But Does It Bring You Joy?
Several years ago Marie Kondo’s approach to helping us clean up our lives took hold. A key part of her “cleaning up” approach (see Konmari.com), was to hold up a household item or article of clothing and ask does it “spark joy.” During the last year or so, in particular, many people have been asking this question about the work they do: are they in a role that they like, one that is satisfying to them. We have seen various responses to these questions, from people working less and placing family and their own well-being first, to the great resignation.
Does your job bring you joy? If you could hold up what you do for a living in front of you, following the Marie Kondo approach, would it make you happy? SmarterWisdom thinks that this is a question worth asking and in a way that is constructive and active rather than passive.
I am thinking in particular, as an example, of a friend of mine who is currently feeling a great deal of stress in her work, and seriously considering leaving. She was recently asked this question by an acquaintance. When she recounted the incident to me I felt somehow it was the wrong question, albeit only slightly so. And while feeling joy at work is of course a wonderful thing, perhaps a more productive way to integrate some happiness into your daily grind is in fact to consider deeply and over time: Where do you find joy in your work? Where and when are you fulfilled? And how might you actively discover this fulfillment and joy?
There is no doubt that work during the pandemic became increasingly difficult for all of us. For anyone in a leadership or management position, in particular, being pulled into the daily problem-solving that arose because of travel difficulties, complexities with childcare and the fear of contagion, to name just a few, meant that we were not leading in the generative and outward-facing manner we always hope for. Determining how our relationship with work might be healthy, and bring out the best in us, became a priority for many people. This year as we all attempt to come out of those dark and often joyless times, it seems natural to expect more contentment in our work. Creating more of this satisfaction is truly worthwhile, even if it might take extra effort and focus. Because we cannot expect joy simply to show up. We need to be clear about what we want and seek it out actively.
This search might be easier for those of us in non-profit work, since we chose our organization because of its mission—a set of values that spoke to us and pulled us in to wanting to make a difference in some way. For me, working in a school, it was the “ah ha” moment when a student found a deeper meaning in a poem we might be reading—a meaning that meant something to her, or a student performance where I knew the participants were stretching almost into discomfort to reach that well of creativity, or a group of teachers planning a new program finding their common ground and connecting more deeply because of their work together. I realized over a period of time that in any one of those moments I could be my own agent of joy, finding such occasions and honoring them—ensuring that they secured a place within me—reminded me why I was part of this particular organization.
In an excellent short piece (HBR.org, 9/8/21) psychologist Rebecca Newton suggests 4 explicit ways in which you might become your own agent of joy. By building strengths into your day you are reminded of what energizes you. That positive energy engages you further and more deeply into the work at hand. Learning new things can become a source of personal and professional contentment, so finding time to focus on your professional growth will take you out of the negative space that might be pulling you into that downward spiral. Newton suggests that finding colleagues you trust and opening up to them about how you are feeling and what you are struggling with will equally uplift your spirits. Finally, as you may recall from a recent SmarterWisdom blog, rebuilding relationships through work, especially those that may have been adversely affected by too many Zoom meetings, will bring you happiness. It will also afford you the ability to develop a productive and generative approach to what you do, and place you in that empowered and authentic zone that creates your best self.
Finding fulfillment in your work is not as easy as deciding whether or not to discard those favorite black pointy shoes that you have loved so much (even though they have sat at the back of your closet gathering dust for 10 years). However, in the same way that I truly have to re-organize my closets, ideally once a year, keeping an ongoing careful watch on how you are creating what you want to be doing each day, is a healthy, hopeful way of ensuring deep satisfaction and joy in your work.