Enjoyment in the working day
Enjoyment can accompany achievement during work and also come from activities beyond it, giving the non-work parts of life deliberate attention.
Enjoyment alongside achievement
A daily approach to work–life balance combines meaningful achievement with enjoyment, rather than concentrating only on getting things done. Enjoying the process itself may contribute to happiness.
One work group combined its recognition lunch with a scavenger hunt through San Francisco’s Ferry Building in 2009. Two colleagues scouted the venue months ahead, wrote rhyming clues and riddles, and equipped three teams with cameras to record finds within a time limit. The organiser found the competition exciting rather than stressful, with the team achieving its objective while enjoying the activity and returning with renewed team spirit.
Novelty, work at the cutting edge and interaction with capable colleagues were reasons one medical communicator gave for staying more than twenty years despite the profession’s demanding pace.
Satisfaction with the work
Time pressure, an inadequate environment and repetitive tasks can make otherwise enjoyable work unsatisfying. Improving satisfaction need not require an entirely new job or business. Practical advice includes making changes at a manageable pace, maintaining personal beliefs and values, and learning to decline requests.
The happiness framework in How We Choose to Be Happy treats intention as foundational: deciding to pursue happiness and deliberately choosing corresponding attitudes and behaviours. It defines the aim as enduring contentment, capability and centredness rather than constant cheerfulness, and favours engagement with ordinary moments over absorption in overwork and worry.
Happiness in the same job may partly involve a choice of outlook and recognising existing reasons for satisfaction.
Activities beyond work
Balance is personal rather than one objective state that suits everyone. Giving life outside work time and effort requires an active choice, and activities that restore balance can initially feel uncomfortably like doing nothing.
An activity that brings joy together with achievement can provide lasting enjoyment, while a sport or hobby can relax, distract from problems and take attention away from work. Examples include canyoneering, travel, model trains, hill walking and stamp collecting. Parenthood can also provide joy and achievement, although its obligations can make it feel like work, so additional enjoyable activities can still be valuable.
A medical editor found perspective in detailing a classic car in her garage with music playing, precisely because the activity was far removed from her working day. Work should combine effort and focus with knowing when to stop and relax with hobbies, family or friends, pursuing excellence rather than the endless torment of perfectionism.
Activities can also be chosen mainly for enjoyment, such as hiking or leisure reading.