How to Find Joy at Work

We spend about one-third of our life working and according to Indeed’s Work Wellbeing 2023 report 71% of workers report low to moderate wellbeing at work. With so much of our time at work, doesn’t it make sense that we enjoy it?  If this is not the case, and you (or your team members) are dragging yourself to work and dreaming about the day you retire, then it is time to infuse some joy back into your work!  ‘Joy At Work’ written by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein provides some great guidance on how to do this!

Now you may have heard about Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying guru, and you might think this is just about physically tidying up your desk or office. This is not the case, although it is one tip!  Scott Sonenshein is an organisational psychologist and he and Marie have co-authored this book to share a range of tips on how to put both the physical and non-physical aspects of your job in order. Tidying up all of these aspects will ensure you get greater joy from work and put the spark back into your career. 

Here are the top 10 tips I took from the book.

Tip 1 -  Visualising your ideal work life

Before you get stuck into any tidying up your work life, it is important to visualise what that ideal actually is.  Envision what your whole day will look like after you finish tidying up. Think about the physical and non-physical aspects of your job, and consider:

·       how these will look (the physical environment),

·       what you will be doing (your behaviour), and

·       how you will feel (your emotions) in your new ideal work life.

Tip 2 – Yes, it is to tidy up your workspace!

There is a range of research to support the importance of completing Tip 2 on your mental health and productivity.  UCLA scientists found being surrounded by too many things increases cortisol levels, a primary stress hormone, making us more susceptible to feeling depleted of energy and depressed. Our brains can only focus on so many stimuli at a time, so those living and/or working in cluttered spaces can feel overwhelmed and experience difficulty focusing, are distracted, and have impaired decision-making.  In terms of productivity, data shows the search for lost things can add up to an average of one workweek per year per employee.

 When tackling your tidying, follow these simple steps:

·       Tidy your own spaces first, then communal areas later.

·       Work one category at a time.

·       Take all the items out for that category and pile them in one spot, e.g. all pens together.

·       Then choose what to keep, asking yourself these questions: Does it spark joy, is it functional and will it aid my work? Will it lead to future joy?

Tip 3 – Tidy up your digital life

As we have moved from physical papers to digital, it has created its own cluttered and disorganised space in our computers.  Follow these steps to get control of your digital documents:

·       Set aside a block of time to set up a folder system and work through your files.   

·       Create a handful of main folders. If you have a complicated filing system, then you spend too much time finding the right folder to file and remembering where you put it, or it’s all too hard and you give up and don’t file it. 

·       Then examine each file and ask these questions: Is this available on the network or company intranet.? Do I need this to get my job done? Will this provide guidance or inspiration for future work? Delete all unnecessary files. 

Tip 4 – Digital Life Part 2 – the dreaded emails

Emails can take over your working day, and you may not be surprised to hear that research shows the more time you spend on emails, the higher your stress level and the lower your productivity. In addition, the recovery time from an email interruption is 64 seconds . So if you have 30 email popups in a day, that’s 30 minutes of lost time.

So follow these tips to take control:

·       Turn off the email notifications.

·       Time block email work.  Schedule emails in 2 blocks per day. Let others know and provide a way for them to contact you if urgent, so there is no need to check emails constantly.

·       If you find yourself constantly deleting a newsletter or mailing list subscription, then save yourself the bother by unsubscribing.

Tip 5 – Digital Life part 3 –smartphone apps

Smartphones have become part of our life. However, research on smartphones indicates they are reducing performance and productivity. 

So here are a few tips:

·       Silence notifications unless essential

·       Keep your phone out of sight

·       Complete an audit of your phone and delete any apps you don’t require, don’t help you work better, or are dormant.  Remember you can always download it again. Then tidy up your apps by dividing them into folders/categories.

Tip 6 – Tidy up your time

Our days are filled with activities, and among those activities is ‘activity clutter’ – which Sonenshein describe as “the things we do that take up precious time and sap our energy but don’t make a meaningful difference to our personal, professional or even company’s mission.” I am sure we have all been to meetings that don’t provide us with new learnings or make decisions, or started a project that will never get completed.

Tips for this one:

·       Put everything you do in physical piles -write the task on cards

·       Now look at your piles and for each task ask:  Is this required for me to keep and excel at my job? Will this task help create a more joyful future? Does this spark joy and contribute to more job satisfaction? If a task cannot meet one of these criteria stop it.

·       Keep an eye on your tasks, and evaluate new ones as they come in.

Tip 7 – Tidy Up your Decisions

We make thousands of decisions a day and some have estimated this number could be up to 35,000. It’s no wonder we get decision fatigue.  Decisions can be low stake requiring little effort, for example, which pen we will use, medium stake such as when to update your prices, or upgrade your equipment, and high stakes, e.g. when to rebrand. If you streamline and reduce decisions, it will give you the energy to focus on the decisions that count.

Here are a few tips:

·       If you don’t think the outcome of your decision will make a difference, don’t invest a lot of time making it, e.g. what font type to use. Don’t overthink!

·       Automate as many decisions as you can –create an email signature that automatically fills in “kind regards” followed by your signature, eat the same breakfast each day (just like productivity guru Tim Ferris).

·       Think about whether any of the decisions can be delegated. Do they need your involvement?

Tip 8 – Tidy Up Your Network

Huge networks can be time-consuming, and stressful, and they are often not joyful. How often have you dragged yourself off to a network meeting?

Think back to Tip 1, your ideal work life, and now consider who are the people you want in this life, that you want to spend time with, that you need for your job or advancing your work-life vision. If they don’t fit the criteria, remove them from your contacts or unfollow them.

Tip 9 – Tidy Up Meetings

Meetings take up large percentage of our working day, and the statistics are not good.  Organizations spend roughly 15% of their time on meetings, with surveys showing that 71% of those meetings are considered unproductive.  Workers spend an average of 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings.  Of course, meetings are not all bad. A well-run meeting can enable new ideas, good decision-making, and opportunities to learn from others and work together.

 Tips for meetings.

·       Ensure there is a clear purpose and goal and that there is a role for you in any meetings you attend.  If not, then decline these meetings or discuss with the meeting organiser.

·       Consider shorter, sharper meetings – stand-ups of 15 minutes, make a meeting 25 minutes instead of 30 to ensure everyone gets a break.

Tip 10- Sharing the Magic of Tidying

If you have put all the tips into place, then hopefully you are now experiencing more joy in your work life, and it is close to your vision (Tip 1).  Now it is time to share the magic of tidying with others and inspire others. You could do this by:

·       Sharing all you have accomplished.

·       Propose a tidying day in the office -so everyone can transform their space

·       Meetings – suggest 1 day per week cancelling all meetings and shorten the ones you still need to have

Kondo and Sonenshein state ‘Joy at work sparks joy in life’, and by finding the joy in your work life, you are free then to devote yourself to what you love.  How good does that sound? There are so many more helpful tips in the book, but hopefully, these 10 tips will kickstart you in achieving that ideal work-life you envision.  

 I’d love to hear how you go, or what tips you have for sparking joy at work. Drop them in the comments below. Or if you would like to discuss holding a workshop on this topic for your team, then feel free to reach out.

Here's to a more joyful and fulfilling career!

Mel

PS. If you are keen to learn how to create a clutter-free life, then you will love my free PDF Guide - Discover 5 Simple Steps To A Clutter Free Life.