Hey, Hey friends, how's it going? And welcome to the darn good leadership podcast. This show is all about being a strong and effective leader. One thing creates positive impacts for your teams and communities. I'm your host, Emily Holting. And today we are discussing happiness. So this whole month, we've been chatting about how to kick off 20, 23 on the right foot. So taking extreme ownership of our careers, our leadership and our happiness we've discussed why you work, where you work, how to work savvier in 2023. And how you're showing up as a leader. So today we're rounding out the conversation and talking about our happiness. Now happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. So how do we not only find more happiness in the workplace? But how can we take ownership of our own happiness in the workplace? All right. So Annie McKee the author of how to be happy at work, which is an amazing book. I will link in the show notes. She had an interview and the interview was so wonderful that I'm just going to quote her right now because there's no point in me trying to reword what she said. So here we go. Annie says happiness at work comes from the inside out. It's something we create for ourselves. A lot of people will lose or leave a job and go somewhere else and find they're just as unhappy as they were before. One way we could run towards happiness at work is to take a hard look at our lives and what's really making us on happy. Maybe the culture isn't great. Or there have been layoffs and maybe those things are real, but are they really the source of your unhappiness or have you become really pessimistic in the last couple years? So I think she asked some really great questions there. Where is your source of unhappiness coming from? Is it work? Is that who you're spending time with? Is it something outside of work or is it yourself? The conditions of the workplace really do matter. And some of them are beyond her own control, but we do have a lot more control over our emotions and our mindset than we think we do. No one can be happy all the time. But we're going to walk through six areas that can help you take control of your own happiness at work. And in turn, hopefully have much more good days than bad. Here we go. Area number one to take control of your happiness at work. Take charge of your professional development and responsibility for knowing what is going on at work. We've talked about taking charge of your professional development before, because no one cares more about your professional development, more than you. So, how do you do this first and foremost, ask for feedback. When was the last time you asked anyone around you, how do you think I'm doing. Did you like that? Did I do a good job? Is there something I could have done butter? If you're not asking. People don't always share. Secondly, ask for a seat at the table or an opportunity to be seen. So this depends on where you are in your career. But when's the last time that you've been seen or your work has been seen by leadership? Ask yourself that are you at the table? Should you be at the table? Showed your work be seen. Does anyone know what you are working on? If no one knows what you're working on. I highly advise you to get in front of someone. So talk to your boss about that. Like, Hey, I've completed something. I think it's important. I think it's valuable. I would like to make sure people understand it. I would like to demonstrate it, whatever it is. So ask to be seen, or if you do already have a seat at the table. Are you being heard? Are you just sitting there? Are you actually adding valuable input and feedback from your interactions at that table? So that again is on you to take control of also. Do you know what's going on at work? Is your leader sharing with you? What is going on? What is the bigger picture of the organization? So if you're not getting that exposure to what is going on, and you're not feeling connected to the workplace, That has to be on you to take that action and to make that connection. And to ask for that information. So you can in turn, take charge of your professional development. So if there's one thing you could do here, I would say this week, ask someone for honest feedback on how you're doing. Ask it in a way that they're not going to feel pressure or it's like one more thing on their list, but do it in a little early lightweight way of, Hey, what's one thing I could have improved here. Even 1%. Area number two to take control of your happiness is to make progress on the things that matter most. Now we talk about this a lot, focusing on the things that matter most, but there's also another book I'd like to call out about being happier at the workplace is called the progress principle using small wins to ignite joy, engagement and creativity at work. And this one's by Teresa. AML and Steven creamer, they found that one of the most powerful causes of happiness at work was feeling like you're moving forward and making meaningful progress. Now I can attest to this more than anyone even on really, really bad days. If I can find a few things that I've accomplished towards my greater goals and purpose. I feel better. This also ties back to earlier episodes on OKR is having a strategy. And ensuring your work is helping you reach your goals and not just helping you stay incredibly busy. No one wants to just be busy. One thing I suggest you do is to write down. Your number one professional goal for the week. Then commit to it, block time on your calendar and put your time, effort, and energy to getting that thing done. And then when you do celebrate it, cross that puppy off your list and feel the joy and glory of being able to say I got it done. It feels great. And makes you feel happy. Area number three to take control of your happiness is to have a great work life balance. Now there are several studies that show you should not roll straight from your bed. Into work. So if you were one of those people, and again, we've talked about this before, too. That immediately, when your alarm goes off, you grab your phone and you start looking at your work emails. You got to stop that you got to knock that off. Ideally study show that you need to have at least an hour. A full hour before you start into work to focus on yourself. Now, what does this mean by focusing on yourself? Well, give yourself time to wake up. Read something other than your emails, eat something. Drink something like a coffee or a tea or just water? Feel like a human move. Your body. Go for a walk, run. Meditate. But knowing you did something to take care of yourself before the Workday will make you feel better at work in your Workday. And then during your Workday take breaks, go outside, have a conversation. About something that is not linked to work, take a lunch break studies also show that you should not eat lunch at your desk. Now, two times this week, I have reflected that I ate at my desk. I literally was like shoveling tuna into my face on a zoom call. I'm not proud of that moment, but it did happen. So you want to make sure how can you carve out even 15 minutes and take your lunch away from your desk? I work at home, so I mean, the kitchen's not that far away. There's really no excuse for me. I just need to block it out and just do it for myself. And when I do find that I give that time energy to myself. When I come back to work, I'm a lot more focused. I'm a lot more dedicated and I'm a lot more ready to go. And then at the end of your day, I find time to shut it down and shut it off. Have a strict boundary for when your Workday ends and then turn off your notifications, put them on silent and set that as a boundary. If you are one of those people who have to be on call all the