I highly recommend Alain De Botton’s thought provoking (and a touch heavy) article in Management Today.

 Many people traipse to work, feeling despondent and wondering how they can feel more fulfilled and happy in their day jobs.  We are constantly being told that work should be meaningful and a form of self-expression and, when our jobs become ho-hum, we feel we are missing something to which we are entitled.

 Are our expectations unrealistic?  Maybe work itself is not causing us problems, maybe it is the attitudes and expectations we have of it that are making us long for something better. De Botton believes that our expectations are often delusional and out of touch with what reality can provide.

But in an economic crisis, the gloves come off and power is more cleanly revealed again. So one of the benefits of the crisis is that it enables us to lower our expectations as to what work can deliver. Some of the greater existential questions disappear. Simply holding down an ordinary job and surviving comes to seem like reward enough. We should perhaps temper our sadness in these troubled times by remembering that work is often more bearable when we don’t expect it always to deliver happiness in addition to money.

 What are your thoughts? 

You can read the article below (I have highlighted the good bits in bold) or follow the link to the article in Management Today

Continue reading ‘Are we deluding ourselves? Are we supposed to be happy at work?’