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Why Happiness at Work can boost productivity
Think back to a situation where you felt that you were at peak performance. A situation where your output was among the highest and best it has ever been. It is most probably you were working at something that made you happy. Something that you loved doing.
There is a clear link between happiness at work and productivity.
Here are the 10 most important reasons why happiness at work is the number one productivity booster.
1. Happy people work better with others
Happy people are a lot more fun to be around and consequently have better relations at work. This translates into:
Better teamwork with your colleagues
Better employee relations if you are a manager
More satisfied customers if you are in a service job
Improved sales if you are a sales person
2. Happy people are more creative
If your productivity depends on being able to come up with new ideas, you need to be happy at work. Research has shown that there is a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there is actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.
3. Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them
When you don't like your job, every molehill looks like a mountain. It becomes difficult to fix any problem without agonising over it or complaining about it first. When you are happy at work and you run into a problem - you just fix it.
4. Happy people have more energy
Happy people tend to have more energy and are therefore more efficient at everything they do.
5. Happy people are more optimistic
Happy people have a more positive, optimistic outlook, and as research shows, optimists are way more successful and productive. It is the old saying all over again: “Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you are probably right”.
6. Happy people are way more motivated
Low motivation means low productivity, and the only sustainable, reliable way to be motivated at work is to be happy and like what you do.
7. Happy people get sick less often
Getting sick is a productivity killer and if you don't like your job, you are more prone to contract a long list of diseases including ulcers, cancer and diabetes. You are also more prone to workplace stress and burnout.
One study assessed the impact of job strain on the health of 21,290 female nurses in the US and found that the women most at risk of ill health were those who didn't like their jobs. The impact on their health was as great as that associated with smoking and sedentary lifestyles.
8. Happy people learn faster
When you are happy and relaxed, you are much more open to learning new things at work and thereby increasing your productivity.
9. Happy people worry less about making mistakes and consequently make fewer mistakes
When you are happy at work the occasional mistake doesn't bother you much. You pick yourself up, learn from it and move on. You also don't mind admitting to others that you screwed up - you simply take responsibility, apologise and fix it. This relaxed attitude means that less mistakes are made, and that you are more likely to learn from them.
10. Happy people make better decisions
Unhappy people operate in permanent crisis mode. Their focus narrows, they lose sight of the big picture, their survival instincts kick in and they are more likely to make short-term, here-and-now choices. Conversely, happy people make better, more informed decisions and are better able to prioritise their work.
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Sharpen the Axe
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Once upon a time there was a very strong woodcutter. He asked for a job from a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason the woodcutter was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day the woodcutter brought down 18 trees. The Boss was very much impressed and said Congratulations Go on that way! Very motivated by the boss words the woodcutter tried harder the next day but he only could bring down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder but he only could bring down 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing down less and less trees.
I must be losing my strength the woodcutter thought to himself. He went to the boss and apologized saying that he could not understand what was going on. When was the last time you sharpened your axe? the boss asked.
Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut the trees.
Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to sharpen the axe. In today's world it seems that everyone is busier than ever but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life like our personal life taking time to read etc. We all need time to relax to think and meditate to learn and grow. If we don’t take time to sharpen the axe we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.
So start from today, think about the ways by which you could do your job more effectively and add a lot of value to it.
Quote for the Week
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"We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere."
- Tim McGraw
7 Reasons to Drink Green Tea
The steady stream of good news about green tea is getting so hard to ignore that even java junkies are beginning to sip mugs of the deceptively delicate brew. You'd think the daily dose of disease-fighting, inflammation-squelching antioxidants--long linked with heart protection--would be enough incentive, but wait, there's more! Lots more.
CUT YOUR CANCER RISK
Several polyphenols - the potent antioxidants green tea's famous for - seem to help keep cancer cells from gaining a foothold in the body, by discouraging their growth and then squelching the creation of new blood vessels that tumors need to thrive. Study after study has found that people who regularly drink green tea reduce their risk of breast, stomach, esophagus, colon, and/or prostate cancer.
SOOTHE YOUR SKIN
Got a cut, scrape, or bite, and a little leftover green tea? Soak a cotton pad in it. The tea is a natural antiseptic that relieves itching and swelling. Try it on inflamed breakouts and blemishes, sunburns, even puffy eyelids. And that's not all. In the lab, green tea helps block sun-triggered skin cancer, whether you drink it or apply it directly to the skin - which is why you're seeing green tea in more and more sunscreens and moisturizers.
STEADY YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE
Having healthy blood pressure - meaning below 120/80 - is one thing. Keeping it that way is quite another. But people who sip just half a cup a day are almost 50 percent less likely to wind up with hypertension than non-drinkers. Credit goes to the polyphenols again (especially one known as ECGC). They help keep blood vessels from contracting and raising blood pressure.
PROTECT YOUR MEMORY, OR YOUR MOM'S
Green tea may also keep the brain from turning fuzzy. Getting-up-there adults who drink at least two cups a day are half as likely to develop cognitive problems as those who drink less. Why? It appears that the tea's big dose of antioxidants fights the free-radical damage to brain nerves seen in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
STAY YOUNG
The younger and healthier your arteries are, the younger and healthier you are. So fight plaque build-up in your blood vessels, which ups the risk of heart disease and stroke, adds years to your biological age (or RealAge), and saps your energy too. How much green tea does this vital job take? About 10 ounces a day, which also deters your body from absorbing artery-clogging fat and cholesterol.
LOSE WEIGHT
Oh yeah, one more thing. Turns out that green tea speeds up your body's calorie-burning process. In the every-little-bit-counts department, this is good news!
