Is being happy at work a naive dream ?

I believe in dreams

I believe in humanity.

I believe in hopes.

I believe in the incredible.

I believe that you can change your life in an instant by looking at thing differently.

I believe that failures, stops, changes can be not only good but also a luck.

I come from a generation where working was a duty. Where it was absolutely out of question to even wonder what were your talents, wishes, wills and  dreams. Where it was just question to find a job and that was tough because we were discovering high – crisis unemployement. So if you were lucky enough to find one, you were gently but firmly asked to shut it up, to bend you head and to be low profile. How many times did i hear that. “Low profile cause hundreds of people like you are waiting there outside” so if you were not happy you were just asked to leave (impossible at that time) or to shut up and to thank the people who had had the kindness to hire you.

At that time, about 20 years ago, we did not really care about who you were, what you were attracted by, what you were good at, no we were just interested by your diploma (unfortunately this has not changed that much…..), and by how fast you would adapt to the job, firm, how adaptable you would be to changes (never agreed with you….).

And my generation did not fight it. We respectefully listened to our famly, friends, teachers… all people with nothing but good intentions just willing to see us protected and well placed in a good job in a good institution….

But then we woke up, I woke up.

How many 40 yo people suddenly open their eyes to realise that they’ve been doing nothing more than working for something they did nit really lile, they did not really agree for and especially they did not really chose !

Of course, not everyone is equal and not everyone can have the leisure to really chose what he/she does but nevertheless we can still be happy at work and go there very monday morning with a sense of joy, duty, and feeling to belong where you’re supposed to be.

Thanks to the next generations (the Millemials are fascinating in the way their pursue their real self), it is now not only not rare but becoming more and more popular to have happiness and self-achievement as a first professional target.

More and more individual people, public & private organisations, small and big companies begin to think about what and how to do to help /make their employee happier in their daily routine. Can be small or big but the biggestchange is that now it is legitimate to consider being happy at work.

And so no, it is not a naive dream, it will be soon be standard for an individual and a company.