As a professional, you have a responsibility to use your talents wisely — and a right to enjoy yourself while doing so. But many people fail to meet that responsibility, and they don’t claim their right to take pleasure in their work. Consider a CEO I’ll call Michael. His life isn’t much different from the lives of many CEOs. From the outside, it looks busy but rewarding. From the inside, as I learned when I was hired to help him, his life included a string of disappointments. He’s an enormously talented and accomplished manager: Just before he landed this coveted position, he had successfully overseen the construction of a $100 million building project and masterminded the relocation of nearly a thousand employees into the new space. But when I first got to know Michael, there were so many demands coming at him he could barely get through the day in one piece. 
HBR Blog: Joy at Work: It’s Your Right
