Andy Stanley - Tips for a Happy Work Life
Hi everybody. Welcome to Your Move where we help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. I'm Andy Stanley and I'll be your guide. And today, we're talking about how to be happy at work, how to be happy with your work, and how to find work that makes you happy. And I know that's a big promise and I'll do my best to deliver on all of that in 15 minutes or less. First, a couple of things about me. I started our organization 29 years ago with five close friends. We currently employ over 500 full-time staff, and we contract with 200 plus musicians, artists, set designers, editors, and writers in the course of a year. We have employees who've been with us over 25 years.
The point being, I've learned a thing or two over the years about what makes a person happy at work and what makes for satisfying work. And here's what I've learned. You'll be most satisfied at work when at least 2/3 of what you do aligns with how you're wired. Your natural strengths, your intuition, your temperament. You have, and you've probably discovered this, you have a built in productivity zone. You won't be happy at work unless the majority of your time is spent working in that zone. That's the win. Skills are important. Passion is important. Who you work with is important, but you are hardwired to be energized, engaged, and productive by a limited number of factors. And you need to discover what they are as soon as possible and then work toward a job description that provides you with the opportunity to spend at least 2/3 of your time in your sweet spot.
Now, I'm going to give you a few tips on how to work to that end in your current job at the end of this episode. But first, I wanna tease this out just a bit to ensure that we're all on the same page. As you've already discovered, you are better at some things than others, right? I mean, there are things that are effortless for you that will stress other people out. There are things that are intuitive to you that other people miss. There are environments that are comfortable for you that make other people uncomfortable. There are task and responsibilities that energize you. And when you're focused on those things, isn't it true that time just flies? And even if you're tired, at the end of the day, it's a good tired, it's a productive tired.
And you can't wait to do it all again. And the opposite is true as well, right? There are assignments and tasks and responsibilities that just stress you out. There are environments that exhaust you. Fun fact, did you know that stress is usually related to what we're doing, not how much we're doing? And even if you didn't know that, you no doubt have experienced that. Because working outside of your zone is exhausting. In fact, even the thought of certain tasks is exhausting, right? My point being you are wired for a certain type of work and you need to discover what that is as soon as possible and then work toward a job description that allows you to spend the majority of your time working in that energizing space.
Now, again, I know this is so much easier said than done, stay with me. If you're in your 20s, this is important. If you're in your 20s, you're still discovering what your zone looks like and what your zone feels like. You have a job because, well, you need a job. You like parts of it, you may hate other parts of it. But if you'll approach this season as a season of discovery, you're gonna look back on your current job with gratitude because you discovered not only what you don't wanna do for the rest of your life. More importantly, if you'll take my advice, you're gonna discover why you don't wanna do that for the rest of your life. Sometimes the only way to discover what we love to do is by doing something we hate for a minute.
When I was 16, I discovered I did not wanna work in the grocery industry for the rest of my life. But some people loved the grocery industry, right? When I was in my twenties, I discovered I was not wired for direct sales. I failed at direct sales. But I wasn't a failure because, well, I succeeded in discovering something I would never be great at and shouldn't attempt. But there are people, in fact, maybe you're one of them who are energized by sales. The point being, don't waste your misery. Learn something. Specifically, learn something about yourself. For the record, if you dislike your current job, chances are the problem isn't your job. It's you. You agreed to do work, you're not wired to do. And now you know. And that's how we grow.
So if you're not happy at your current job or if you're just mostly unhappy, here's what I recommend. Quit. No, just kidding. Don't quit. What I want you to do is sit down today and list the reasons you're unhappy there. If you don't, you won't learn anything. You'll have wasted your pain. If your current not-so-great job teaches you something about yourself, it wasn't a waste of time. It was a step. But don't stand on that step any longer than you have to. And don't beat yourself up. It is okay not to be good at something, but it's not okay to keep doing something you're not good at. If you do, eventually, you're just gonna feel like a failure, but you are not a failure.
