If you’re unhappy at work, frustrated because you can’t find that perfect job or angry at co-workers or bosses who are ruining your life at work, I have some wisdom to share…You’re looking for “love” in all the wrong places.

Our happiness at work, and everywhere else in life, is 100% dependent on what we think about ourselves and whatever is going on in our current experience.  Being happy is a choice that we make every moment of every day. The challenge is becoming aware of our thoughts and then consciously choosing thoughts that cause us to feel better about ourselves and our work.

Here are some simple things YOU can do to bring more joy and happiness into your work experience:

1. Know and appreciate what is special about you and the impact you have at work. If you want to be appreciated, you must first appreciate yourself.  How do your life experiences – skills, wisdom, talent, triumphs, losses, relationships – enrich who you are right now?
2. Know your own strengths and talents and identify opportunities to leverage them at work. No one in HR or management knows you like you do.  No one in HR or management typically even understands the challenges and opportunities of your unique position within the organization like you do.  Take responsibility and ownership of plugging yourself into the company’s needs in ways that “turn you on.”
3. Understand that most people are doing the best they can but that they are unconsciously working through their day, reacting to whatever is going on in the moment. Very few people are consciously choosing their thoughts and actions, so most people are “unhappy.”  Accept who they are and turn your thoughts to things that uplift you.  Stewing about others’ issues will only bring you down.
4. Quiet your mind and bring yourself into the present moment every day. You can do this through meditation or spending time in nature.  Take time to consciously breathe.  This will help you become more “mindful” of when your thoughts are creating an unhappy reality so that you can CHOOSE different thoughts that will shift your current experience to joy.

Note that all of these, and there are more, are completely free, very simple and require very little time.  Yet we spend billions on books, workshops, therapists, etc. looking for that hidden secret to happiness.  There is no secret, and there is no source outside of yourself.  The “way” is just to do your own work – such as the recommendations listed above.  Happiness is available to you in any and every moment.  Simply choose it and align your thoughts to ones that make you happy.