It’s not the answers that you receive that bring you happiness; it’s the questions that you ask.
The question must come before the answer.
If you are looking for the answers on how to enjoy a tough project, they won’t come. You are searching for the end point when it’s the journey that will help you find the joy.
For example, if you go into work every Monday morning wondering why you aren’t happy, then you will focus on why you aren’t happy.
If you go into work with a question such as, “how can I improve my happiness?” You are focusing your mind on finding a positive answer.
Here are some of the questions I ask myself every Monday…
1. What is one thing I can enjoy about each person that I come into contact with today?
2. What is the most important thing I need to do today?
3. What am I grateful for?
4. How can I make someone laugh?
5. Where can I optimize my strengths?
6. When my motivation dips, how can I stimulate myself to take action?
7. Who needs my help today?
8. What three people do I need to support to improve my work relationships?
9. Who can teach me a valuable skill to improve my job?
10. Am I being my true self at work?
11. What is one task or routine that I can eliminate?
12. What is the best part of my job?
13. Why am I good at my job?
14. What would be my ultimate job? And am I building towards it?
15. Who is my role model at work?
16. What can I do to become more engaged with my work?
17. What matters most to me at my job?
18. How can I lead the people around me to improve their happiness?
19. When I’m stressed out, how do I cope with these feelings?
20. Why do I assume I know what my coworkers are thinking?
21. How can I make my work more fulfilling?
Set yourself with the right questions and you’ll find happiness comes so much easier.
Do you want more energy at work? Then take the time to dig into your thoughts and emotions. When you take the time to process them then you can find hidden opportunities.
Great list of questions! I’ll definitely ask myself those tomorrow morning. Thanks!
Karl,
I like the list. I wonder if for me personally – this list of questions is too long. I think I may break it into a couple of groups and try out – alternating weeks. The questions themselves are great questions to delve into and really focus the week!
These questions are great Karl, especially because they’re both about prioritizing your work so that the most important things get done, and building better relationships at work.
I thought one of your questions would be, “is it Friday, yet?” 🙂
It’s great to use a set of questions to set the tone and pace. Great job enumerating your question set.
Interesting thought and I agree. I think I need to put on the right questions so that I can be more productive. 🙂
When I used to work in a position I sort of enjoyed but didn’t love, I had days when I just didn’t want to go into work. But I could always ask myself questions like what you suggested to turn things around. Amazing how fast a positive mindset can alter our mood.
Hi Karl
You touched upon one of the most important things in this post when it comes not just to job happiness, but overall happiness.
And that is: we need to ask ourselves better questions.
What does the popular question like “why does this always happen to me accomplish? – nothing to be quite honest. Just as the example question you mentioned.
If we are serious about changing our circumstances, whether it be work or other, we really need to become aware of the questions we are putting out there about those things and start asking ourselves more empowering questions. Questions, that can actually lead to a solution or a change, not questions that get us stuck and leaving perhaps worse than before we even asked it.
So thank you for this fantastic list of questions, and thank you so much for linking to my article. It is so wonderful to hear that you enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Karl,
Thank you for sharing your list with us. I think it proves the point that our mindset really determines how we experience a situation. So with a positive state of mind, a so-called negative situation can be turned into something amazing.
Happy Monday to you! 🙂
#2 is a great one, as is #19 (but then I’m biased on #19). I think not recognizing what REALLY needs to get done in a day is extremely stress provoking, leading to unhappiness. We feel overwhelmed with our list of things to do and dissatisfied when it doesn’t get done. Since I work for myself I now focus on marketing and revenue generation first, fun stuff later!
Great questions for staying present and in the moment. My favorite is #10 – Am I being my true self at work? If I can stay in that space, I know my day will go well. Thanks!
Karl,
I’m wondering if you could come up with 10 more and make it a monthly challenge…one question a day for example. I think like Lance it’s a bit overwhelming. But every single one are great questions and will bring about big changed if answered and acted upon. Great post!
Hi Positively Present, hope they helped.
Hi Lance, good point. I should have an easier way to apply these questions, splitting them up is a good idea.
Hi Marelisa, you know me. I’m all about good relationships at work.
Hi J.D., setting the tone of the work week is a great way to set the week off right.
Hi Walter, it’s all about perspective.
Hi Megan, a positive mindset takes a little work, but really does help.
Hi Evita, when we stop thinking about what is wrong and focus on what is and could be right we have a better chance at happiness.
Hi Nadia, very well said.
Hi Stacey, I need to turn my focus to marketing and revenue generating too.
Hi Patty, when we can completely be ourselves the rest is easy.
Hi Tess, great idea. I’ll see what I can come up with.
Hi Karl,
Great set of questions. I’d say that many of these questions apply to life and our interpersonal interactions in general. Maybe another way of incorporating these questions into a sort of “mindfulness” practice would be to put each question on a little card and put them in a jar or box, then take one card/question each morning to set an intention for that day. Just a thought.
I found questions 10, 12, 14, 16 & 17 very compelling questions–questions that could cause a fair amount of discomfort and soul searching if the answers, as they apply to one’s current work and work environment, seem to point to a poor fit. I have recently been reading Martha Beck’s “Finding Your Own North Star” and she has some good ideas and strategies around tuning into one’s “inner compass” and staying on course with a path that allows you to be true to yourself.
Hi Sue, that’s a great idea. By picking a random card out each Monday it could be thought of as a little game.
These questions are such a great way to set the right tone for a new week. Thanks, Karl!
Hi Karl,
To give credit where it’s due, I noticed a couple of your readers had commented on either breaking the list of questions down into smaller, easier to use “chunks” or adding a few more questions and then just picking one per day. Their comments inspired me to think of putting the questions on cards and just randomly picking one card/question per day. I know for myself that I could spend an awful lot of time some days just trying to choose one question and second guessing what I might think as being the “right” question to focus on for the day. (Not that I’m indecisive or anything….) Making the selection a random process while holding the intent or question “What question would help me the best today?” brings an element of synchronicity into the process so it becomes a personal growth game (or a new kind of work happiness oracle tool? ;-))
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great article, and great questions. It seems a lot to ask your self on a Monday morning (the busiest day of the week for me) but I think picking a few each day would still be just as beneficial. Thank you!