🌳 TREE 461: Look for the joy

You know those times when you’re working on something and it’s going well? Ideas flowing, mind and body communicating freely, you’re making the thing, and it’s fun. It’s great when that happens.

Let’s get rid of the phrase “when that happens”.

“When that happens” puts the power to make good working times somewhere else. “When that happens” makes you a supplicant hoping for a handout of good working times.

When you are experiencing a good working time, who is doing the work? You are. You are what is happening. Of course there are external factors – other people, the type of project – but mostly it’s you.

My Monday morning advice is instead of hoping for a good working time, choose to have a good working time.

I do this by looking for the joy. What I mean by that is I try to find aspects of my work that connect with what makes me joyful.

Example: Last year I was handed the dullest script I’d ever seen and told to design and storyboard the animation. My initial reaction was, this is going to be grim work designing a terrible film. Then I started digging for the joy. How could I tell a good story with this script? How could I make it something memorable, maybe even delightful? After a few days of thinking I had the idea of anthropomorphising a report, gantt chart and kanban board. The work turned fun, the client loved it and the video is pretty decent.

Terms And Conditions Boy finds his joy in thoroughly reading terms and conditions. He stands on street corners shouting, “Always read the terms and conditions!”

Here’s some joy for you. RHCP dropped this single last week. (Spotify)

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Welcome to a new week.

Let’s find the joy!
Jeff