HOW TO BE HAPPY AT

WORK PLACE
By GRK Murty

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 HINTS:
 Have a right state of ‘Mind’
 Keep yourself ‘Physically fit’
 Have control over ‘Time’
 Cultivate ‘Hope’
 Build a network of ‘Friends’
 Shun ‘Workholism’
 Balance your ‘Activities’

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 RIGHT STATE OF MIND
1. Execute your role just as a child:
A child plays a game for the sake of play,
enjoys the best of both the worlds. A child
transform common places into the
priceless. We often watch children ‘being
alive to the moment’ and display fresh
quality of freedom, of “letting themselves
go”, instinctively realize that happiness is
more when one is being spontaneous. So,
cultivate that spontaneity and an air of
freshness charged with a gay abandon and
Learn to just enjoy the work.
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 Right State of Mind
(contd..)

 Overcome your frailties:

Those who are unhappy, never hold
themselves responsible for their
condition, but instead blame their
jobs, marriages or the cruelty of
fate, and are destined to be
frustrated and confused. So, one
needs to achieve a fair measure of
harmony with oneself and one’s
family circle. i.e., affection and
understanding of the family.
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 Right State of Mind (contd..)

1. Sharpen your wits:

Observe man and nature and realise that
the seat of happiness rests in the unique
strength and beauty within all living
things.
a. Behave with others as you would
with yourself.
b. Believe all are your soul-mates and love
them all alike – you will never feel
lonely.
c. Cultivate the quality of forgiveness,
compassion and service – you will be
lovable in the eyes of all. 5
 Right State of Mind
(contd..)

1. Cultivate right frame of mind:

a. Never ever resort to airing feverish,
selfish cluster of ailments and
grievances – this puts off living happily
today.
b. Have purity of mind in thought, word and
action – achieve excellence at work.

Such a mindset spontaneously give rise to

devotion that is indispensable to achieve
any success, of which quality of life is a
natural follower.
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 KEEP YOURSELF PHYSICALLY FIT

1. Good health is a source of

happiness:
a. Ill health can lead to mental
disturbances and even
depression – disables a person
from pursuing personal goals.
b. Poor health disturbs the whole
family – increases the
medical expenses and inflicts
financial constraints. 7
KEEP YOURSELF PHYSICALLY FIT (contd…)

1. Sound Health:
a. Enables you to concentrate on
your work and perform duties
efficiently.
b. It improves the quality of life.
c. Good habits such as timely food,
sleep, exercise and work play a
vital part in maintaining sound
health.
d. Overindulgence in sensual
pleasures deprives one of the 8
KEEP YOURSELF PHYSICALLY FIT (contd…)

1. Exercise regularly:
a. Exercise raises the levels of
endorphins which are known
to cause a feel of euphoria.
b. It generates a feeling of well-
being that gives a boost to
productivity.
c. It enables a person to think fast,
bolsters energy – in turn
elevates one’s productivity.
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 KEEP YOURSELF PHYSICALLY FIT (contd…)

1. Learn to like the work:

a. If you do not like the work, you
may encounter a monotonous
repetition of unpleasant emotions
at workplace – this may lead to
emotionally induced illness.
b. If you like the job and feel pleased
with your output, you will
experience pleasant emotions.
c. Realise that liking work is a good
therapy for emotional ills.
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HAVE CONTROL OVER TIME
Most of the people take a random
walk through life, moving without
getting anywhere. Yet, some of the
world’s busiest executives are able
to develop rewarding careers while
making time available for the family
and leisure activities. Pick up the
following tips to manage your time
effectively, gainfully and
meaningfully too. 11
 HAVE CONTROL OVER TIME
(contd…)

1. Use high efficiency hours effectively:

a. Normal body temperature varies by around 3
deg during the day and it increases or
decreases the working efficiency
proportionately.
b. People tend to be most alert in late morning
and mid-evening, while afternoons are
known to induce sleep.
c. Successful executives use the high-efficiency
hours to tackle difficult jobs, for creative
thinking or creative pursuits.
d. Allocate low efficiency hours for less
important works such as to take a peep at the
day’s mail, browsing internet, reading news
paper etc.
e. Entertaining unexpected drop-ins result in loss
of high efficiency hours – Manage these by
scheduling during less efficiency periods. 12
 HAVE CONTROL OVER TIME (contd…)

