How to enjoy your job: Learn to experience ‘flow’ – and blame your boss if you can’t

Go with the flow To enjoy work more, get yourself a job where you can experience "flow", says Dr Jolanta Burke, positive psychology lecturer with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. "Flow is when we lose ourselves in what we are doing, all we are focusing on is the task at hand. We experience massive concentration and as soon as that period of concentration finishes, that is when we are flooded with joy and lots of positive emotion," says Burke.

Creating more opportunities for this at work will increase our joy.

How do I do that? The trick is to challenge yourself and to have the opportunity to use your skills at the same time. (Challenge when we don't have the skills to meet the challenge makes us anxious). "It's the state of flow we are after rather than a sense of accomplishment. We might not accomplish a huge amount in that moment, but we absorb ourselves to such an extent that it just evokes huge amounts of positive emotion afterwards."

Play to your strengths Are you a good planner, an organiser, a performer or a facilitator? Reflect on what you are good at and use these strengths at work. "Using your strengths is associated with a boost of joy during and after the task," says Burke.

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Consciously trying to use your strengths at work enhances your wellbeing and your joy for work, she adds. You might not know how to use your strengths or to experience flow, and about 15 per cent of people have never experienced a state of flow, so it can be difficult for some.

Blame it on the boss There are things we can do ourselves to make work more enjoyable, but employers play a role, too. Even if the work is pretty boring, the right environment can make a difference.

“Sometimes your employer may simply not be creating the environment for you to enjoy your work,” Burke says. “If there is a huge workload, you lack control over your work environment, there is poor communication or insufficient rewards and people will be more likely to experience less joy,” says Burke.

A good employer helps us create a work environment that we enjoy.

“Do they allow you to use your strengths at work, or do they give you the headspace you need to get into flow?” asks Burke. “Getting into flow in an open-plan office may be impossible for you. It could be something that comes more easily at your desk at home. Employers allowing the factors that help us experience joy is important.”

It's not you, it's me Switch jobs all you like, but the one common denominator wherever you go is you. "Individuals that are more self-critical, that are experiencing a work-life imbalance and those who are perfectionists, these are factors associated with lower levels of enjoyment at work," says Burke.

Make a friend People who experience joy at work have at least one good friend at work, studies show. "It's somebody you can talk to at work and share some of your worries and joys with," says Burke. "Ideally it's someone you are collaborating with frequently. Working on a project together and jumping in to help the other person can create moments of connection." A certain special and fortifying bond forged from being in the trenches together can make a work friend a friend for life.