The Manager - Happiness and a Roadmap for finding your true north
Cultivated Management Newsletter - Edition 25
Howdy and welcome.
Hope you are having a great weekend and are all set for the week ahead.
In the last two newsletters we covered the first two parts of my Career Trinity; and the . In today’s newsletter we’re covering the third part; Happiness.
Be Happy A few people manage to find all of their happiness and joy in their job (at work), but in my experience, I tend to see that the truly happy people are doing something outside of work that makes them happy. They find some happiness at work, but they really focus on it outside of work. In other words, they don't seek their entire happiness through their job - they have other avenues.
I was miserable for a few years. I found no joy in what I was doing. But that’s because I had flung myself at a new role, had insane (and unreasonable) pressure from above and neglected the very things that made me happy; my family, my friends, my blogging, my car, my video production.
So I returned to my Trinity results and realised something had to change. And it did.
The Trinity is a guiding map to your True North. The hard thing is keeping it in mind and overcoming your blockers and sticking to your plans when the world rises up against you. Staying on a path to what you want is hard, when others are trying (not always consciously) to send you on another path.
The happiness angle of the Trinity is all about what makes you happy.
What do you need in your life to be happy?
How can you blend or discover this happiness, and in what quota do you need to flex all the dimensions of your life?
It's your life's work to answer questions like these. It may sound all lofty and philosophical, but trust me, as the years go by, if you're not on a path you want, you may be leaving it too late to change it.
It’s your job in life to make your career happen and balance what is important to you.
For the happiness angle of the Trinity, I use the Authentic Happiness survey created by Martin Seligman and his team.
It’s a science backed survey and I personally find it staggeringly useful. You will need to create an account. There are loads of other surveys on there too.
I’ve used this Trinity model for years with my team and helped them to build a life that balances the three aspects. Only the other week I ran a Trinity and Communication workday (because building relationships through effective communication is the most effective way of building your career) and the results were staggering.
People were energised, focused on what they needed to do and the managers were now able to build career paths and journeys that resonated with their direct reports. They were able to help their team achieve their potential and help the business succeed also.
The Trinity really is a useful tool for both managers and direct reports. The hard part is implementing the changes needed.
So go forth and use the Happiness Survey to work out what you need in your life to be happy.
I’ve also included the Trinity Roadmap print out I personally use and have been using for years.
In the download you will find a template on page 1, and my own Trinity results on page 2 (if you're interested!).
Feel free to download it, fill it in and use it. Then put in place any learning paths or journeys that you need to achieve your goals and dreams. I hope these three newsletter have been helpful and thank you to everyone who gave me feedback about my newly designed site. Some things still to action - so thank you - most appreciated.
And BTW - check out the news below - new Communication Workshop date announced.
Until next time
Rob..
Interesting Internet Finds
Here's some interesting reading for your week ahead:
Thousands of magazines now digitised and free. How super cool is this?
When we rolled out an LMS as part of my HR work we never pandered to this idea of "Learning Styles" - the reality is we have preferences, but there are just some things that need to be studied and learned.
10 Universal writing rules from the editor of the Onion. Some useful ideas, but be aware - the goal of most online news/blogs is to grab clicks - that might not be your goal.