Anybody can find a job, but not everybody can find a job that truly makes them happy. Some people choose a career to bring them up to a certain status or to earn more of an income. Others choose a career to bring purpose and meaning to their life. Unfortunately, sometimes these career choices, or just the places you work, don’t make you happy. So how do you change that?
Somebody once said, “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”. This is so very true. Most of the time, work becomes something to suffer through rather than an opportunity for happiness and satisfaction. Unfortunately,t finding work that makes you happy seems to be just as hard as finding your soul mate.
According to, atWork Australia, it won’t be hard to find a job you love if you know how to look for it. In this article, we’ll go over some of the steps you can take for finding a job that makes you truly happy.
How To Find A Job That Makes You Happy
Let’s take a detailed look at how you can find a job that makes you happy.
1. Find Your Reason To Get Out of Bed
People who live on Okinawa Island in Japan love much longer than the average American. One of the reasons for this is because they focus on finding their Ikigai. This is their reason for being.
It’s the combination of joy from doing something with a sense of purpose and well-being. It has absolutely nothing to do with your status or money. It’s based on your beliefs, values, and personality.
You can find your own Ikigai by determining what you love doing, what activities bring you joy, what your strengths are, what you’re good at, and what the world needs. If there’s an issue that’s important for you, what you can be paid for, etc. This process takes time, so be patient and open to ideas.
2. Look At Your Whole Life
Don’t just look at your career, look at your life as a whole. Being happy in other areas of your life will increase your happiness at work and vice versa. It may seem like you have more control over your career than other aspects of your life, but focusing more on your career than family or health is a recipe for failure and unhappiness. Once you’ve figured out the whole picture and put it into perspective, you can effectively find a job that gives you everything you want.
3. Know Your Values
We behave, communicate, and make decisions based on our drive, but we don’t always know what our drive is. Our outside is what we do and say, and our insides are personality traits, values, motivations, beliefs, and experiences. If we don’t respect what’s on the inside, we’re going to be unhappy.
If this is the case, you have to take some time to answer a few questions. What are your values? Do you understand your personality traits? What motivates you at work? Figure out these answers and you’ll find a career that makes you happy.
4. Know Your Strengths
Do you love what you do? Do you leave work satisfied and energized? Your skills are what you do well and your strengths are the activities that you love doing that energize you. Ask yourself if you know what your strengths are, what you hate doing that drains your energy, or if there’s something that you can change in your career that will allow you to play to your strengths.
5. Gain Experience
You can gain experience by experimenting. We don’t always know what we want and what we don’t want from our career just by thinking of it. If you can’ try different jobs whether it be a temporary position, gig work, internship, or part-time roles.
This will help you learn about what you really want and what best suits you. If you already have this covered, think back and consider which elements of each job worked for you and which ones didn’t.
6. Don’t Limit Yourself
You can be persistent, but remember to be flexible. To simply put it, know what you’re looking for but be prepared to change your path to get there. There are plenty of jobs out there that can bring you happiness, so don’t narrow your options.
7. Practice Makes Perfect
There are always going to be ups and downs when it comes to your job. While you’re working toward your main career aim, remember to think positively. This can help you feel happy with whatever you’re currently doing. Once you obtain your main career objective, use the attitudes that will keep it working for you.
8. Be Honest With Yourself
We know it’s not as easy as it sounds. Most of us have conflicting wishes for our careers, but sometimes our priorities can shift. You need to figure out what’s really going to make you happy each day in your job.
This requires a massive amount of self-awareness and a fair amount of work experience. Keep in mind that certain elements are important to all of us including the ideal challenge level, supportive environment, and a variety of tasks.
What Are The Happiest Professions?
Based on several recent studies, these are the jobs that have ranked highly for being the happiest and having the happiest employees.
- Firefighter
- Counselor
- Clergy
- HR manager
- Physical therapist
- Pediatrician
- Web developer
- Teaching assistant
- Research assistant
- Marketing consultant
It’s important to remember that there’s no secret to finding a job that makes you happy, but above are the steps that can get you there or at least lead you in the right direction.
You need to believe that you have the power to find what you need to be happy in your job. Additionally, you need to be prepared to put in the time and effort required for the job. Remember though, no matter how great the position may seem, don’t take it if it’s not going to make you happy.
