(Can’t see the video? Then try watching it at Work Happy Now – Hard Fun and Beautiful – Dragonflies Edition)
This week I needed to get some stuff off my chest. Working happy is not always about feeling wonderful. Working happy, to me, is about relaxing wherever I am at. That means if I’m pissed off because someone took the last dash of creamer for my coffee then so be it. I have to find a way to relax with whatever emotions are bouncing around in me.
We all get our buttons pushed in various ways. It’s important to learn how to work with these hot buttons in order to enjoy more of what we do while earning a living.
One of my hot buttons was recently pushed by a friend. He told me my videos needed to step up a few levels. They had potential, but needed improvement. I resisted at first, but he was right. So, I changed the format of my videos. As you can see, I’m making it a little more cozy and injecting more of what I’m going through.
I know you go through tough stuff at work too. That’s why I’m covering the hard, fun and beautiful to see if we can explore a deeper level of work happiness.
Here are the topics I cover this week:
Hard
- Computer problems are a part of all of our lives. I just hate when it happens to me. I updated my blog to the latest WordPress release and I couldn’t upload a photo. I checked the forums, other blogs, and fiddled with it for hours. Nothing worked.
- A meeting can set off internal alarm bells. I had a meeting where I had to present information and I was worried about how it would be perceived. I even had trouble falling asleep the night before. I went into the meeting ready to be confronted. Nothing happened. I was fine. I worried over an event I couldn’t change.
Fun
- Launch of my eCourse. My Free 10 Week eCourse went live and it’s a success. Yeah! Over 100 people have signed up in less than 2 weeks.
Beautiful
- Dragonflies. After my tough day of WordPress issues and meeting problems I was worn out. Every night I take my dog Addie for a walk. She is a mix of energy and stubbornness, which makes her a lot to handle but for some reason it relaxes me. On our walk I noticed a swarm of dragonflies around one tree. I stood for a good 5 minutes and just watched them dart high and low. It was beautiful. I realized that I have a lot of stress relief techniques that I’m so grateful for.
What about you?
What happened to you this past week? What was hard, fun or beautiful? I would love to hear it in the comment section.
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I’ve been researching social media and how to use it in conjunction with my blog. Valeria of Conversation Agent has been a great read. She talks about how to build value for your people. I need to be as valuable as I can be for you so you keep coming back.
If you enjoyed this post then you might enjoy:
I love your idea of “Hard, Fun, Beautiful” Karl! 🙂
I love fireflies too. I used to see them more when I was a kid, but maybe that’s just because I don’t go out for walks at night anymore. I definitely want to do that more often. Thanks for the great reminder.
Hard: I had some computer problems myself. I’m testing some stuff on Worpress and it doesn’t look the way I want to. Since I have a life and come home late and I can’t access from the office, those technical issues will have to wait until the weekend. So be it.
Fun: I read a lot this week about writing and I have been putting together some articles that I love. Time to take this blogging thing more seriously for me 🙂
Then I keep enjoying my enology course… in French! Putting yoru mind in a different vision of the world surely takes your stress away, plus I get to taste some really good wines.
Beautiful: My cat. I can spend hours looking at her and marvelling at nature’s perfection.
Looking forward to watch your video from home… you know how some companies are 🙂
This week we;ve had sunny, warm, low-humidity weather. I’ve seen a great sunset, and incredible almost-full moon, my happy basil plants…all have been quite relaxing.
Hard: Just got a new Mac and it won’t work. Never had a Mac before and I’m NOT happy with it.
Fun: Going to see The Killers in concert with a bunch of friends and singing so loudly that my throat was scratchy the next day!
Beautiful: Some of the leaves that are starting to change into shades of yellow. Fall is coming!! 🙂
Hi Karl,
Dragonflies are such magical looking creatures with their iridescent wings! Metaphysically, they are associated with seeing through illusions, transformation, and allowing one’s own light to shine forth in a way that is true to them. Looks like they turned up at just right the moment for you!
Hard: Coming back into a rather challenging workplace after being away on vacation. At least the workplace challenges will be coming to an end in the near future. I also had some challenges with Google Talk, Skype and other communications technology this week in the process of trying to work on a collaborative editing project, so that was getting a bit frustrating. Actually the challenges got to the point of being ridiculous, so I gave up and just laughed about them.
