It is pleasing to feel passionate about our work; after all, that’s what many of us spend most of our waking hours doing. Even if you don’t have it now, meaningful work can be crafted by your actions and choices.

It’s hard to be happy in a job you hate. While a good career doesn’t guarantee happiness, the ideal is to find employment that at least doesn’t undermine it. Well-being is the ultimate goal; the challenge is to find ways of creating it as we work. Indeed, research by the Gallup Organization finds that happy workers tend to earn more in later life, have better social lives, and be more supportive to their colleagues.

To fit, or to grow?

American psychologists Patricia Chen, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, and Norbert Schwarz argue that there are actually two different models for a meaningful career. In the first, we “find a fit,” following our passion to a job that’s perfect for us. This sounds great, but is tough to achieve when the job market isn’t favorable or you aren’t quite sure what your vocation may be. An alternative is to develop a passion for what you find yourself doing—in effect, cultivating your interest rather than bringing it to the job in advance. Is one better than the other?

We’d probably all rather find a “fit” if we could, but the psychologists’ studies suggest that most of us feel we fit our jobs eventually in any case. If you can’t find a job that matches your passions, you may still find meaning in it as time goes on.

Creating your own niche

If you don’t feel that fitting into anyone else’s business is your thing, have you ever considered starting your own? We certainly live in a society that admires the image of the entrepreneur, but what is a life of freedom and challenge for some people might be a life of stress and misery for others. A 2011 Canadian study identified the two psychological qualities best suited to carving out your own place in the world:

• Learning orientation: How inclined you are to keep updating and expanding your knowledge.
• Passion for work: How rewarding you find working in itself.

While both these qualities are helpful, neither of them is a fixed character trait. Some people love to learn, but we can all up our game when circumstances demand; how much you enjoy work is liable to fluctuate throughout your life. So if you aren’t quite sure what you want from a job, the best advice is to keep your mind open and never stop learning. There are many ways to be happy in what you do.

money Can’t buy happiness

While poverty is miserable, it seems that wealth doesn’t really make us happy. Over the last half-century, for instance, the US has grown increasingly rich as a nation, but people’s life satisfaction has stayed pretty constant.