I’ll never forget the first time I got paid to fly for work. It was 1994, I was 22, and there I was boarding a flight to Dunedin to speak and sing at a conference. I still remember walking proudly across the tarmac wheeling my brand new carry-on bag, pinching myself that I was a leader who travelled the country!

Decades later (and countless domestic and international work flights later) I have consciously chosen to have a moment of gratitude each and every time I take off to speak at an event.

Cast your mind back to the early days of your leadership journey. What was something that you got to do in your business or career that was just SO exciting at the time, but the sparkle has worn off?

It’s so easy to get used to things that started off as exciting, in fact, it’s even got a name - Hedonic Adaptation. This is a perfectly normal strategy of the brain to conserve energy, but it has a downside. I define it like this.

‘Today's boring, was yesterday's dream scenario.’

How quickly we forget that some of today’s mundane business activities, we would have given our right arm for in the past!

As a leader, we want our staff to Keep Joy in their Jobs for their own wellbeing, as well as for the benefit of the business as a whole. (In fact, a study by the University of Warwick found that happy team members were around 12% more productive than unhappy ones’. *1) A huge key to this Mental Wellness is understanding and overriding Hedonic Adaptation.

Last week I had the privilege of delivering a Keynote to a room full of bright-eyed, enthusiastic young business creatives in Wellington. I shared this simple tool, which can help us find Joy in our Jobs, keeping both our work and personal lives fresh and exciting.

REFLECT. SELECT. CELEBRATE

REFLECT: what are some things you have or do now that are fulfillments of goals, dreams or aspirations of the past?

SELECT: pick a couple that are easily identifiable (like take-off, that first step onto the stage, or the fact that you are the one leading the meeting)

CELEBRATE: make a conscious habit of celebrating them each and every time they happen

Keeping Joy in our Jobs is not an impossible task.

How will you REFLECT, SELECT and CELEBRATE today?

By Julia Grace Be Kind to Your Mind

julia@juliagrace.co.nz

*1 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/proto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf