A Happy Wife, A Happy Life - Why Workplace Happiness Matters
It's true. Having a happy wife results in a more fulfilling and happy life (assuming you are married). After all, why would we want to be with someone who we don't want to be happy? A lot of our daily stress is exhibited in the home even though this is exactly where we are most comfortable and should exhibit the least stress. Why at home, you ask? Well, it's stressful, especially with the demands of our children and the nurture side of our brains that care for our families.
However, one could make a strong argument that this is "normal" stress - this is "happy" stress. Happiness and stress go hand in hand - one cannot exist without the other. It is important to limit the stress as much as possible. For working parent(s), your happiness in the workplace is a great place to start. I should state up-front - this article is based on my own experience, observation and self-study. Personally, I am incredibly fortunate to have a wife I love and care deeply about. I genuinely feel that my workplace has played an important role in my own home life satisfying important attributes which I will discuss later in this article. Although I encourage you to take this information seriously, it is by no means scientific and, therefore, up to you to decide what is meaningful and what is not - it is a point of view.
We hear all the time that we need to excessive, get enough sleep, eat the right food and the like. What we don't hear enough about is finding a career and workplace that avoids unneeded stressors that can put us over the edge. We spend about a third of our lives working, a third sleeping and another third doing the things required (and not required) by life itself. For now, we will focus on the work part and how happiness in the workplace makes for a happier wife and therefore, life.
Let's look at the top 4 reasons for divorce in America:
Lack of Commitment
Endless Argument
Selfishness & Reduced Communication
Infidelity
In all four cases, workplace happiness matters and has a profound impact on the success of a marriage & overall home-life. In order to understand how this all ties together we need to start with #4 - infidelity. Infidelity is selfish and certainly supports the top reason for divorce, lack of commitment followed by argument and reduced communication, respectively. This logic isn't meant to suggest one of these reasons can't stand alone but we do know most divorces happen as a result of minimal to nonexistent commitment. Why is this? Could it be that we work too much in a workplace and job we can't stand. Perhaps, some of us don't believe in what we do or known why we are doing what we are doing. Maybe even the lack of flexibility of a job leads to stress which can result in the perception there is a lack of commitment.
Every American is empowered to create a life for themselves with few barriers of entry. We will always make poor decisions ever now and then but that is how we learn. Other times, we will make great decisions which we didn't feel great about at the time, later realizing the decision was life-altering, in a positive way. Please spend the time to find a workplace that is a good fit for you, the family and even the employer. I implore you to consider the following workplace attributes as they will greatly contribute to successfully fulfilling the earlier statement, "A Happy Wife, is a Happy Life".
Autonomy - "Work hard, play hard(er)". An employer who cares about you as an individual will express this through their actions allowing you to effectively get your work done while taking care of the most important aspects of your life. For most of us, that is family and self.
Purpose - The work that you do is bigger than just the 'work' itself. It supports a deed that you feel is important to the greater good, either directly or indirectly. Do you know why you do what you do? Ask yourself this question and figure out what your employers purpose is. Is it genuine? Does it align with your own values?
People - Once again, one third of your life is spent at work which means interacting with other people. We all want to work with people who are different in their own unique way but ultimately value much of the same things you do. If you can't stand the people, nothing else matters. Nothing.
Leadership - Although this might be hard to determine off of the bat, there are many clues available in the vast amounts of data available to us hinting at the success of the leadership at a given workplace. Sentiments on social media like LinkedIn and Twitter are great places to start. Asking others who work at said employer would help you gain further insight. Ultimately, most of us do not want to be working for only managers, we want to be working with leaders - be it community leaders, organizational leaders or even aspiring leaders.
It is important that you understand what is important to you - the factors listed above are not the end-all be all, but have shown a high-level of importance based on my own observations and experiences. Work should feel like a home away from home. It is my hope that one day everyone will spend their time doing what they love and being with those they care about very much inside and outside of the workplace.
Cheers!
JD
