How to Be Happy at Work: A Practical Guide to Career Satisfaction
© 2004 by Arlene S. Hirsch
America's Career Publisher
ISBN 1-56370-980-5
305 pages PDF
2.42 Mb
It’s not easy to tell others how to be happy at work, especially
people who feel as if they’re living in a career combat zone. I
know the battleground well. For the past 20 years, I’ve been a
career counselor, psychotherapist, and corporate outplacement
consultant. In that time, I’ve seen more casualties of the career
wars than most people experience in a lifetime. I know what it
takes to be happy with your work. But I also know there’s no
simple formula to achieve career success and satisfaction.
The workplace is chaotic.
If you’re like most people, you probably
feel that you’re living a career nightmare: working harder to
make a living with fewer available resources, more demands on
your time, and lots of disincentives to achievement. Perhaps you
fantasize about chucking the whole scene. Right about now, life
on the golf course, ski slopes, or a sandy beach can look mighty
appealing.
Maybe you just need a good, long vacation. You don’t want to
drop out of the workforce altogether, but you’re hungering for a
new adventure. You want more control over your time and your
destiny. Your rallying cry is More Freedom, Less Office Politics!
To be truly happy with your work, you must forge a path that fits
your needs and life goals. No one is going to hand you the perfect
career on the proverbial “silver platter.” The issue, as psychiatrist
Thomas Szasz tells us, is not whether or not you’ve
found yourself; it’s whether or not you’ve taken the time to create
yourself.
Freud once identified “work” and “love” as the two greatest
sources of human happiness. For me, this book has been a true
labor of love. If it helps you make fulfilling life and work
changes, it will have done its job and I, too, will be well satisfied.
