Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week.
This week has been more positive than negative. Since starting this blog, that has been the continuing trend that seems to occur each week. By focusing on helping other people become happier at work, I’ve increased my own happiness. That’s the beauty of passion. It stops being about “me” and starts being about “others.”
It’s why people love sports. We get to root with all our heart and souls for people we don’t know. We learn their stories and find a way to care. Movies, TV, and books have that same emotional hook. We stop worrying about our own lives and care about other people and animals (I love nature shows).
Let’s begin.
Hard
Trying to relax with my work. Sometimes I get so excited that I get all worked up and my brain can’t move as fast as my excitement. For example, I realize that I need to create a “physical” book that people can hold in their hands in order to reach more people. I’ve probably become an authority on work happiness in your eyes, but to the non-blogger a book pushes me up a few levels when consulting and giving key note presentations. This is an awesomely (I think that’s a word) hard project, and it’s a lot of work. As I’m looking over old blog posts to see what I can use in the book, I get tense. I’m trying too hard to get it all done as quickly as I can. I need to remind myself to just relax and pull back my excitement by 10%. The book will be much better if I write it in a relaxed state.
Fun
Phone consultation with a business/marketing consultant. Naomi of Ittybiz consulted with me about the direction of my site and how to maximize my sales page, products (soon to come), and my blog posts. She was brilliant. I told her in a “thank you” email that I loved her brain and I could talk to her for hours. Honest compliments are the grease to your relationships. She gave me so many good ideas that my head is still spinning. She is expensive, but well worth the money.
Beautiful
A “thank you” email. I got an email from a reader thanking me for the Happy at Work Project. She said that she used to be so depressed at work, and when she found my site it changed her life. This made my week. I’m still beaming four days later. See, compliments make me weak in the knees.
How about you?
What has been hard, fun, and beautiful in your life? Let us know in the comment section.
If you love a little motivation, inspiration, or laughter at work then sign up for my Tweets (@workhappynow).
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The Bold Life is talking about happiness at work. She has a couple cool videos about the rapping Southwest Airlines attendant. You have to watch it. It's why Southwest has such a cool culture.
If you enjoyed this video you'll probably enjoy these too:
You have a great video presence, and I like the topic a lot!
Well, since you asked... let's say this little musical thing I'm creating. The hard, which is not really that hard, let's say it's like a challenging puzzle -- is working on an interesting plot. The songs come easy, that's fun. And the beautiful is each little step of progress I make, the breakthroughs after perseverance.
Making a difference, a real and measurable impact, is so inspiring and happiness inducing! What I love is how reciprocal the nature of inspiration and gratitude is - how you inspired her and she inspired you right back!
Hi Karl
Again, - love these episodes - I look forward to them on Fridays now! Gives me a chance to see how you have been and a chance to reflect myself.
Hard: Not being able to take my daily morning walks 🙁 The weather was so cold and rainy all week - I was not that motivated to go out there and battle the elements.
Fun: Getting rid of the deadline based projects I had in September. Although the projects were fun, having a deadline over one's head isn't.
Beautiful: Watching this amazing video/application on water conservation online. It really touched my heart and it was put together in such a beautiful way. One can find it here: http://waterlife.nfb.ca/
And as for you, a physical book would be great! And way to go for making a difference in the world and people's lives. As we give, so we get back that which we give in even more abundant ways.
Beautiful:
Thanks for sharing your hard/fun/beautiful things for the week. For me, the hardest part of the week was dealing with my own procrastination. I had a lot of fun when I participated in the DC Happiness Project meeting. And something beautiful...Watching the leaves fall slowly, one by one, outside of my office window.
I agree with you that honest compliments - and authenticity, in general - are the grease of good relationships.
You'll do great with your book, and it will probably write itself when the time arrives. Keep at it, Karl!
Hi Karl - I agree with Jannie - you have a great video presence. It's a joy to watch these, and the bring a smile to my face. Okay, this week:
Hard: a busy week, full schedule, so staying balanced was a challenge
Fun: a busy week, full schedule, getting to do work I love (isn't it interesting how fun and hard can me the same thing?)
