What is Your Joy?

Recently at Fierce our CEO & President, Halley Bock, asked each of us to think about the word joy. Where do we find joy within our job? What is the level of joy we feel on a day-to-day basis? What can we do, and what can the company do to expand on our joy?

Putting semantics aside (maybe it’s not joy for you but happiness), at the heart of the question is: What makes us show up each day and put our full selves into our jobs? And is that enough to sustain us? If not, what can we do to improve the situation?

Auditing something as important as the joy you feel every day is important. The common thread throughout most of our answers was that some days the joy level is higher than others, and this is an important piece to pay attention to.

No job, no boss, no relationship is always perfect. This ebb and flow between high points and low points is simply life. However, when you assess your joy level, and the low days outnumber the high ones, it’s time to take critical next steps to change the situation.

The key to moving to change is asking yourself: What can be done to expand my joy?

If leadership is going to pose this question to their team, it’s critical that the organization come to the table ready to hear how the company can support their employees.

On the flip side, it’s also important for the employee to be responsible for their own joy. If you’re waiting for leadership to wave a magic wand and raise your joy level for you – that’s a problem. How you show up each day is a responsibility only you can control.

If leadership asks this question of you, be honest with your response and realize that your joy is not dictated solely by the organization. The larger component is yourself.

So, what is your joy?