How Happy Are You in Your Work? 1 Quick Way to Evaluate Your Work Activities and Ultimately Boost Your Satisfaction
Research shows that U.S. employees are more satisfied than ever at work with satisfaction ratings increasing these past several years. While this is great news, the latest poll results on satisfaction are beginning to trend downward. According to Conference Board’s 2024 annual survey (taken in November 2023), “workers in the U.S. seem unhappier than they were a year ago in almost every category.”
The findings reveal that the largest downturns in satisfaction were with wages and other financial benefits. Additionally, another driver of increased dissatisfaction was employee interest in the work. Despite these concerns, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re still generally happy at work these days. But, there is undoubtedly room for improvement for many of us with respect to money and enjoyment in what we do.
Mark Twain once said, “The law of work seems unfair, but nothing can change it; the more enjoyment you get out of your work, the more money you will make.”
Of course, there is no guarantee that you will make more money from engaging in the work you love. But, there is undeniable power in the positive energy we generate when engaged with work we enjoy. This energy not only enhances our wellbeing, but it also influences our professional success, wellbeing, wealth and relationships.
For instance, the law of energy holds that people and their thoughts are made from “pure energy” and that like energy can attract like energy. In this way, when we exude positive thoughts and energy in our work and lives, we attract that same energy to us in the form of positive opportunities. The same holds true for negative energy.
From a neuroscience perspective, positive thoughts and beliefs can trigger the brain to find more opportunities for what we want to experience. Simply put, the brain processes a massive amount of information each day, much more than we can consciously consume. One of its roles, through the reticular activating system, is to determine what enters our consciousness and what does not, based on patterns we’ve developed through what we think, feel and believe.
This simply means that the thoughts and beliefs we hold are actually priming the brain to subconsciously look for more opportunities to make those thoughts and beliefs a reality. Again, this works for positive thoughts as well as negative ones.
All of this confirms that doing more of the work you enjoy promotes positivity and is part of a successful formula for more happiness and fulfillment in your work and life. And, who among us doesn’t want that? In this article, we’ll explore a practical tool designed to help you assess your current job responsibilities to identify opportunities for greater satisfaction in your career.
Satisfaction Matrix
A great first step before making career decisions when you feel any level of unhappiness is to gain a deeper understanding of how you feel about your work activities. The Satisfaction Matrix is a tool that helps you evaluate the work you are engaged in, so that you can make informed decisions on options for increasing happiness and fulfillment in your career.
Specifically, this exercise is designed to help you assess each of your work activities as to enjoyment and performance. It is true that there is sometimes a significant difference between being good at something and enjoying it. And, it is also true that we typically feel most accomplished and satisfied when we are actively engaged in doing things we like at a high-performance level.
Whether you are slightly dissatisfied or completely unhappy in what you do, this exercise will provide an overall view of what you may want more of and what may need to be addressed. in order to boost your level of career satisfaction.
How it Works
Make a list.
Brainstorm a list of what you do in your work. Include the important responsibilities and projects, as well as the frequent everyday tasks.
2. Chart your activities.
Then, add each of those projects and tasks to the grid, differentiating between those you do well (low to high) and those you enjoy doing (again, low to high). The tasks you do well and that you enjoy will appear in the upper right corner, and so on.
3. Analyze the results.
Take at look at the grid. What stands out? You might notice that some things are as you expected. Are there any surprises? Either way, take a closer look at each quadrant of the matrix for additional insights and potential opportunities.
Upper Right Quadrant
The more things you see here, the better! These are the tasks you enjoy doing and you do them well. They likely create a sense of fulfillment and you may find that you get “in the zone” when working on them.
The obvious question is: how can you do more of these things? Perhaps you can ask for similar assignments, or work collaboratively with other internal and cross-functional team members to engage in the work. Also, you might consider having a conversation with leadership to discuss how your skills and future work in these areas can benefit the team and organization.
Upper Left Quadrant
These are the tasks that you enjoy, but don’t necessarily do well. And they are exciting, because they represent areas for growth and further learning (and further enjoyment). One next step might be to create learning goals and an action plan to achieve them.
Lower Right Quadrant
What you see here are the tasks that you do well, but don’t enjoy. This work might be causing some frustration for you, especially if it lands on your desk simply because you are known for doing it well. Some things to reflect on:
Can you delegate them?
What are the options for having a conversation with leadership about changing these responsibilities?
How can you make these assignments more enjoyable? For instance, remember why you took this job, why it’s important to you, the mission behind your work, and what you do enjoy about it. This can help source motivation.
You might also reward yourself after completing one of these assignments. Embrace and celebrate even the small wins.
Lower Left Quadrant
Hopefully this is not a significant list. These are the areas of your work that you don’t do well and that you don’t enjoy.
Consider how you can minimize this type of work, or reassign it. Perhaps you can find someone on your team who enjoys the work, or would benefit from it in some way. Maybe that person has work they are not interested in that would suit you better.
Ask yourself why you don’t enjoy the work. If one reason is because you don’t feel you do it well, there is an opportunity here to challenge yourself to develop these new skills.
And, as mentioned above, you might find you can develop new ways to enjoy the task, if even to make it a bit more sustainable.
Whatever your results, spend some time reflecting on them in order to create a plan. With this analysis, you can focus on your interests and your strengths, and ways to leverage more of them in your career. Just as importantly, you can look for ways to reduce, change or eliminate that which isn’t working for you, leading to a more fulfilling and productive career.
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