Fun: Going to a Gujarati restaurant and eating a type of regional Indian cuisine that I don’t get to try very often. I’ve been inspired to see if I can more or less reproduce one of the dishes I tried at the restaurant. Also fun–doing a little more work on pairing up some of my best photographs with my best poems for a book that I’d like to publish.
Beautiful: My little Tulsi plants (Indian Holy Basil)that I started from seeds and that seem to be thriving,so far! (Wish I could say the same for my cardamon plant! 🙁 ) Also some of the late summer/fall blooms that I’ve seen in people’s gardens and plant nurseries.
P.S. What happened to that great big warm welcome that you used to offer up at the beginning of your videos? I think it’s great that you’re sharing more of what you’re going through with your readers. I’ve also noticed that your newer videos seem a little bit lower key (maybe a little flat) in tone. Or maybe with a very busy life right now it’s just a bit of fatigue creeping in? Anyway, I hope all is well with you.
* Hard – Bootstrapping my project (the up front part is always tough.)
* Fun – 200 mile trip in the back country with the top down on my Jeep.
* Beautiful – Catching that quiet time in the morning just when yesterday stops, and today begins.
Hard: Computer problems for me, too. Our main PC needs a major overhaul. Can’t tell you how many hours over the years that I have spent reloading, devirusing, troubleshooting, tweaking, etc., a variety of machines – all Windows-based. I was a pro-PC person for quite a while until this last PC meltdown. I’ve become a Mac convert.
Fun: New MacBook Pro – absolutely no problems. Entirely the opposite of my PC experience. It just works.
Beautiful: I opened the blinds and saw a hummingbird hovering right in front of me, enjoying some flowers hanging on my porch. It seemed like time stopped for a moment as I watched this little creature.
And, hey, Karl? Your videos do rock! I always look forward to a message from you. Keep it up, Work Happy Guy! You’re a gem!Gina
I’m all signed up for the e-course now. The videos are great. If your still trying to improve though, try adjusting the lighting. I’ve personally found that often makes a phenomenal difference.
Karl,
Love the approach on this article. Hard, fun, and beautiful – all part of the journey.
Hard: An ongoing project we implemented in early summer continues to have minor things keep coming up – so it’s a challenge to sometimes get everyone’s buyin that this was a good move as a company – when internal problems come up, causing more unrest. The good in this is that the problems have been quickly solved, and we’re getting better at communicating changes out to everyone.
Fun: Our company just finished our best year – and really the last couple of weeks have been a bit of a celebration – culminating this week in an company wide meeting on a look back over the year, and where we go from here. (note: while that was fun, now we have the task of trying to maintain – especially as we tend to lag the normal market by a bit – as we come into a slower period for us).
Beautiful: Coming into work on several days this week – and seeing the fog lifting off the quiet lakes and streams along the ride in – enough to make me pull the car over for a few seconds and just observe nature at it’s best…
It’s great to be here today, Karl!
Hard: Since I am the new kid on the block and have less of a work load than others, I am assisting on some of the problem files that others have not had the opportunity to do. Since I appear to be good at this and in resolving issues, I seem to be getting more of these. Downside for me it seems that it takes more time to do these files and gives less time for other files that deserve just as much attention.
Fun: Fun thing this week was meeting my best friend and her daughter for dinner to give her daughter her birthday present. It was great to find her daughter waiting outside for me. We made tacos and it was fun that now her daughter is 11 and mature enough to sit with us and have a pretty adult conversation.
Beautiful: The most beautiful thing was waking up this week and seeing sun every day (it has been very rainy this summer).
Hi Nathalie, it’s amazing to notice how we are still fascinated by what intrigues us when we are young.
Hi brooklynchick, I love low humidity days. Living in Texas I need as many of them as I can get.
Hi Positively Present, I have a Mac and a PC and I enjoy both. Once you get by those glitches you should be just fine.
Hi Sue, I love your comments. They are always so in depth. I too have had countless problems with Google Talk and Skype. I’m glad you can just laugh about it. As for the big warm greeting. I was trying something new to see what people thought. Maybe my big greeting sets the tone for the rest of the video. I should try bringing it back to see what happens. Thanks for the input and concern.
Hi J.D., I know about bootstrapping. That’s what this website is all about. I think that’s where the best content comes from. Good luck and hope your project is successful.
Hi Gina, looks like you Mac is a good fit for you. I love hummingbirds. I bought a feeder, but still haven’t made the sugar water for them. Maybe next week. 😉