A to Z New Year resolutions to manifest happiness at work and outside

Compliment others. Everyone wants validation, just like you. When you appreciate someone’s work, they appreciate your gesture. Go beyond their appearances and appreciate their work, zeal, curiosity, or lateral thinking abilities. You will learn to see the positive traits in others and leave them feeling good, which raises the odds of them helping you if the need arises. (Image: Shutterstock)

Do things, especially when you don’t feel like doing them. Say, a shower or workout or some repetitive task at work. You just have to do it. The internet is full of research, people’s experiences, and suggestions about the benefits of micro-habits and daily rituals that add up to consequential changes in life, which you could refer to. It may be tougher if your entire day involves doing things you don’t like. That would need deeper introspection and more significant changes. (Image: Shutterstock)

Enjoy small victories. Accept that success is contextual. Yes, take the moonshots. They are great, but they are called moonshots because the likelihood of success is minimal, if not zero. You can’t take a moonshot and then beat yourself over it. Where you start, what you start with, who you know, and many other factors decide the distance and ease of your journey to success. And then, there’s the perception of what constitutes success. Set your own goals based on your own realities. (Image: Shutterstock)

Feed your soul, not just your mind. As the popular quote from the movie “Dead Poets Society” goes, “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” Break life’s monotony with books/music/movies that open new pathways in your brain. Learning a new language, practicing music, memorising routes, and even reading regularly can rewire your brain, unlock unexplored potential, and uncover new facets of your own personality. You’d be surprised how seemingly unrelated interests contribute to your work and conversations and, at the least, help you find common ground with people you have professional or personal relationships with.(Image: Shutterstock)

Go with solutions, not with problems. It’s good advice that inculcates a culture of thought, pushes employees to look critically at their work, and racks the brain for potential solutions. However, managers also have the responsibility of finding the root cause of the problems, and while encouraging team members to push themselves, managers must also introspect on the root cause of the issues and ensure that the drive for solutions doesn’t intimidate and stop people from citing a problem for fear of a backlash. Leaders must play an enabling role while actively participating in the solution-finding exercise. (Image: Shutterstock)

Help others, especially the ones you don’t like. It’s easy to get along with people you like. The real test of interpersonal skills is how you handle people you don’t like, especially if you’re in the same team. The popular saying goes that no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. Appreciation and gratitude, wherever appropriate, help you connect with colleagues you have to work with. Managers who practice kindness, appreciation, and gratitude get a more motivated team. (Image: Shutterstock)

Illustrate your thoughts. Converting your thoughts and words into vivid mental images makes the ideas clearer and more tangible. It leads to better impact assessment and innovative solutions. It helps you communicate your ideas better and convince the doubters. Not just at work, but even in your personal life. Instead of suggesting the name of a place for a holiday with your friends, try describing what you’d do there instead. Let your description paint a picture of the experience you imagine and see the impact. That could be the difference between planning for Ladakh and actually visiting it. (Image: Shutterstock)

Jam with ideas. It doesn’t have to be your idea, but when you encounter a new one, ask questions and jam with the ideation process. The only payback is to train your mind to think about different things and think differently. It’s another way of imbibing new perspectives, learning about new areas of work, technology, or cultural nuances, and discovering how it could be applied to your own life and work. (Image: Shutterstock)

Know your peers as humans, not just competitors. We are good enough to be at our best — as professionals and as human beings — on many days, but not every day. If we can internalise this, it makes life easier, helps us empathise with others (when they are not being their best), and reduces conflict. You may not need friends from work, but you need them at work, and we all spend a lot of time at work. Don’t fake it. Keep it real. Being nice is a gesture, not a commitment. Everyone has their own purpose, ideals, character, style, skills, strengths, and weaknesses. Enjoy each other’s quirks and make the journey fun while it lasts. You have to contribute to a healthy work environment as much as the others, if not more. Managers have a bigger responsibility in cultivating a culture of this sort.

Laugh as much as you can. A 2016 research showed that laughter may also have serious positive physiological effects, from reducing stress to higher pain tolerance, and that the body responds to bouts of laughter as it does to exercise. Take things as easy as you can. Humour is more than a coping mechanism. Laugh and spread joy.

Mend yourself/relationships. We can’t be at our best at all times. Forgive yourself if you fall short of the very high standards we set for ourselves. The same holds true for others, too. So, forgive others when they disappoint. Holding on to grudges is not just bad for your mental health, but it also puts you in a fight-or-flight mode, which increases heart rate and blood pressure, according to Dr. Karen Swartz at The John Hopkins Hospital. Forgiving sincerely can bring you closer to those you feel let down by.

Need less. Everyone wants financial freedom. For most people, there’s a limit on how you can earn, save, and invest. That limit is decided by your employer, industry, family commitments, and many other factors beyond your control. However, the cost of your lifestyle is well within your control. Build that buffer for the hard times and keep your costs such that there’s no loss in living standards while you wait for the good times.

