Bring happiness into your working day

Bring happiness into your working day with our support team’s strategies for smiles.

It’s International Day of Happiness on 20 March. This year’s theme is “Keep Calm. Stay Wise. Be Kind.”

One great way to do this at work is to help you and your colleague find moments of happiness in the working day. Having some positive focus can give you a boost and help you to stay connected with your colleagues, especially during remote working.

Here, NABS’ support team share their favourite ways of bringing a little happiness into the working day.

Annabel McCaffrey

Because a sense of belonging gives me great happiness and contentment, in turn, I encourage my team to take time to have a weekly cuppa and chat. When we get together, we chat, we laugh and we share ideas about what’s sparked our interest that week. That includes anything from books to birdwatching, unusual gift websites to uplifting TV shows and podcasts, world news to our own personal struggles. Although we’re not together in person, we’re there for each other, caring and creating a great sense of belonging.

Claire Dickson

For me, moments of happiness tend to come from linking in with the rest of the team or having a 1:1 with a team member. It’s about reaching out and talking about non work-related stuff, sharing personal stories and experiencing a sense of personal connection. Doing this is even more important in today’s virtual world and it’s had the power to lift my spirits during the last year.

Debra Douglas

If I’ve been feeling bogged down by things or similarly if things feel hectic during working from home, I put some music on, usually from BBC Sounds and their playlists as I love the variety. Some days I will listen to Jorja Smith’s Tearjerker sessions, which, by the way, are very uplifting and have a mix of classical pieces as well as R&B, soul or pop. Other days it’ll be a rockier vibe with 6Music complications. Spotify is another go-to, as it’ll create music it thinks you’ll like based on what you’ve played and I love listening to new tunes and being introduced to new artists. The platforms remind me of my youth and how I’d listen to cassette tapes for hours on end whilst doing college homework – such pleasurable memories!

When we were in the office together, if we were all caught up in projects without a moment to breathe, I’d think of something amusing to say or talk about… maybe a joke, an anecdote or a mention of a programme or film I’d watched. It helps to lighten the mood. I’ve found when you do create lighter moments it can bring some relief and even refresh your thinking by taking five minutes out.

Marisa Posadinu

A great way to create some happiness for yourself at work is to remind yourself of all the achievements, contributions and progress that you’ve made, no matter how small

they may seem. You could create a folder in your inbox and regularly drag and drop in anything that makes you feel proud, any feedback that you’ve received or anything that you have written to yourself as a reminder of your contribution.

This can be a powerful way to create happiness at work as it can really help to boost your confidence. It’s important to regularly remind yourself of the value that you bring to your role, your team, your clients and your organisation. And it doesn’t need to be related to work deliverables either: it could be simply how you’ve made a difference to a colleague’s day.

Ruth Sherrington

In this virtual world, one way I try to create happiness in my team is by encouraging some light-hearted chat on Teams, so that we’re not just talking about work and to keep us feeling connected. I tend to start this by sharing something small about my day, an interest or something I have noticed.

Maybe I’ll share what I’m listening to on Spotify and ask what everyone else is listening to; I might talk about a neighbour I can hear singing opera outside (so cool!); about an event that might be happening in the world such as a space landing on Mars; about my embarrassing addiction to Below Deck and asking, hopefully, if they’re addicted to any TV too.

Basically, when you share a little about yourself, like you would in the office, others feel encouraged to do the same. This always helps me to feel connected with my colleagues and personally gives me moments of happiness at work, plus there’s usually some virtual laughter in there too!

Steve Rowe

A big part of happiness at work for me comes down to the people we work with. So, to find moments of happiness, I think it’s important to find time to still connect with each other. A walk and talk is cool, or a virtual coffee break to chat while we work remotely – a bit of work chat, sure, but also talking to find out how things are IRL.

Also, this is quite random but we have some building work going on at home, so I had to sit in my little daughter’s room for a meeting as it’s the quietest spot in the house. Everybody on the call seemed to get a buzz out of seeing me with a different background. It is a cool animal-covered wallpaper to be fair. Showing your kids’ rooms, your garden and so on to your work pals is a way to bring some light relief into the day.

Share how you find moments of happiness in your working day over on our Twitter using #InternationalDayOfHappiness – we look forward to finding the joy with you!