The secret of happiness is to ask yourself every day:
1) What’s good about my life?
2) What needs to be done?
3) How can I get this done and enjoy the process?
One of my biggest challenges this year was to learn to enjoy organizing our gazillion photos and dealing with insurance paperwork. We’ll be lucky if we have that paperwork mostly finished before it’s income tax time. 🙂
I’ll never be like the fellow in the above picture–happily sitting at a desk shuffling papers, but I do enjoy working on creative problems. So I’ve spent hours and hours this past week figuring out a good way to handle our paperwork. I tried different ways of doing it, and by 6:45 this morning I settled on a system that has organized what we’ve done so far and will be easy to use in the future. I celebrated by sleeping most of the rest of the day. I have a flexible schedule that teenagers would die for. 😀
What kind of jobs do you like? In a Toastmasters meeting once I said my favorite jobs were ones that had challenging problems to solve and that gave me plenty of autonomy. One fellow in the group said his favorite job was in the military with a boss who was a stickler for detail. For instance, the stamps had to be precisely placed on the envelopes. The boss was strict, but the fellow knew exactly what he was supposed to do. What kind of jobs do you like?
I’m with you,no boss.
I think I like to work on a problem in my own time. One way of saying this is that I prefer tasks to ‘a job’.
I prefer to work “alone” – but whether I call it work or something else is immaterial.
That way if something isn’t done exactly on time (unless deadline looms from officialdom) I can shift “work” to another day…
You, Jean, say that “the secret of happiness is to ask yourself every day:
1) What’s good about my life?
2) What needs to be done?
3) How can I get this done and enjoy the process?”
It isn’t [the secret to happiness], Jean; it’s the way to misery. I do not ask myself every day what is ‘good about my life’ because I know the answer. Far more useful to ask myself what the hell is NOT so good about my life. And why I am not doing ‘what needs to be done’. ‘Enjoy the process’? Let’s not get too ambitious. Let’s just get it done. That would be a start.
U
bikehikebabe,
Yes. 🙂
Evan,
I agree!
Cathy,
I do much better when I can set my own schedule too. And when there aren’t very many interruptions.
U,
If that works for you, go for it!
i could see at one point that my be my definition of happiness!
but no longer.
i worked over 20 years at a job with constant deadlines.
make that DEADLINES. they HAD to be met. all jobs are stressful it seems. but that was the most stressful ~ the constant silent whip.
i wake up now . . . happily retired. i honestly don’t think too much about what ‘needs’ to be done. nothing looms on the horizon. i simply do what needs doing without much thought.
like lao tzu . . . without trying it all gets done. peacefully and with no stressing about how when why where. i like it best that way. and i find it makes me very happy. lol!
it works for me. but like you said to u ~ to each his/her own.
The stamps had to be precisely placed on the envelopes? And this guy enjoyed doing that? Sounds like a couple of guys with some worrying OCD tendencies.
Working in the local school system gave me the greatest reward.
I like your three questions. Nice focal point. I like reviewing while staying positive. Your ‘secrets’ encourages that.
tammy,
I’m glad things are going so smoothly for you. 🙂
The three questions have come in handy for me this past year or so–we’ve had a lot to do with the rebuilding, etc. I figure I might as well try to make it fun rather than feeling pressured.
Nick,
I’m not one to slap labels on people. I am glad they were a good match, and that I didn’t have to do things that way!
Dixie,
It’s great either having a job that one loves or else having the freedom not to have to work for someone else. I love it!
Where my spouse can go to work for some moron and I can cook and look after the home. Have I stirred up a hornet’s nest?
Rummuser,
It’s much better for both of us to be retired so neither one has to work for a moron. 😀
U is funny. She writes with tongue in cheek. It’s fun to read her stuff.
Changed my mind. U is serious tho’ funny to me. Bad day for her. Remember to choose happiness. Helps to think of how I’m so lucky when lying in bed before getting up in the morning.