It’s that time of year when the word “joy” finds its way back into our vernacular: in our favorite seasonal songs, in lawn décor and light displays, and even printed on shopping bags. But what if we aspired to be joyful all year long? Even…at work?
Take a moment to roll your eyes or otherwise express your disbelief, and then hear me out: Monday through Friday, most of us spend the majority of our waking time at the office or in front of a computer screen. And if the majority of that time is miserable, well, you do the math.
At Stop Meeting Like This, we’ve made it our mission to help knowledge workers see that joy and productivity are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the same conditions that enable joy at work – friction-free collaboration, effective leadership, a healthy culture, and a clear, functional operating model – also enable productivity and profitability. I don’t know about you, but joyful, productive, profitable work sounds like a win-win-win to me.
So how do we make it happen? Granted, one does not just snap their fingers and fix everything that’s wrong with work. But the little things that add up to big frustrations, that make getting work done harder than it needs to, can often be fixed with a bit of awareness and intentionality. Here’s four of our favorite ways to make tomorrow a little more joyful:
Think first. Email later.
If you want to work happier, you need to capitalize on your fresh, resilient brain. Many of us do our best work first thing in the morning, and yet we also tend to waste that valuable time on – you guessed it – email. Instead, try blocking the first 60-90 minutes of your day as focus time. Send yourself a calendar invite with the details of what you want to work on, and attach the relevant docs to give yourself a head start.
Collaborate with intention
Asynchronous collaboration – collaborating via email, shared documents, etc. – can be a source of unending frustration. Comments are vague and unhelpful, ownership falls into the void, and version control is nonexistent. But as with most things, you tend to get back what you put in.
Generous collaborators advance the work, rather than just comment on it. Instead of “This isn’t working for me,” they draft a proposed alternative or share a link to something that could serve as a model. When requesting feedback, good collaborators err on the side of specificity. They note questions and areas of concern, and they make the deadline for your response clear and reasonable.
Be a meeting hero
Nothing kills joy like wasted time. Estimates suggest that 35-50 percent of meeting time is wasted, and lived experience confirms it. But even if you’re not the meeting leader, you can still positively impact the experience for all.
First, stay focused, because once one person starts multitasking, it’s game over for the group. Next, actively engage. Ask genuinely curious questions, invite in quieter voices, and vocalize connections between related points. Finally, recap the key decisions and next steps, including who will do what by when, before you leave the room. Effective, efficient meetings aren’t just time well spent; they also avoid the “meeting to revisit what we decided in the last meeting” meeting. Hello, extra 60 minutes.
Celebrate your wins
Ever feel like there’s never enough time in the day to get all the work done, and your big rocks are always just out of reach? Same. Try shifting your mindset and recognize the power of small wins. Throughout your workday, check off each priority on your list as you complete it. At the end of the day, spend a few moments savoring all that you’ve accomplished. That warm fuzzy feeling? It’s joy.