Clearly I support you loving your job. I post time and time again about how it’s up to you to go after what you love and find out how to turn your passion into a paying gig. It’s what we all strive for. Whether you are an owner of a small start-up or the new guy at a million-dollar company, we all strive to wake up happy and fall asleep the same.

I get a lot of emails. Emails from people wanting help with resumes, cover letters, etc. and letters from people simply seeking advice. Should they stay at a job they don’t “love,” and why don’t they “love” it? We have all worked in jobs where you spend half the day trying to think of other jobs you could be doing or ways you could make this job better suited for you. In fact, when you tally up the hours we actually work at a job like that they would probably pale in comparison to the time we spend analyzing our career status and our happiness factor. Being happy at your job is an ongoing battle we are constantly trying to win. It’s that illusive, shiny, gadget that we keep reading about and buying into, only to find out that a newer, better one is right around the corner. In a nutshell—being happy in your job is damn near impossible these days…

Or.so.it.seems.

Now don’t go getting all cranky with me when I say this, but as I have matured through the different job positions in my life I have realized one thing I never thought I would say—sometimes when it comes to finding happiness at work it has less to do with the job and more to do with you. I’m not calling you Oscar the Grouch and fitting you for your very own trash can here, I’m just saying that finding happiness in a job really starts with perspective, and has little to do with salary, title, or the size of your office.

Let’s play a game. I want you to picture someone you know that loves their job…someone that is happy at work. Okay, now ask yourself, “Why is that person happy?” I bet the answers sounded something like, “they get to work with people they like,” or “they get to give back to the community.” I bet the answers did not sound like, “Because people fear them and they get to boss around other coworkers.” When people find happiness at work it’s usually because of some or all of the following:

• They turned a hobby or passion into a job
• They feel they are helping others in some way
• They learn something new every day and push themselves past the comfort zone

Believe it or not…those are really it. It’s not as hard as we all want it to be. So many of us come home and talk about paychecks, we bitch about that woman who sits next to us, or complain we aren’t really doing what we were meant to do. God knows I have done all of those at past jobs, and you know what I realized? They were excuses. I was just complaining because I was too afraid to change the circumstance, or at the very least I wasn’t using that energy to make those jobs better…jobs I could be happy at. Ugh. Hindsight is a killer huh?

Well for whatever its worth friends, there is a great ending to all of this—happiness really is in your hands. It may take you a few months or even years to shape your daily work activities into something you love and enjoy, but I highly suggest moving toward it rather than finding comfort in complacency. That word has always scared the hell out of me, especially when, in this case, it means being unhappy for at least 8 hours a day. Yuck. That’s a lot of time.

Anyway, I digress. I just thought it was worth addressing. As more of us begin to assess our jobs and discover opportunities, I wanted to remind you that finding happiness at work really is in within reach—your reach that is. So go get it friends, it’s yours for the taking.