Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Meaning to Be Happy or Happy to have Meaning

There is an old proverb that has a couple traveling to a new town. Halfway they find an old man and they ask him what the next village is like. He says, "what was your last village like?" They respond, "It was awful. The neighbors were rude." He responds, "You will find the same thing in the next village."

A few hours later another couple comes upon the old man. They two are traveling to the same town as the previous couple. They ask the man what the next village is like. He says, "What was your last village like?" They respond, "it was wonderful. We hated to leave the love and friendship of all our neighbors." He says, "You will find the same thing in the next village."

The proverb was to show us that the village contains what we bring to it- you bring misery and you will get misery; you bring joy and you will get joy.

Marshall and Kelly Goldsmith just did a study on happiness and meaning and they found that happiness and meaning has more to do with WHO you are rather than WHERE you are.

So gone are the excuses and the blaming. Instead you need to look in the mirror and own the baggage you are carrying with you.

They found the number of hours being worked and even the quality of the work didn't have bearing on the happiness. What did was the meaning the employees gave the work they did.

Another interesting point was those that were happy at work were generally happy at home and those that were miserable at work were generally miserable at home as well.

So, think of yourself, like a snail. You carry your entire world with you each day. If you want it to be happy and to have meaning, look no further than inside your own shell!

Anne Warfield

More on developing leadership by Anne Warfield