01/14/2026
WHAT IS ZEST?
“Zest is a positive trait reflecting a person’s approach to life with anticipation, energy, and excitement.” (Peterson, Park, Hall, & Seligman, 2009, p. 161).
Work satisfaction has been a major driving force in organizational behavior studies as far back as 1935, with Hoppock referring to “positive perspective” as an important factor affecting work satisfaction (Hoppock, 1935). In their book, FISH (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2000), the importance of love of work is linked to enjoyment and commitment. “When we choose to love the work we do, we can catch our limit of happiness, meaning, and fulfillment every day” (P. 9). The use of positive psychology principles in teaching workers how to avoid deflation of their zest for work has been shown to increase their sense of self-worth, and restore their zest for their work, even in the face of the challenging family member, patient, co-worker, and so forth (Seligman, et al, 2005).
Healthcare workers/law enforcement/first responders experience high stress in caring for patients and families. While trying to provide safe, compassionate, and thorough care, they also have to deal with the family members and loved ones of patients who provide challenges. Due to a variety of stressors as the family member or loved one, the front line staff becomes the easy target of anger, hostility, and even verbal and emotional abuse. As a result, they do their work with an air of constantly looking over their shoulder. When the staff is left to feel disempowered due to the potentially litigious backlash from trying to assert themselves, they begin to lose sight of the meaning in their work life, and start down the road to burnout and "just making it through the day to get their pay" (Frankl, 1959). This sense of lost dignity and self-worth will ultimately seep into their everyday work and be passed on to the patient/customer/client, who will in the end suffer decreased engagement, sub-optimal care, and worse, because the staff caregiver is literally “afraid” to even touch the resident, knowing the family member/loved one is going to come behind them and consistently criticize, interfere, and in some cases abuse the staff. Some of the worse-case scenarios are of workers quitting, leaving the profession, acting out, and we have seen the very worse already since the start of the pandemic- su***de.
Resources:
1. Frankl, V. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
2. Lundin, P., Paul, H., & Christensen, J. (2000). FISH: A remarkable way to boost morale and improve results. NY: Hyperion.
3. Peterson, C., Park, N., Hall, N., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2009). Zest and work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 161-172.
4. Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.
