Loving your career
A lot is written about happiness. Happiness in our personal lives and happiness in our professional endeavours. For a long time I thought, what a privilege to worry about happiness. I know my parents and my grandparents didn’t have the luxury to wonder whether they were happy. They simply took the next step to pay the bills and make a better life for themselves and their children. Little did I know that that was the secret to happiness.
Most media messages, consumer good ads, and personal development messages suggests we need to change something to be happy. Even parenting is focused on preparing children with a slew of things they’ll need to be happy in the future, not noticing that they are already joyous without any effort at all.
We often chase happiness through new jobs or big changes, but the truth is, happiness was never out there to begin with.
There’s a story shared by Paulo Coelho that speaks to this. A successful business man attempts to help a fisherman become successful. As the businessman shares how the fisherman’s business could unfold, the humble fisherman simply asks, “and after that?” This goes on for awhile until the fisherman can retire, fish a little each day, spend time with his loved ones and enjoy life. The fisherman replies “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”
Does that mean that the fisherman shouldn’t build his business? No. He should if he wants to. If that’s what he’d like to be up to in his life, why wouldn’t he? But to do it so he could be happy, or satisfied is an exercise in futility.
We’ve all met people that have very little by way of money, accomplishments or personal assets and are happy and satisfied with life. Similarly, we all know individuals that have much more than they need, that seem miserable and angry at the world.
If you believe that happiness, satisfaction and purpose come from the outside in, well the fact that there are super rich miserable people or poor happy people could be confusing. Once you realize that all these things originate from the inside, change moment to moment, and mean nothing about the life we’re actually living, then it makes total sense.
When I look back at my own career, and my decision to leave after almost 20 years in the corporate world, I can’t say that happiness had anything to do with it. I simply knew I wanted to do something different. I wanted to try something new.
Looking back I notice, the more I thought about how I wanted a new career, the more my dissatisfaction with my current career grew. When I simply worked, and engaged in whatever task I was focused on, my happiness grew because my happiness was, and mostly is, inversely proportional to the amount of thinking I’m having in the moment. When my mind quiets, happiness slips in like sunlight through an open window.
When I’m engrossed in a task, there’s no space to wonder about happiness.
“People are happiest when they’re absorbed in what they’re doing, when they’re in flow. Neuroimaging studies show that this state is associated with activation of attention networks, such as the task-positive network, and decreased activity in the default mode network.”
— Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Despite this, I still decided to leave my career. Not to be happier. I knew happiness didn’t come from the outside, but rather because I wanted to do something different. I wanted a new experience and I listened to that little voice within me that said, there’s something else out there for you.
Have you ever noticed moments when happiness surprised you—when you weren’t striving for it?
It’s tempting to believe that a new job or a different career path is the missing piece to our happiness puzzle. But looking for happiness in a new career is like searching for your glasses while they’re already perched on your nose. The more you chase it out there, the more elusive it feels—because happiness was never hiding in your job title, your office, or your business card to begin with.
We’re taught to believe that happiness is the destination at the end of a long road paved with achievements, promotions, and fresh starts. But the truth is, happiness is more like the weather—it shifts and changes, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, no matter where you stand. It doesn’t come from the scenery around you, but from the atmosphere within you.
As Viktor Frankl wrote,
“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.”
A new career can offer excitement, growth, and fresh experiences, and those are all wonderful reasons to pursue change. But if you’re hoping it will deliver happiness on a silver platter, you may find yourself disappointed. Feelings are not static—they ebb and flow, regardless of what’s happening outside. The real secret is noticing that you can experience satisfaction and contentment right where you are, even as you move toward something new.
So if you’re standing at a crossroads, wondering if a new direction will finally bring you happiness, pause for a moment. Ask yourself: Am I seeking happiness out there, or can I find it here, in the ordinary moments of today?
Call to Action:
This week, take a few moments each day to notice where happiness shows up for you—without changing a thing. Try being fully present with whatever you’re doing, and see if contentment arises on its own. If you’re considering a big change, let it be for the adventure, the learning, or the challenge—not as a ticket to happiness. And if you feel inspired, share your reflections in the comments below. Sometimes, the happiness we’re searching for is already quietly waiting for us to notice.