This Magic Monday, we discuss how you can find joy in your daily life, starting with work.
Sometimes, during challenging or hectic seasons, we find it hard to balance high-priority tasks with our own professional goals and desires. And if the struggle to prioritize continues, locating joy in our daily lives can become more difficult.
Psychologist and leadership coach Rebecca Newton addresses this in her article from Harvard Business Review. She recommends four ways to start bringing joy into your everyday professional lives:
1. Build your strengths into your day.
What brings you energy? What is something you always feel passionate about? Identifying your personal strengths is the first step. Next, consider how you can build those strengths into your day. For example, if planning and organization excite you, try carving out time at the end of the work week to create a plan for the upcoming week, detailing how you will accomplish your tasks and goals.
2. Focus on your professional growth.
This could look like attending a breakout session at company meetings, adding an online learning course to your schedule, attending a webinar, or getting involved in a leadership training program. There are several ways to continue investing in yourself, even in small ways, which can help refresh your passion.
3. Share with a trusted colleague.
Dr. Newton shares that “authenticity is integral to psychological well-being.” Who are the people you trust and can be open with around you? Create a safe space to share your aspirations, hopes, challenges and goals with someone else. It makes a difference.
4. Build relationships through work.
Find ways to engage collaboratively with your colleagues and clients. It could be a brainstorming session or a “walk and talk” to get to know someone better or work through a challenge. As you do, take note of what is most important to them. Those will help guide actions you can take to create an unmatched experience. This can quickly build trust and rapport – and has the bonus of creating joy for someone else as well!
Try out one or more of the above recommendations to infuse joy into your week!
