Happiness at Work

On the plane ride back from New York, I had the pleasure of being seated next to a student from the University of Minnesota. He was involved in a student organization that promotes awareness of the situation in Tibet and had the unique opportunity to meet with the Dali Lama.

He was awarded the chance to ask one question of his spiritual leader and I could feel his happiness and excitement when recalling his memory. He told me about how the Dali Lama was to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, which is an extremely high honor to have earned. He spoke, in glowing terms, about the hard work and dedication that the Dali Lama put forth in all his efforts. The young man spoke about his own ambitions in life and how focused he was on his goals after having met such a spiritual figure and wise man.

I was a bit taken aback by this boys openness and the lack of cynicism he had. It was very refreshing. During our conversation, he told me about the book "The Art of Happiness at Work." I immediately picked it up when I got back to Minnesota and it is a great read. I would recommend it to anyone in the fast paced world of business.

The Dali Lama has a very straight forward view on life and how to obtain happiness. His main point is that you are unable to control everything that happens around you, only how you react to these things. I think that is a pertinent lesson for all of us, especially when something isn't working out great at work. We can't make other people return phone calls or get files completed as quick as we would like. We can't force a seller to accept our terms and can't expect a buyer to move at our pace, but we can help by not letting these negative things creep into the other aspects of our life. Remember, no matter how bad you think things are right now, someone else is having a worse go of it than you. Focus on the things you can directly affect and work to move towards your goals.

Have a prosperous day and a wealthy week!!