If you're spending the majority of your working hours doing things you can do but aren't wired to do, you will not be happy. And this is true even if you love the company and love the people you work with, both of which are important factors for job satisfaction. And here's the thing, I've met too many college seniors and too many college grads who chose majors and degrees that did not align with their natural strength, talents, and abilities. They feel trapped. They feel compelled to pursue a job or a career they were trained for, but not wired for. And they're not happy at work or with their work, even though they're paid well. So it's imperative that you discover what energizes you as soon as possible.
So think about it. Do you like organizing things? Do you like problem solving? Helping people? Are you good with numbers? Do you enjoy making presentations or maybe preparing presentations for other people to make? Do you like to write? Do you enjoy diving into the details of a project? Do you enjoy being assigned a specific task and then checking it off a list? Do you enjoy working alone? Do you hate working alone? What aspects of your current job do you enjoy most? Dread most? These are the kinds of questions you should wrestle to the ground. And honestly, most people don't. So don't be most people. Most people get stuck at, "I hate my job" and they never learn a thing.
Now, before I give you your assignment, and don't you love assignments? Yeah, me neither. But anyway, this assignment is actually a game changer. Anyway, before I suggest a next step, we'll call it a next step one last thing. And this is so important. In addition to being happy at work, there's another important reason why you've got to discover your strength. And here it is. Your fully exploited strengths will always be your greatest gift to any organization you work for. Again, this is so important. Your fully exploited or deployed strengths will always be your greatest value add to any organization you work for. A job description that frees you to play to your strengths, positions you to add maximum value to your employer.
Or to say it a different way. Your strengths are what make you valuable at work. And as we've just discussed, a job that leverages your natural strengths is a job you'll enjoy. So it's a win-win. Your employer wins because you're adding value and you win because you enjoy what you do. You'll be happy at work and they will be happy to have you at work. Again, I'm an employer. The employees I value most are the employees who add the most value to our organization. The employees that add the most value are the ones that know their strengths and have helped us position them accordingly.
And then there's this. Study after study confirms that happy employees are more productive employees and they're more creative employees. Productive and creative employees are usually compensated financially accordingly. So this is really a big deal. And that brings us at last to something you can do immediately to get things moving in a happier direction at work. Since your value to your current employer won't be recognized until you're doing what you're naturally actually good at. In addition to discovering for yourself what you're good at, you've gotta be discovered. Your current employer needs to know where you have the potential to add the most value.
So here's what I suggest. And I've been suggesting this for years to people inside and outside of our organization. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to write out the ideal job description for you at your current place of employment. Write it as if you are planning to present it to your current boss because that's exactly what I'm about to suggest that you do. And begin with this statement or something similar. "I believe I can add more value to you and to our organization if you would allow me to spend more of my time or devote more of my time to".
And then list three things. Three things within the context of your current employment that you are naturally good at and that you enjoy. And if you can only think of one, then just list one. But don't list more than three. Be very specific. Again, I believe I can add more value to you and our organization if you would allow me to devote more of my time to than write them out.
Now, this is not an ultimatum. This is an offer to help. Not because things are broken. Don't present this as a solution to a problem. Be positive. You're offering to be helpful, which will make your supervisor more successful. And then look for the right time to present it. A good manager will appreciate this even if they aren't in a position to act on it immediately, which, in all likelihood, they aren't. So keep your expectations low. But your supervisor will never forget the conversation because you're probably the only employee who has ever approached them like this.
Everybody else, what do they want? Everybody else wants a raise or a promotion. You're not asking for a raise or a promotion. You're asking for an opportunity to do more of what you're good at. I call this appropriate ambition. So that's it. You were created to work, but you were created for a certain type of work, and it's up to you to figure out what that is. It's okay not to love what you're currently doing, but pay attention to why you don't love it. Discover your strengths, pay attention to what energizes you and what drains you. Discover your zone. Then do what you can do to move in that direction. You will be happier and you'll be more productive. And now it's your move.