Sceptical about being joyful at work?
E61: Open up your heart to rediscover your joy at work
I was gambolling down the corridor of One Silk Street when I was a junior lawyer. I was taking a loo break from working on the then world's largest hostile takeover. Vodafone was in a high-stakes battle of wits and strategy against the German industry giant Mannesmann.
I was smiling.
One of the partners who was the global head of M&A/Corporate at Linklaters saw me in the corridor, stopped in his tracks and looked at me with a wry smile. He noticed me smiling and said:
"Eric, you must either really enjoy your job, or ...", he paused, " ... you must be mad."
I confirmed - without hesitation - that I really enjoyed my job. There was no pretending here even if I was speaking to a senior partner. It was a statement of truth.
But I realise it can be hard to rediscover the joy in your work when joy and work are rarely mentioned in the same sentence. When, for example, was the last time you thought or spoke about joy at, or in the context of, work?
I remember the look of barely concealed incredulity on that partner's face confirming he did indeed think I was mad. Those of you readers who know him will probably be able to visualise his gravity-defying, single-raised eyebrow, too.
Joy just wasn't an option for an M&A lawyer!
If you read last week's newsletter with my 9 ways to rediscover joy at work, you might have raised your own sceptical eyebrow.
Here’s last week’s newsletter 👇
So this week, I'm sharing why joy is important at work, and how you can start rediscovering it, even if you are a sceptic!
The problem with joy at work
I look back on that corridor moment fondly. I was joyful, despite the typical challenges of being an M&A lawyer - the unrelenting client demands, the timetables and deadlines that are out of your control and influence, and the cancelled dinners and nights out.
I was learning, getting my hands dirty with great people with sharp intellect, and developing my legal and commercial nous from a deal that was making the front pages of the broadsheets.
So why is joy so difficult to find at work?
1. Joy requires courage because there's a vulnerability in going where the energy is.
In teams which still pride themselves on “bravado” leadership, it's hard to be the one going against the grain.
If the rest of the team is miserable, why should you have to be cheerful all the time?
2. "Work is about productivity, not joy". If you're in an organisation where you feel like a number rather than a human being, it can reduce us to feeling like metronomic robots.
We become repetitive machines stripped of emotion. It's an easy narrative to subscribe to and one that's difficult to counter. It's easier to leave joy to be the realms outside of work.
3. We're perfectionists. When we have a high drive to get things right, it can be draining - sometimes debilitating - when we get things wrong.
(Take a look here to find out more 👇)
We get lumbered worrying about our self-worth. We feel like imposters, worried about how we're doing. We don't think we're progressing fast enough.
When we ruminate like that, the repetitiveness of that at a certain point is counterproductive and keeps us in a constant state of anxiety.
All three - lack of courage, a focus on productivity and perfectionism - are a perfect recipe to suck the joy out of us, no matter how hard we try to find it.
How to rediscover joy at work
So what do we need to tap into the joy that's there?
To open up our hearts.
The essence of joy is simply the ability to delight in being alive.
At work, especially in work that involves lots of thinking, we rely on our cognitive ability to succeed, to get things done. Just like how we use our brains to pass our exams.
But, like all strengths, we can overuse them.
We CAN think too much, and ignore the wisdom that resides inside us - in our other two brains - our heart and our gut.
(Take a look here to find out more 👇)
It's something I've noticed in one group of people I coach: people living with cancer.
Despite the ravines of un-joy they can inhabit after a diagnosis, or waiting for test results telling of remission or a recurrence, what stands out is the way in which their hearts are open to what is good and joyful.
They allow their hearts to welcome the joy in.
Rediscovering joy requires re-connecting to what is in our heart.
Of course, there are always going to be moments when you're in the ravine of un-joy: dealing with shitty colleagues, fixing someone else's issue, drowning in things that are not in your control.
But opening up your heart to what's possible - to what's joyful - might just allow you to peek above the ravine to see what beautiful horizons lie waiting to be rediscovered.
Over to you
What will it take for you to open up your heart to joy?
ps If you’re an entrepreneur, a lawyer or another high-flying professional - who’s looking to bring joy back into your work and home life - by building a healthy brain for a career that’s full of success in a way that feels effortless, get in touch and let’s have a conversation.
That’s it for this week!
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To your health and success!
Eric
It's easier to refuse joy - what a revelation! Thanks for debunking that, Eric.
Loving this joy-focus lately. If you love the process of your work, AND productivity, the joy meter is bound to register positively. Seems like that's the beauty of zoning in on a purpose. It tends to accomplish both of the above.