A
few simple reminders will help you find more joy in your work you already do.
What brings you joy?
It's an important question, and one Bill
Carrier and Julie Carrier, global leadership coaches, ask each at the end of
every day, no matter how busy or tired they are. It's one of the most
meaningful practices I learned this year, and one that can drastically impact
how you feel about your job, and how you perceive your daily routine.
When answering it, go with your gut feeling and note the first thing that
pops into your head. You can also turn it into a daily practice, like the Carriers.
My design studio did a survey asking the same
question to our network, an eclectic group that includes CEOs, chief design and
marketing officers, innovators, entrepreneurs, executive coaches, and business
authors. Through it we learned that people are actively engaged in the idea of
finding joy at work. Their answers provided us with insights
that fall into the four emerging themes, below, which you can
use as thought starters for your own answers.
1.
Collaborate and help your co-workers.
The number one reply we received to what
brings you joy at work is people. These people range from colleagues and
teammates to customers and clients and also include mentees and
students. Our relation to people takes three key
forms--collaborating, helping others and friendship.
Collaborating brings us joy as teammates
demonstrate strong and human values of selflessness, trust and goodwill, caring
and respect. As one participant put it, joy is "when people on my team win
a hard-learned lesson or insight by trying hard, failing and recovering."
People find meaning in seeing people grow, take more risks and understand and
learn new things as a result of their help.
Friendships that emerge from working together
also bring us joy. As one participant noted, teammates becoming friends want to
do more for each other than what is asked.
"I really enjoy getting to know
[co-workers] on a personal level, sharing hopes and aspirations for my kids,
and life struggles we all face," wrote one survey participant. "When
an investment in any business relationship is intentional and agenda-free, it
dramatically deepens the connection beyond a business transaction; it
fundamentally feels like you've gained a new friend."
To build meaningful relationships at work,
look for opportunities to help others when you collaborate. Helping someone
else will increase your chances of getting to know each other,
turning your collaboration into friendship.
2. Be your best
self.
After people, what brings you joy at work
comes from within. People noted that they feel joy when their "best
self" shows up effortlessly, without thinking about it; being in the
flow of the creative process; when they feel they're making a difference; feeling
successful.
"Knowing I'm on the path--looking and
finding interesting crossroads," said one survey participant.
Different people find their best self at work
in different ways but I find inspiration in writers who sit down every day and
write for the kind of joy that comes from within. As Stephen King explains in
his book On Writing, if you
show up every day, preferably at the same time, the muse will know where to
find you:
"Your job is to make sure the muse knows
where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon or seven 'til
three," King writes. "If he does know, I assure you that sooner or
later he'll start showing up."
3. Solve as
many problems as possible.
You find joy in tackling and solving tough
problems. This takes different forms--from combining intuition with scientific
methods, to making visual guides that break down big concepts, to aligning and
improving a team in a facilitated session. No matter how you do it, there's joy
in putting "a dent and mark on the world."
"Having a wonderful discovery after a lot
of hard work and some failures. A solution that was never recognized
before," one survey respondent said. "A very appreciative
client. A student who comes back and sends me a very thoughtful thank you note
saying they learned a lot from my class."
To solve more problems at work, develop,
acquire or learn a problem-solving process you can trust. Problem-solving
often requires losing yourself before you find your way out and the process is
your roadmap.
4. Laugh.
Last but not least, laughter brings joy at
work. Whether it is laughing with colleagues and your team, laughing and not
taking yourself too seriously or laughing at your own crazy ideas when
brainstorming--people noted laughter as a key component of work.
Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of Ideo.org, told me this
is a necessity when the stakes are high:
"We can be our best selves and we can
unlock the best in the partners that we're working with, and in the communities
where we're working, when we do bring that playfulness and joy, rather than
bringing sadness," she said.
If you are mindful of what makes you joyful at
work, you can have more of it, intentionally.
PUBLISHED
ON: JAN 7, 2020
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com
columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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