Observe more. It’s a priceless skill to be a listener in the era of hyper-communication. Everyone has something to say and the platforms to do so. Active listening, taking cues from both verbal and non-verbal cues, helps you understand perspectives better, develop better relationships, have more productive conversations, and build critical leadership skills.

Pace yourself. “Well, I’m gonna start fast. Then I’m gonna run fast in the middle. Then I’m gonna end fast,” says the character of Pam Beesly in the iconic sitcom “The Office.” “Why won’t more people do that?” asks Jim Halpert in response. “Cause they’re stupid,” replies Pam. As with much of the show, the joke is self-referential. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone needs a break, time to breathe and think. It’s okay to slow down a little and enjoy the journey before catching up again.

Questions before conclusions. The human mind is trained to identify patterns, but the process runs the risk of confirmation bias. As Isaac Newton famously said, “What we know is a drop; what we don’t know is an ocean.” In most situations, at work and outside, it’s always better to ask questions before reaching a conclusion. It helps with a deeper understanding of the problem, encourages critical thinking, reduces bias, and bridges gaps in both information and between people.

Radiate the vibe you want. If you are in the habit of judging others, you will fear being judged. If you are an opportunist, you will expect others to act similarly. Act in a way you’d like the world to act with you. Smile so warmly that others smile back. Practice kindness. There may be a few disappointments along the way, but it stops you from acting on your basal instincts of fear and hunger. You will be surprised by how positive the world seems to be.

Shopping is not a skill unless you get paid for it. Buying stuff you don’t need can’t fill the emotional or creative void in your life. You can kill time and feed your ego, but mindless consumption can lead to dangerous debt traps and a vicious cycle of financial strain and anxiety. Experience deferred gratification. In this era of endless consumption, thanks to online shopping, many people run out of ideas for a special gift for, say, Christmas or an anniversary. That’s because people are constantly buying things, and there’s nothing left for your parents or a partner to surprise their loved ones with. It just leads to even more expensive stuff as opposed to the traditional idea that a gift is more of a gesture than a price tag.

Target a range, not a specific goal. This can be a good tool in the hands of managers in particular. A recent study published by Elsevier found that range goals particularly benefit from well-timed performance feedback, positive experiences, and tasks that progress from hard to easy. Goals are important, but if we fixate on just one outcome that we desire, it’s likely, more often than not, to set us up for disappointment, no matter how close we are to the goal. The idea is to accept human limitations and allow ourselves a margin for error without losing heart during a rough patch in the pursuit of the goal.

Unwind. At a time when stress is ubiquitous, taking time to reset your brain, managing your health, both mental and physical, working on your relationships, and engaging with art and new ideas is priceless. A refreshed mind and pair of eyes are likely to be effective and accomplish more in a shorter time. Multiple studies have shown that taking breaks is essential for both your immune system and your efficiency at work. Needless to say, the author here doesn’t believe in 70-hour workweeks.

Verify. Whether it’s a WhatsApp forward or office gossip, don’t spread a word that you aren’t sure is completely true. Every individual is a soldier in the battle against misinformation, which has already caused way too much damage in modern society. Conspiracy theories aren’t cool. They can lead to death, destruction, and damage to reputation. It makes society unsafe and unfair. No one is immune to a situation like that.

Write down your thoughts before you vocalise. Acting or even speaking on impulse is easy. The impact is uncertain, and the odds of an unforced error are much higher. Responding thoughtfully helps you identify the goal of the communication and takes you closer to it. Writing down your thoughts is a simple and effective way to filter out unintended content. It helps you factor in different perspectives and to tailor the communication for clarity, brevity, and precision.

X-ray. Go beyond the surface of an idea/argument. Don’t react. Take time to think, read, and analyse the argument before agreeing or disagreeing. Say a colleague comes to you with a thought, idea, or an execution plan. Just taking time to consider it will give your colleague a sense of respect and comfort, which would help in dealing with the rejection if it were to come to that. The same goes for political debates at the dinner table. The goal should be to know more to make a more impactful point than an urgent, unsubstantiated one.

Yearn. You could buy a new outfit at any time. But if you get it as a birthday/anniversary gift from a friend/partner/relative, the same outfit assumes more meaning and becomes more valuable. That’s often the difference between pleasure and happiness, between dopamine and serotonin. One is instant and short-lived, and the other is delayed but carries significance beyond the moments after delivery. Even if it isn’t a gift but a reward for self, checking whether the need or desire to own the thing lasts beyond the moment of impulse is a good way of weeding out the unnecessary.

Zest. Bring enthusiasm and energy to every situation. Think about an action as much as you want. But once you’ve decided to do it, go full throttle. Don’t do it half-heartedly. Damn the doubt and take the plunge. It isn’t always easy. Everyone feels tired or burnt out from time to time. It’s okay to lie low at times, but don’t let that become the norm. Develop small habits to get out of the exhaustion or anxiety. Your energy should inspire your friends at a party or your colleagues at work. Complimentarily, not necessarily in a competitive way. A 2021 study showed zest, hope, and humor are essential character strengths linked to positive life outcomes. (Image: Shutterstock)