What is your purpose?

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor starts by explaining that research from the fields of neuroscience and Positive Psychology proves beyond any doubt that success comes from happiness, not the other way around.

This is profound because it turns everything on its head. The old world view is work hard, be successful and you will be happy. But, as it turns out the opposite is true so you better learn how to engineer happiness because that will make you more successful.

The great thing about The Happiness Advantage is that it provides practical advice on how you can cultivate a happier mind-set for yourself and the people you work with. This posts explains how important having a “purpose” is.

Interestingly, our external circumstances only dictate about 10% of our total happiness; 90% of how we feel is determined by how we perceive the world. We are in control of our mind, we just need to be conscious of how and what we think.

One thing you can do that will have a fundamental impact on your state/mood is to look for real meaning in your work. If you can find your “”calling” then your job/business will have a purpose. This means that every day you will be doing something that is important to you. And, crucially so will your employees.

For example, my calling is helping create a better world. Every day I am working to help my clients increase their profits and cashflow to become financially independent. But, that is just the surface level.

I know that the only way to increase profits is to actually have a better business. That means every aspect of the business needs to be improved. Now, what this means is that the people who work in the business get better leadership, management and training. They are going to be happier because they have more job satisfaction, security and higher pay.

A better business also means happier customers because of better products and higher standards of customer service. It also means suppliers are under less price pressure and get paid faster.

In short, everyone that comes into contact with a better business wins. So, by improving the profits of one business I can improve the lives of many people. And, to top it off, with higher profits the business owner will pay more tax which will help fund a better society for our children, the elderly and less able.

I get up each morning with a purpose. I am literally on a mission and I understand why people carry on working if they win the lottery. Would it be useful for you to associate real purpose to your work?

Would it make you happier? Would you generate more energy? Would your employees be more committed?