If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?
Naval Ravikant had this to say on a podcast, “If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy? How come you’ve not figured that out?”
Can’t argue with that one. Naval’s got a point there. Deep down, we all think we’re smart, at least at some things if not everything. So why aren’t people happy?
There are so many possible answers to that happiness question. Things not going as they expected in their professional life, in their personal life. Health issues, money issues. Work-life balance. No time for yourself. Nothing exciting going on in life. Too many fires to put out everyday. Different day, same shit.
I can’t get into them all but I’d like to touch upon the most common reason why people aren’t happy. Their work life. It’s where they spend a major part of their day and eventually their life. So this one plays an important role in the happiness equation.
You see in an ideal world nobody wants to work before or after business hours, or on their days off. But for many, it’s not a choice. They don't have much control over what they do, and when. They are answerable to others with to-do lists to check off, responsibilities to shoulder and dreams to make true.
That said, there’s a way out and I’ll come to it in a bit but we first need to understand the underlying cause. And from where I stand, I see 3 culprits.
The 3 culprits
Culture
The biggest culprit of them all is toxic work culture. They normalise working long hours, working on weekends, and being available on call at the drop of a hat. There’s a time and place for this sort of intensive work but it can’t go on indefinitely. Short bursts are sometimes needed but it can’t be a daily grind.
Workload
Culprit number 2 is workload. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 3 different job functions smashed into one role, you’re expected to get it all done in a fast-paced, high-pressure, multi-tasking environment. Whatever the fuck that means.
Role
This last one’s a little tricky. It’s more to do with the nature of the job. For instance, sales. If a prospect wants to get on a call at odd hours or on weekends, you don’t have much say in it. If you say no or try to reschedule, there’s a chance that you may lose that prospect.
So what’s the antidote
When you get what you want, you’ll naturally be more happy. So here are 3 things that you can do to get what you want out of your work life. Be it money, freedom, autonomy or anything else you can imagine.
Build leverage
Cal Newport goes deep on the concept of leverage in his book called So Good They Can’t Ignore You. Leverage is your level of skill or combination of skills that are valuable and rare. The market is willing to pay top price for such talent. Businesses are willing to go to great lengths to keep you onboard. It’s because they know you can get them the results they seek.
Focus on results not hours
Bob Prozen expands on this in an HBR article he wrote over a decade ago. He explicitly says that how many hours an employee puts in shouldn’t really matter. What’s more important are the results. That’s what should be measured, not hours.
Understand time
Khe Hy has an insightful article at radreads.co on the only 3 ways to create more time.
- Stretch it - Add more hours to your work day
- Save it - Become more efficient
- Scale it - Focus on activities that are force multipliers