Design - and your job - can make you happy

Not entirely on purpose, the majority of the posts on this site this week will deal with lifestyle issues such as business, relationships, and work-life balance. Of course, this wasn’t entirely planned: I just have a few drafts in my CMS that I feel I should post eventually, and this just seems like the right week.

For those of you who have been following Squandrous, you know that I linked to a video of a great talk by designer Stefan Sagmeister that I found over at TED Talks that really had a profound effect on me. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, do be sure to click on the link above and check it out.

Apart from the fact that Sagmeister did a wonderful job in showing how design can make people happy — the NY subway work by TRUE is particularly fantastic — and the fact that he’s remarkably humorous in his understated delivery, he also raises some fantastic points on the philosophy of life and how work can make you happy.

Most people have been focusing on the list from Sagmeister’s diary of all the things he has learned, and rightly so. Here it is for those of you who were trying to jot it down really quickly during the video:

• Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
• Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
• Being not truthful works against me.
• Helping other people helps me.
• Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
• Everything I do always comes back to me.
• Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
• Over time I get used to everything and start taking if for granted.
• Money does not make me happy.
• Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
• Assuming is stifling.
• Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
• Trying to look good limits my life.
• Worrying solves nothing.
• Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
• Having guts always works out for me.

What I want to focus upon, however, is Sagmeister’s list of what he likes about his job. While he was speaking specifically about design jobs, what he mentions in the presentation is easily extrapolated into other domains:

• Thinking about ideas and content freely - with the deadline far away.
  Whether you’re an accountant, an engineer, a writer, or a car salesman, the freedom to think and act creatively about your everyday tasks is extremely important in order to keep you job feeling fresh and exciting.
   
• Working without interruption on a single project.
  In a world where multi-tasking is the norm, the latitude to focus your energies on specific task is rare. Yet, taking ownership of a specific task, however large or small, and devoting your attention to that task is a key component of personal job satisfaction.
   
• Using a wide variety of tools and techniques.
  As Sagmeister mentioned in his talk, happiness at work means not always having to stare at the computer screen. But even for those who don’t use a computer as their everyday work tool, having the flexibility to not only choose the right tool or technique for the job, but also experiment and try new tools and techniques will increase productivity, and which in turn produces result-driven happiness.
   
• Traveling to new places.
  Travel here does not necessarily mean jumping on an airplane and going to foreign lands; that gets tedious after a while. Traveling to new places in any line of work means breaking out of routine physical and mental environments: to explore a part of a problem which you have not yet considered. Exploration leads to new learning, which in turn leads to personal accomplishment.
   
• Working on projects that matter to me.
  While everyone does not have the possibility to pick their tasks, it is evident that choosing what you work on is inherently more satisfying because it is of personal interest to you.
   
• Having things come back from the printer done well.
  Every single one of us doesn’t have a printer that comes back to us with results, but everyone thrives on seeing their work completed and making some kind of impact. Seeing your completed work and receiving feedback is key to job satisfaction.

Several of my friends have remarked that I seem more energetic and happier since I started the whole consulting gig. Now that I think of it, it makes sense: my new line of work corresponds to every single one of the items on Sagmeister’s list above. I am not only encouraged to think creatively, but I am given freedom to push boundaries and think outside the proverbial box. I use my computer, paper, sticky notes, and several other kinds of tools, I travel extensively, I get to see the results of my work being used productively, and most importantly, I truly believe in all the work I’m doing.

Sagmeister was extremely right in his talk: design definitely can make you happy. What he forgot to mention is that if you’re not a designer, aspects of your work can make you happy as well.