Hustle Harder. Keep your nose to the grindstone. Work hard/play hard. Ah, The phrases programmed into our brains that some of us believe to be the cornerstones to a job well done. Allow me to introduce you to a new “tool” which can be more powerful than any of the aforementioned clichés.
Joy!
Yes, that elevated feeling of happiness, love, connection, and excitement that can be culled down into just three letters is an often overlooked ingredient to creating an engaged team and amazing work.
While joy might feel like something we seek as a reward in life or something that is an end game, the truth is that joy can be the energy that fuels our work, creativity, and innovation.
Here are a few ways you can start to consider JOY as your secret ingredient to creating the most fulfilled, productive, and successful workforce.
- Joy is a vibration that creates more of the same. In fact, it is one of the highest vibrations (much like gratitude). As humans, we tend to have all kinds of emotions that fluctuate between high vibe energies like love, peace and joy and lower vibe feelings like fear and pride. No judgment here by the way, we ALL do it!
Now if you can imagine that while you are in a certain vibration, you attract MORE of what exists in that vibration. So for example, if you are focused on feelings of lack or stress, you attract more lack and stress. And when you take time to focus on more joy, YEP, you guessed it, you attract more things that will bring you joy AND create joy in the world.
- Joy is a measurement of our connection to our highest and best selves. When a person is feeling joyful and thriving up in those higher vibrations they are reconnecting to their authenticity and true selves. This is something we often have lost sight of due to the programs of the modern world like expectation, rules and all those pesky SHOULDS. But when a person is in the beautiful energy of joy, they are connecting to and bringing forth the gifts that they are here to share with the world. And THAT is the best thing a human can possibly do, right?
I imagine that your business hired all those beautiful humans sitting in your office to share their very best gifts. (Even gifts you didn’t know they possessed.) Those folks came to share talents that can drive progress, gifts that foster more creativity and gifts that cultivate future ideas that are much needed in the world and in your business.
When you see someone else experience joy, this is a great litmus test to know that they are also creating from their best selves in that very moment. Creating the best conversations, creating the best environment, and creating the best ideas. Now can you see why it is important to see more joy in every work day?
- Cultivating joy can require practice. If we are stuck in the energies that we are used to (ie. pressure, stress, fear, etc.), we sometimes stay on the ole’ hamster wheel of creating that same cycle over and over. Worse yet, it feels normal to us! So just like getting your body into shape to run a 10K, learning to get reacquainted with a higher vibration of energy can also require some training.
We are programmed since youth to believe success and our professional value is associated with following instruction, busting our behinds and working longer hours. It can be hard to believe that being joyful and at peace is ever going to be of value to our employers or employees.
We have so deeply embodied that the tenant of good work is hard work and we forget that productive work is actually lit from a place of passion and using our true talents, which all revolves around. . . (you guessed it). . . JOY!
Joy is a much needed energy. It is a measurement of people showing up in the best way and it needs to be practiced. So how do you foster this?
Encourage the creation OF joy and creation FROM joy.
We get so caught up in where we are headed, that we forget to assess FROM where we are creating that future scenario. If our work is fueled by obligation, fear of failure, fear of loss, we really are just creating more of it in the world.
If we can define the goal but then focus more intently on the fuel for the creation being joy (AKA passion, excitement, love of the work you are doing) we are going to create a final product that vibrates in that same high vibe energy.
I’d love to be able to list off 10 sure fire ways to make sure your employees and YOU are experiencing joy, but this looks so different for everyone. So my suggestion is to start by focusing on yourself so you can FEEL what this feels like.
I challenge you to spend the next 30 days finding one thing to savor each day that brings you joy. This could be the delicious taste of your Starbucks latte or the hilarious Meme sent to you by your direct report. Maybe it is the feel when your child holds your hand or how great that brisk morning walk feels. The options are endless. But start to notice these and you will find more.
And as you do this, start to notice what makes the people around you light up. What makes them smile? What makes them feel good and step into their true vibe? What makes them feel that passion around their unique talents. Then, give them space to do more of that. Maybe one person needs a mid-day break to workout. Maybe one needs the flexibility of hours to enjoy their child. And maybe one loves to create new never-been-done-before ideas for consideration.
Once YOU’VE mastered joy, challenge your team to 30 days of joy. Engage them to take turns sharing their own version of joy with their teammates. Then watch the energy and ideas take flight.
Innovation isn’t just production, it’s mindset and it is energy.
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