Better Business: How to be happier at work

Frustrated with your business? Feeling stressed at work? Matt Anderson of The Referral Authority offers some reassuring tips.

Not long ago I was reading about Clive Woodward who coached the England rugby team to its World Cup win in 2003. What caught my eye was that he asked each player to read a business book – Paddi Lund’s Building the Happiness-Centred Business (1997) – and said it was the only book he had ever read twice.

I was inspired by Lund’s simple message:

“If you’re not happy with the work you’re doing, change how you’re doing it.”
Lund, a dentist in Australia, made his discoveries after emotionally hitting rock bottom in his 30s. As his income grew, he found himself spending all of it and then focusing increasingly on ways to make even more money. His logic was that buying things made him feel good so he always needed more money.

Eventually he became so disturbed at work that he found himself crawling on his hands and knees to lock his office door, seriously worried that he was losing his sanity. He was hearing voices and needing Valium to sleep. (In many western nations, dentists have the highest suicide rate among white-collar professionals.)

Over time, Lund realised he had defined his worth based on his job. He wanted to see if he could feel good at work instead of feeling miserable, stressed and obsessing about making more money. He turned himself around and decided to set a goal of happiness at work.

He learned many things:

• Focus on happiness not money
• Why do we think that business has to focus mostly on money?

This often induces a great deal of stress and can cause us to neglect our loved ones, our health and spiritual life.

“Business is hard,” writes Lund. But once he found out that he was not alone in experiencing this, “I didn’t feel so isolated and stupid.”

Focus on the good

When we are not working, we tend to do things that make us feel good. So why don’t we focus more on doing things that make us feel good in our work? Google gives its employees ‘20% time’ to work on their own projects.

“When money is the focus, human beings assume a lesser significance.”
Your business will be more profitable when:

• You are happier and having more fun: We enjoy buying from happy people and we buy more. We prefer to spend our time with happy people.
• You are focused on making clients happier.
• You are not focused solely on the bottom line.

When you have a business problem: “The decision that gives everyone the most happiness is usually the decision that is best for the business.”

Love, sympathy, and joy are good for business – they are appropriate. And many people “are starved of positive human contact.” Be kind, generous, and honest.