自己当老板享受真正的快乐

心理学家指出，这些发现表明自由选择工作以及工作方式、自由选择时间管理方式以及自由选择如何应对困境对人来说具有多么重要的意义。这份调查显示，对绝大多数人来说，不论从事何种职业，在对过程和结果均有所控制的情况下，找到喜欢的工作和自己喜欢的工作方法都能提高其满意度和满足感。
The findings, psychologists say, reflect the importance of being free to choose the work you do and how you do it, the way you manage your time, and the way you respond to adversity. Regardless of occupational field, the survey suggests that seeking out enjoyable work and finding a way to do it on your own terms, with some control over both the process and the outcome, is likely for most people to fuel satisfaction and contentment.

盖洛普公司主任编辑弗兰克·纽波特(Frank Newport)说，即便现在正在经历经济衰退，自己当老板还是有好处的。美国国家职业安全卫生研究所(NIOSH)主任约翰·霍华德(John Howard)也表示，这再次证实了我一贯的观点，即你对自己工作的控制感越强，你就越快乐。
'Despite the recession, it still pays to be your own boss,' says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. The survey, adds John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 'reaffirms my view that the more control you have over your work, the happier you are.'

在排名靠后的行业中，运输业及制造业工人的幸福感指数排最末。在这些职业中充满了NIOSH所定义的有害压力：缺乏控制力或对决策的参与、矛盾或模糊的工作预期、工作任务重而又意义不大。
At the bottom of the heap, transportation and manufacturing workers scored lowest on well-being. These occupations tend to foster conditions Niosh has identified as contributors to unhealthy stress: lack of control or participation in decision-making, conflicting or unclear job expectations, and hectic tasks with little inherent meaning.

盖洛普-Healthways调查所收集的数据表明，今年头八个月里，管理工作变得更具难度了。受困于成本削减及裁员的影响，各个阶层的公司老板们都更多地暴露于那些能带来压力的环境之中。
Management and executive jobs have gotten tougher, too, during the period the Gallup-Healthways data were gathered, the first eight months of this year. Beset by cost cuts and layoffs, corporate bosses at all levels now share more of these stress-inducing conditions.

而企业主的情况则和他们完全相反。工业心理学家、马利兰大学史密斯商学院领导与激励学名誉教授爱德温·洛克(Edwin Locke)说，即便是在困难时期企业主也可以自己进行思考，而且没有人跑过来说你做错了；你能自主决策，如果你错了，现实会给你反馈。
Business owners stand in stark contrast. Even in tough times, 'you do your own thinking and no one can tell you you're wrong,' says Edwin Locke, an industrial psychologist and professor emeritus of leadership and motivation at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. 'You make your own decisions, and if you're wrong, reality gives you the feedback,' he says.

此次调查中另一个出人意料的地方是，农民和其他户外工作者（包括雇农和林场工人）在情感健康的分项指标中排位最高，超过了所有人。该指标主要衡量一个人在之前一天中微笑、大笑、以及感到快乐和幸福的频次，尽管事实上农民在基本需求的实现程度方面排名几乎垫底。
Another surprise from the survey: Farmers and other outdoor workers, from farmhands to forestry workers, scored No.1 among all groups in 'emotional health,' as measured mainly by the amount of smiling, laughter, enjoyment and happiness they report experiencing the previous day -- despite the fact that farmers ranked near the bottom in access to basic needs.