Everyday Joy Lists

Since so much emphasis is given to bucket lists, we sometimes lose sight of "everyday joy lists". Ready smiles, frequent hugs, joyful greetings, sincere appreciation, deserved compliments, unexpected treats, satisfying tasks, nature's beauty, amazing meals, marvelous memories, special celebrations, minute milestones, spontaneous laughter and lots of love provide daily joy. The bigger the daily joy list becomes, the more we are able to celebrate moments and create memories rather than always anticipating the future.

Energizing Activity

Everyone's unique!  Things that energize some of us, drain others.  We each need to deliberatively ask ourselves which activities energize us, and which ones drain us. 

We can't wait to participate in energizing activities.  With equal frequency, we dread and avoid those that drain us.

Though we can't avoid all unpleasant activities, we often fail to recognize that some of the things that we avoid are energizing for others.  We can dramatically increase happiness, satisfaction and energy when we actively engage others to determine who is most and least passionate about the tasks required for the team/company/organization/family to be successful. 

I Can Do It

When we observe a task that needs to be done, we can proceed or wait for another to step up to the plate. It frustrates me that I am not physically able to accomplish some tasks. Everything else is gender neutral.  Each time I finish a project there's a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment and completion.

No More Wrinkles

Okay, for all of you who were expecting a miracle cure for skin - I'm sorry!  I love using linen cocktail napkins, hand towels, placemats and dinner napkins.  And the only way to make this happen is by sending them out or ironing them.  Odd as it may seem, though I dread the process, I derive satisfaction from converting a wrinkled mass of linens into a beautiful stack of usable napkins, placemats and hand towels.  So much of what I do requires days, months or years to realize success.  As tedious as it is, ironing delivers immediate success.

Take This Job and Love It!

Terri Langhans, a Certified Speaking Professional, author and COE (Chief of Everything) at Blah, Blah, Blah Etc. Inc., was the featured speaker at our recent Sterling Bank Women’s Business Initiative Luncheon. She motivated and entertained our appreciative audience as she presented her marvelous message "Take This Job and LOVE It!"

It is abundantly clear that Terri loves her job and she shared tips for everyone to love theirs. She urges getting a new pair of glasses, which is a vivid way of reminding us that we always find what we are looking for. If we are looking for a mess, problem or boring meeting, we’ll find that. But if we’re looking for solutions, interesting interactions or success, that’s what we’ll find.

She outlined six things that can lead to burnout – workload, control, reward, community, fairness and values. And she offered a great twist, noting that in order to experience burnout, one had to have once been on fire. Rekindling the flame can occur by changing our perspective about the cause of burnout or finding a job where these factors are a match for us.

We’re all familiar with RDA in food and vitamins. Terri prescribes creating RDA for what we are looking to achieve.

And she’s a big proponent of using questions. We need to ask ourselves what a good mom or leader would do. When confronted with an uncomfortable question from another, she suggests responding with a question. Why do you ask? What is it that you want to know? And if someone is ranting it often works to add a question to their complaint. Her daughter came home from school and spewed, “I hate my math teacher. He’s an idiot.” Terri’s response was, “You hate him? He’s an idiot?” This allowed her daughter to vent about tomorrow’s test and her misplaced book, which were her real issues.

In order to love our jobs, we need to understand what is important and let the professional inside us shine.