Here are some key signs that you enjoy your work:

1. Time flies by and you lose yourself. You enter a flow state.

It happens when you do something that is really enjoyable (like playing a musical instrumental you love) or being with someone you really care about, all worries and other tasks just slip away.

It’s the same thing when you are doing work you really love. Time slips away. And the best thing about the flow state–it feels good.

2. You feel like you are doing something of value. You feel fulfilled.

Humans feel happy when they are connected to others, but also when they give or create something of value. It doesn’t have to be curing cancer (of course that would be amazing!); it could be more simple like being a carpenter and building things that people want or need. Whatever the job, you feel a deep sense of gratitude for being able to help and serve people. You feel like you are giving back and giving people your unique ideas, abilities, and talents.

It’s another thing that defines how a happy person lives their life, and how you too can stay happy daily.

3. You are excited to wake up in the morning.

If you aren’t ready to get up in the morning, something might be wrong. Of course, everyone has days off. But if you continuously don’t feel like going to work, it might be time to change.

Whatever you do should get you excited to get up and hit the ground running full speed.

4. Your co-workers and superiors are seen as partners to give and produce something.

When you see the people you work with not just as other employees in the office, you are in the right place. You should see them as helpers with whom you can create something big. Maybe you aren’t the big boss deciding what that is, but you believe in what you’re doing, and you love that you get to work and struggle along with these people to make it a reality.

5. You do not complain.

Many people complain about their jobs. If you’re constantly complaining, it’s your internal guide showing you that you need to find a different job you would enjoy more.

In work you enjoy there may be times you complain about work load or an annoying task. But overall you know this is nothing compared to the happiness that comes from doing what you love.

6. You don’t mind the struggle.

Work can be a struggle. Writers spend hours editing and must work daily. Artists may do entire portraits and then throw them out. Engineers come up with designs that are faulty and have to go back to the drawing board.

But when you enjoy your work, you don’t care. You love the struggle. You love coming back, refining, and the process of progression to get what you want. The goal of producing something amazing is worth it.

7. You get energized when you talk about what you do.

When people ask, “What do you do?”, you can’t stop talking about it. That is a sign that you love what you do and you want everyone else to know.

8. You feel like your work is an extension of who you are; it is a part of your personality.

The perfect work is something that deeply resonates with something inside of you, and makes you able to output amazing quality and hours upon hours of production. You are expressing yourself and feel amazing and congruent with it.

9. You find yourself interested in extra items not assigned to you.

When you really enjoy your work, you’ll want to learn about your company or things that you might not be directly responsible for, but deal with the work in general. Even if you don’t have to do certain things, you want to learn more.

10. You feel tired at the end of the day, but in a satisfied way.

There’s a difference between feeling tired because you accomplished a lot, versus being tired because you had to drag yourself kicking and screaming through the day using lots of your willpower. If you feel accomplished, satisfied, happy, and feel like you produced something of value when you work and that makes you tired, you’re doing it right.

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