"He always smiles. I like him."

My wife was referring to Ronaldinho, the Brazilian soccer star and 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year. While I'll admit to being a bit of jealous of her affection for him, what she said is true. Ronaldinho always smiles when he plays soccer. Apparently, in addition to being quite good at his job, he likes what he does for a living.

This, for me, raises interesting questions: Is happiness at work connected to talent? And if so, how?

When you think about it, much of what we associate with happiness in the workplace can be related to having talent at the get-go. No one will pay us to do our jobs poorly. Our coworkers will respect us if we're talented. Talent helps to lessen workplace stress, because if we're really good at what we do, we can handle just about anything that is thrown our way. And talent can get us promoted.

Put differently, Ronaldinho didn't wake up one morning and say, "I should become a professional soccer player so I can play a lot and become good at it." Instead, Ronaldinho played soccer, became better and better at it, and found people who recognized that he had a talent that should be fostered – next step, the big leagues, and respect, money, and fame!

No wonder Ronaldhino is always smiling!