Work Happiness videos compare contrast writeup

Vu Mai
MGT 308
Write up #2 There are many different opinions about the relation between “happiness and work.” Some people think that when they are more successful in their job, they will be happier. So they try to work harder, impose order on their job, and try to achieve some goals to become happier as the opinion of Alain de Botton in his speech named “Finding meaning in the daily grind.” However, I am in the group of people who think that if I am happy, and having positive thinking, I can do my job better, more successful. I strongly agree with Shawn Achor’s opinion which shows in the video named “The happy secret to better work.” In “The happy secret to better work,” Shawn Achor amazed me by showing his research about “Positive brain and success.” He found that only one fourth of job successes are predicted by I.Q., and three fourths of job success are predicted by the states of your mind - the moods that determine your powers to think, feel and act in a certain way. For example, when giving a speech, if somebody was self-confident, and optimistic about the result, he/she would do that well, even better than he/she expected. Having nervous, talking with the weak voice, being unselfconfident would make the speech becomes worse. Additionally, people’s brain works much better when they have positive emotions such as self-assurance, excitement, and cheerfulness. Their positive emotions may result the rising of their intelligence, their creativity, and their energy levels. According to the video, “brain at positive is 31 percent more productive than brain at negative,” and this is a huge different that people should consider. For instance, when people have some negative emotions, such as anxiety, nervousness, and stress, they may get some mistakes while doing their job. They get a bad result, and then their feeling becomes worse – more stressful, sadder, or more up-set. Furthermore, they may lose control of themselves and keep getting more mistakes. In fact, if people are comfortable, and their brain stays at the positive mood, they are able to work more intelligently, more creatively, harder and faster. As a result, people are more successful when they are happier. In another video named “Finding meaning in the daily grind,” Alain de Botton said that one of the best things for people who want to be successful is to impose order on their job. It is a really good idea and it may work very well for some people. For example, if someone worked hard to find support for his/her speech, had some specific steps, and put any parts of the speech in the order, he/she would do the speech well. Moreover, in the opinion of Alain de Botton, if people work hard, and try to do everything in the orders, they will achieve some goals easily. However, in my opinion, for some people, who don’t enjoy the job which they are working, may not achieve any goal with the Alain de Botton’s idea. Day by day, they may hate the job and decide to give up. After watching two videos, I realize that there are many difference ways to be successful in a job and many different opinions about the relation between “happiness and work.” For me, happiness is really important when working, and I think that when I am happier, I can do the better job.