Joy is not a word you hear very often in business, if at all...

The word joy has come up a lot for me over the last few weeks. I felt that there wasn’t enough of it in my life, that I was missing out on it and even that there was something wrong with me because I didn’t feel enough of it!

Then I realised that I needed to redefine my definition of joy.

Previously the word brought up visions of stock images that I’d seen on social media of people jumping up in the air in absolute ecstasy!! Or of women (usually) being swung around laughing, by what I am assuming are strong men (usually) on movies...

And as this is not something I do very often, (err…at all!) I felt joy was missing from my life.

And a serious question… Have you ever seen anyone, not on a screen, do either of those things? I haven’t, unless there is a 4 year old involved!

Redefining my definition of joy has really helped me find, and feel, joy in normal everyday moments.

💕 Like watching my kids laughing
🚿 Like a powerful hot shower
🍳 Like cooking nutritious meals
🤣 Like laughing out loud at a TikTok video (not that I EVER watch TikTok of course, I’ve just heard it’s funny!)
👀 Like watching a client have a breakthrough
📺 Like watching an episode of a favourite box set

That got me thinking about how we treat our teams…

About how we focus on what’s not right rather than what is right. About how often we just don’t find the time to celebrate the wins.

What about you? What brings you joy? What do you do to bring joy to your work? To your team?