1. Draw a road map:

a. While you drive to an unfamiliar
place with a road map, you
save lot of time, besides
increasing your efficiency levels.
Similarly, you scribble works to be
executed each new day.
b. The listed works should include
both work-related and house hold
tasks, to be ranked according to
its urgency / importance – This
paves way for easy execution of
jobs. 13
HAVE CONTROL OVER TIME (contd…)

1. Do not push yourself relentlessly:

a. Make best use of the time without
pushing yourself relentlessly.
b. Try to get re-energised by taking a
break or a catnap. Few minutes of
relaxation can also be had by
alternate shallow and deep
breathing.
c. Breaking up your routine once in a
while certainly helps you to work faster
and better.
d. Well managed day leads to stress-free
execution of work and adds to
quality of life. 14
 CULTIVATE HOPE
 Hope – the vital spark of life.
a. No one can survive without hope.
b. Hope is sole driving force behind
mankind’s dreaming, planning and its
very existence.
c. Merry heart doth good like medicine.
d. Hope though natural and vital for
mankind, could as well get exhausted,
as our lives grow.
e. Regain hope by summoning it, like
looking forward to the beauty of the
next hour, promise of a good meal, a
rise in pay cheque etc. 15
 CULTIVATE HOPE (contd…)

1. Positive orientation:
a. This gets nurtured towards work and
life since hope is a frame of mind or a
climate of heart.
b. This transforms the given labour into
an entity of love and to that extent
enhancement of
performance.
c. It enables one to fight against odds
and realise one’s potential.
d. Average people strengthened by faith
do perform extraordinary deeds.
e. Hope strengthens our ability to
execute a given task excellently.
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BUILD A NETWORK OF FRIENDS
1. Having many friends.
a. Lucky people are those who have
many friends and acquaintances.
b. Many job offers mostly materialised
out of those acquaintances.
c. These lucky people are reported to be
gregarious and go out of the way
in making friendships.
d. A big network of friends affords a
sense of social security besides
enriching one’s life.
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 BUILD A NETWORK OF FRIENDS
(contd…)

 Cultivating traits of building a network:

a. Some initiate friendly contacts by making use
of their facial expressions, body positions,
voice tones, work-choice, eye contact etc. in
right proportions and build excellent network
of friends.
b. They can easily slip into conversation with a
stranger in the next seat and can converse
with him as though they know him for
ages.
c. Cheerful conversation is also important in
family life for it can keep many of the
neurotic illnesses at a distance.
A person who could build up a fine network of
friends can obviously make the family meal a
recitation of joy and delight. 18
 SHUN WORKAHOLISM
1. Workaholism is a disease:
a. Workaholics also known as perfectionists, mean
they keep doing the same thing again and
again.
b. They tend to expect the same level of
perfection from their colleagues and this
makes them hard to get along with.
c. Do not set a pace that others often find too
daunting and not worth following.
d. Workaholics feel restless and irritable at the
very thought of wasting time at workplace.
e. This disease not only inflicts physical weakness
but also destroys one’s ability to give and
receive affection.
f. It blocks one’s creative expressions and
personal growth.
g. It can result in stress related disorders, such as
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 BALANCE YOUR ACTIVITIES
1. Do not crowd your activities:
a. No single activity should crowd out others or be
under- represented.
b. To accomplish this task, you may apportion a
certain percentage to each activity according to
its importance:
eg., Work; Family; Friends; Spirituality; Sports;
Health clubs; Food & Diet; Leisure time; Civic
duties; Self development; Recreation travel;
Business travel; Others.
c. Change the level of importance whenever it has
to undergo change according to the needs,
since this has to be treated as a mere
guideline and not a rigid one.
d. This gives a certain direction to the brain and 20a
vision to succeed in enjoying ‘quality life’.
BALANCE YOUR ACTIVITIES (contd…)

One must understand that

‘Happiness’ is not on sale to buy and
consume it. It has to be experienced.
No one knows from where it
emanates, as each has his own
perception of happiness. No seer or
philosopher can explain the secret of
life fully and it always remains new,
to be understood by us, to be
realised anew everyday.

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 “ THANK YOU”

THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK “SOFT SKILLS FOR SUCCESS”

BY MR. GRK MURTY AND PUBLISHED BY THE ICFAI UNIVERSITY PRESS.
WEB SITE: www.icfaipress.org/books

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