Being busy, being happy
Most of our adult life is spent working. Taking into account commuting time, overtime, thinking about our jobs and worrying over work, we spend increasingly more of our waking hours in the office, on the road, behind the desk than we do at home. This is a reality shared by countless workers. How many of us can put on a genuine smile and say, "I love my work and all that comes in the package"?
These days stress is the hard nut working people have to crack. Stress takes its toll on mental and physical health. The Joy of Working sets people to taking work with less anxiety and with more ease. The saying (in Bangladesh) becomes not "TGIT"(Thank God it's Thursday) but "TGIS" (Thank God it's Sunday). A reading of this book seems to give the reader wings to fly out to work and take the full benefit of being alive, healthy and to be working.
The key to personal profit, productivity and prosperity lies in being content with your life and enjoying your work. Now everyone, from secretaries to CEOs, from house painters to homemakers can learn to mix business with pleasure and make every job a labour of love. The Joy of Working is a practical, down-to-earth guide that will help you radiate confidence and competence in everything you do. Step by step and day by day this book has a 30-point program that is sure to make your job more satisfying, more exciting and more fun.
The book begins with self-esteem, pointing out that self-esteem is the first key to finding happiness on the job. Self-esteem is the cornerstone of success. It is that deep-down feeling in your soul of your own self-worth. The opening page begins thus:
"You are the most valuable person. No one can quite fill in your shoes. No one can be you. You bring your unique being to work every day. You bring your talents, your abilities, your knowledge, your skills, your personality or just plain know-how."
The opening lines seem to open up new roads for the reader and do not fail to boost the self-confidence that often does get low as the pressure on the job mounts. The book leads on to our attitudes at our workplace. The necessary nutrient for joy is our attitude. Positive attitudes are like nourishment to the body and soul. The right attitude can carry one through the worst days at work. On the other hand, negative attitudes are absolutely poisonous to the body. The book informs us about the recent discoveries in psychopharmacology and how the subject relates to the theory of why a positive mental attitude is one of the single most important traits toward achieving health and happiness.
The Joy of Working advises people to hold up their dreams no matter how worrying the workplace might be. It says that dreams are the harbinger of significant accomplishments. Each one of us has a dream, a desire, a longing that represents our soul and our ideas of happiness. That is why dreaming is essential to the joy of working. When Peggy Lee, the famous torch singer, was a carnival barker, shouting "Ten throws for a dime", she was really singing for her dreams. She may have been working in a game booth, but she was dreaming about starring on a stage.
Like a beacon to success, The Joy of Working leads the reader on with mind capturing pieces on goal setting, planning, perseverance, achievements, priorities and responsibilities and many other book markers that the reader will go on reading and re-reading. About risk-taking, the authors argue that happiness at the workplace cannot come without some elements of risk. To one degree or the other, most of us are afraid of making changes, even if those changes mean gaining something better. Too many of us have a negative attitude about taking risks. But we have to realize that it is necessary to risk something in order to bring about a change for the better. We also learn about how to take stock of our talents, highlight our strong points and turn obstacles into opportunities. And we learn to make a program of exercise, nutrition and relaxation to help us get going and keep us going.
The Joy of Working is like an eye opener to our life around us. It reminds us to learn the life lessons from our failures and success. It encourages us to stand by the criticisms and learn from our mistakes. It lights the way for us to find the zenith of our beings. It teaches us to be hard working and at the same time enjoy the work that we do. We learn to put the joy factor to work in our life and turn our ideals of success and happiness into reality.
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