in your mind. Avoid jealousy, backbiting and all these bad habits at work. Associate yourself with positively minded people rather than those who like to think and talk about negative things.

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