time. Well, that's a different story and those are different boundaries. So you're going to have to suffer yourself. But otherwise make sure people around, you just know these are my normal work hours, and if it's an emergency call me, one thing you can do on this. Is one day this week. Give yourself that one hour before work. To just focus on you. So make sure you wake up a little bit earlier, you have a full hour before the Workday begins and see how that feels for you. Cause guess what? You just may never go back to anything else. Area number four to take control of your happiness. Is to recognize and praise people for their good work. I want you to start paying attention to the people around you who are doing amazing work. These are people who are executing on really meaningful work. But this is also people who are showing up with a great attitude with great behaviors, with great energy. So if you're seeing any of those things, stop. Pay attention. Edna knowledge and recognize it. Good work inspires your own work to get better. When you see people and you focus your efforts on people who are doing amazing things. It's going to make, you want to also be at their level. And the more that you start doing it and you acknowledge them doing it, then they're going to want to do it more. And again, it just starts to grow and cultivate this virtuous cycle of people doing great work. So reward it, praise it. The more, you know, your people, K Y P you might understand how that person appreciates being rewarded and praised. So if you do one thing this week around this topic, it's to thank someone for a job. Well done. Area number five to take control of your happiness at work is to have an organized workspace. Now studies have shown that clutter and chaos causes anxiety and depression. So keep your desk area tidy and not just your desk area, but your desktop. I want everyone to think about the last time they were at their desktop. How many browsers did you have up? I know I have been up there with like 500 browsers at a time. Not good. But beyond the browsers, when you have to go look for a link or a file, how easily can you do that? How organized are your emails and your bookmarks. And I just want you to think about how your day to day goes. If you spend a good portion of your days. Perusing through emails, trying to find that link or having to ask that person for the fifth time for the file they already sent you. Then you have a disorganized workplace. So our, our workplace is now the physical and the virtual. So what I would suggest here this week is to take an hour, block it on your calendar. And Marie Kondo the crap out of your virtual workspace. Get it organized, get your bookmarks where they need to be, get those files where they need to be. You will feel so much more. In control of your Workday and organized, and it will make you feel a lot happier. Area six to take control of your happiness at work is to be socially connected. So the longest study on happiness, which I will link has recently come out and there's really cool data and information about it. But the clearest message out of this 73 year study is. Good relationships. Keep us happier. So this goes one back to the work-life balance of ensuring you've got good relationships with your partner, your friends, your family, but it's also, you spend a lot of time at work. So it's making sure that you've got good relationships at work. Now you don't have to be besties like best friends in the whole wide world, but ask yourself, do you feel connected at all to the people at work? Is there somebody there that you really trust? I mean, really, really trust that you can call and share things and count on depend on. Do you have somebody like that? Do you have two or three people like that? Is there anyone at work that you enjoy being with that just makes you feel more energized or happier motivated? Cause that's what you want to have more of. And talking about this and reflecting on this I felt very fortunate. I've always had strong ties to my coworkers and it's just. I don't know, they're just these amazing humans and I just truly enjoy their presence, their attitude. And I respect the crap. Out of their work ethic. I have three previous bosses that to this day we still talk and I have, and I would call them for anything. I've had nine previous employees that to this day, I still talk to we email, we call, we zoom, we text and we lunch when we can. And honestly, those people are some of the most amazing humans. And again, when I spend time with them, it fills my cup. I got to. I got an email last week from one of my previous employees It literally made my day. I mean, this person just is such an incredible human being. and then today I have coworkers that I am so thankful to be working with because I trust I admire their work ethic. I admire their energy. And if I didn't have those relationships, especially because I'm working from home, I can imagine how lonely and the lack of joy that I would feel on the regular. And that's a place that I don't want anyone to be. So there's one thing you could do around this this week. I would say reach out to a coworker. And engage with them in something personal. So maybe this is a virtual lunch or a virtual coffee, or in real life, coffee or lunch, or maybe you just get on the phone and you get outside and you talk with them. So whatever it is for you find some way to reach out and engage with someone from work. So let's recap, the six areas to take control of your happiness at work. Area number one, take charge of your professional development and responsibility for knowing what is going on at work. The one thing you can do here this week is ask someone for honest feedback on how you're doing. Area number two. Make progress on the things that matter most. The thing you could do here this week is to write down your top goal for the week, then commit your time, your calendar and your energy to getting that done and celebrate it when you do. Arie number three, have a great work-life balance. The one thing you can do here is this week, give yourself one hour before work to focus on you. And see how that feels. Area number four, praise people for their good work. And the one thing you can do here is to find someone who is doing an excellent job and thank and praise them accordingly. Area number five, have an organized workspace. The one thing you can do here is to block an hour on your calendar this week to organize your desktop. Area number six, be socially connected. The one thing you can do here this week is reach out to a coworker and engage in something personal with them. Maybe a virtual lunch coffee, walk and talk. All right folks. So happiness comes before success. Let me say that again. Happiness comes before success. Not the other way around. When people are happy, are humans. It's usually when they become more successful in life, there are many things we do have control of in our own professional happiness. If we're optimistic. And genuinely enthusiastic. Our brains function better. And we're likely to have improved relationships too, because we are a lift it upper. If you listened last week. Now we cannot be happy all the time, but we can cultivate our habits, attitudes, and mindsets that create more happy work environments for ourselves. And for those we work with. I appreciate you tuning in and I'm so happy that you did quick update I'm on day eight of 75 heart and yes, it has been hard. But it's going well. And I'm leaning into all the goodness. I'm learning about myself this time around. And future episodes, I will dig in much more. For now be bolt. Be bright. And most importantly, be happy. Be a leader who decides to create their own happiness. You can do it. Cheers.