Loving and respecting your job are two different but indispensable concepts. Not everyone is privileged to be doing the job they love or loving the job that they do. I am sure that most of you wouldn’t imagine that your dream job would be to be working in the intellectual property sector. There can be many different reasons for choosing this industry and the company you work for. You may not have achieved your dream job, salary, environment, be living in your dream city or have your dream manager. If I have to give an example from myself, working in the intellectual property sector wasn’t my ideal, let alone in the back of my mind, when I graduated from Middle East Technical University City Planning Department in 1992 and completed my master's degree in the same department in 1995. However, a chain of events we call destiny drew me to the Ankara Patent family. I am very happy with the work I do today and I try to be successful.
I believe the key to being happy and successful in your job is to love and respect your job. What your profession is and what you want to do in life are two different matters. Of course, working in the profession you earned your degree in or earning a lot of money from the job you enjoy the most is what most would expect. But there is a reality that we have to face. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute data from October 2019, the unemployment rate for the population between the ages of 15-24 was 27.1%. The total number of the population over the age of 15 not in the labor force was 28.394.000. Unfortunately, the painful reality is that people are happy to even find a job in such a setting. Indeed, it’s no surprise that people just have to work at any job they find, especially in our country. So the first thing to do is to respect your job.
Even though showing respect for a job might be regarded as perfectionism by some, it is a prerequisite for success in a business. A person who respects their job will try to do their best and in the most correct way. They will be well-informed about their job, will learn to do it well and refresh their knowledge regularly. A person who respects their job will respect those that they work with (coworkers, colleagues, customers, suppliers, solution partners, etc.). Above all, they will respect themselves. Those that respect themselves will continuously improve themselves. They will not resort to such excuses as time and money. They will study and learn. They will request support from their superiors to improve themselves. They will receive training. Learn new languages, follow new trends and increase personal skills. They will also put their social life in order. They will allow a balanced time for work and family or loved ones.
A person will love a job that they have learned to respect over time. Loving your job will open the door to a whole new world: Happiness. Loving a job and doing it with excitement stands out as one of the most important conditions for being happy while working. Among the recipes of doing your job lovingly are, getting out of bed when the alarm rings only once in the morning, not dragging one’s heels, not counting the minutes until the work day is over, not noticing how time has passed while working, and wanting to come back to work every day. Only those who work for money seem destined to be unhappy. For many people it is impossible to be happy at work; the greatest happiness is when the work day comes to an end or time is spent waiting for Friday to arrive.
The most important conditions for being happy at work are as follows, according to the data of the research company the Human Group:
1. To love your job, to work eagerly
2. To be working with like-minded, compatible colleagues
3. Fair management approach that values people
4. Positive communication
5. Fun working environment
6. To be able to do and learn new things in the workplace
7. To provide job satisfaction
8. To be able to take initiative
9. To get your money's worth
10. To know your job well and to do it properly
Respect yourself and love yourself. Set goals for yourself. Improve yourself in line with your goals.
Don't be tired of learning. Share all you have learned. Write, teach and educate. Most importantly, don't do this for your company or anyone else; do it for yourself. Be happy. Success will come if you are happy. Success will bring you a respectable position and a reasonable salary in your workplace. But don’t forget, money is just a tool. Being happy is up to you, not money.
