The Art of Joy at Work

Written by Roxanne Brown

Inside the first few weeks of the year, we’ve noticed a theme: People having trouble getting back into their work.

If this is you, here are a few thought experiments to try!

1…
What if you imagined your workday as a story? How would you like your story to start? What would it be like in the middle and how would you end your story for the day? Who would be in the story with you and what kind of relationship would you have with them? It’s your story. Write it for you!

2…
What if you reimagined your work as art? After you create a beautiful spreadsheet, proposal, brief, agenda, report summary, etc., step back and marvel at it as if it’s framed and up on the wall. You made that! (You are quite talented.)

3…
For those parts of your work you dislike, here’s a really useful question to ask: How can I make the thing I don’t like to do, fun for me? Just asking the question can jolt you out of your work-thinking habits.

At the end of the day, work is what you make of it.