Are you disengaged at work?
Are you disengaged from work? Does your work life balance looks like the Venn diagram below? A disengaged worker is one who is not connected with his or her employer, see post “Are you feeling loss of trust, hope, worth, and competence at work? If so, then you’re disengaged.” Work is difficult, especially when we are disengaged for any of the seven reasons as identified inThe 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Lateby Leigh Branham.

List how you are disengaged so you can figure out how to re-engage, making work a happier place to be. Are you unhappy with your job functions, your boss, or the management team? Try to figure out what your issues are. Once you ascertain what these issues are, can you have a discussion with your boss to make changes? Or is it easier to quietly transition out of your job into a new one?

Or has work taken over your life?
If you are not disengaged, then do you feel like you’re on call? Does your boss email after hours, expecting a reply? Or is your work consuming your life, overlapping you like in the Venn diagram below.

List how work has taken over your life. How can you establish boundaries? Will you feel safe in discussing the issue with your boss? If not, why? Is this a place where you want to stay? Or perhaps you enjoy the lack of boundaries? Is that sustainable? Is overlapping of work and personal self helping you achieve your career goals?

Work Life Balance
Ideally, our work-life balance should look like the Venn diagram below. There’s enough overlap, but not too much where the work life is overtaking the personal life. Finding the right balance or overlap between work and personal is a personal decision. I have been disengaged. I have enjoyed letting work take over my personal life. It’s when my choices start degrading my personal life, and that it’s time to develop a healthy and happier approach to work.

Are you making choices that aren’t sustainable? Will you ever be content to have just enough overlap? Or are you in a career stage where you want the overlap? Being happy at work is understanding that your choices aren’t hurting other aspects of your life.

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23 Ways to be Happy at Work Series

The 23 Ways to be Happy at Work series reflects on 23 ways to help you reflect about the course of your career. After deciding to identify what made me happy at work, my list became this list. Here the are the drivers to my happiness at work that may help you manage your career:

1. Work by your values
2. Love your work, love your career
3. Decide what makes you happy in your job
4. Work can be play
5. Know the big picture
6. Walk in your boss’ shoes
7. What is the problem?
8. Try the same old thing to get different results
9. Try something new to get different results
10. List your accomplishments
11. Don’t gossip
12. Don’t react
13. Don’t worry
14. Don’t be unhealthy
15. Read up
16. Read It
17. Share knowledge
18. Mend fences
19. Be a squirrel
20. Change your workspace
21. Give yourself a gift
22. Let it go
23. Change this!

For previous entries in this series, click here.

Similar Posts:

• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #22 - Let it go
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #13 - Don’t worry
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #6 - Walk in Your Boss’s Shoes
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #23 - Change this!
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #12 - Don’t react