Beautiful: finally reconnecting with a dear friend, having dinner in a beautiful restaurant, and catching up.
Congratulations on moving forward with your book. Exciting!
Karl, like your smile! When you're intense about your work remember to breathe. I checked out Ittybiz and love it. A beautiful brain? What a wonderful thing to say.
Hard? Being overwhelmed with technology. Didn't watch the CD's that came with my Blackberry like planned.
Fun? Took a day off and went hiking with my husband.
Beautiful? The Pinnacle Peak mountains and my health. Planning to hike the Grand Canyon with online friends. How cool is that oops I think that would be under fun!
Hard: my health is driving me nuts this week, so I'm trying to balance all of that with needing to do my work at work! I have an understanding boss, but I wish I felt better faster.
Fun: Spending the weekend with my parents. I don't get to do it all that often and it's nice to see them.
Beautiful: This afternoon--the sun was so bright, the sky was totally blue, and the leaves are still changing.
Hi Karl: It sounds like you had an awesome week. It's interesting that you hired Naomi to help you with your marketing plan, it shows that you're really serious about going to the next level (not that I ever had any doubt).
So here's my week:
Hard: I had to accept that there was a situation which was affecting me which I simply had no control over. The only thing I could control was how I reacted to the situation.
Fun: Writing my "The Science of Getting Rich" posts.
Beautiful: Watching the ships lined up to sail across the Panama Canal every time I go for a jog.
Hi Karl,
Sounds like you had a really good week this week. The happy face that you'd drawn got a much needed smile out of me. I was so glad to hear about the thank you letter you got from one of your readers about how helpful your site has been to her in dealing with her depression at work. What really comes through in your videos and posts is your sincerity,authenticity and depth of caring and desire to be of help to others--and I think those traits are helpful and healing in and of themselves.
I'd like to thank you for all the positive feedback you give your readers about their ideas and thoughts that they share on this site--I know I've always appreciated the positive comments and their effect in terms of inspiring me to want to do more writing in a variety of formats. I'd also like to thank other readers for having the courage to write and share their views and experiences.
So what was hard this week? Losing an entire day and a half to the migraine from hell combined with what I suspect was a case of food poisoning (I knew I should have trusted my intuition about those canned water chestnuts!), followed by a rather grueling meeting this morning. (I felt thoroughly grilled and spent by the end of the meeting.):-(
What was fun: I joined a "What's Your Tree": Finding your Passion and Purpose circle that is being offered as one of the "Be the Change" action circles, and we had our first meeting last night. Tomorrow (Saturday) I will be volunteering with SPUD patrol. No, we don't go about rounding up wayward potatoes! What we actually do is set up a couple of large tables in one of the poorest areas of the city and hand out baked potatoes (complete with butter, sour cream, chives, shredded cheese, salt & pepper)to anyone walking by who is hungry and wants one. SPUD stands for Serving Potatoes to Unrecognized Devas (a Sanskrit word that more or less means angels).
Beautiful--I treated myself to some beautiful, large, reddish-orange dahlias and put them in a cobalt blue vase and have been admiring the stunning colour contrast all week. I also created a little autumn equinox seasonal altar, so now I really feel like I've shifted into the season. Every time I walk past it, I try to remember to consciously connect with it and think about what I've "harvested" and what new seeds or projects need to be sown, as well as all of the non-material riches in my life that I'm thankful for.
Wishing everyone a good week and looking forward to next week's installment of the Hard,Fun and Beautiful. Thanks, Karl, for starting this great weekly summary and check-in.
Karl,
Great picture you shared, and the natural smile that just showed upon your face as you revealed it was even better!
Hard: An additional project I signed up to help with at work, several months ago, has began. And it's something I've lost interest in since initially agreeing to help out. The good news is that it will only last a couple of weeks. Still, just the thought of doing it had put me in a less-than-ideal state.
Fun: Digging into the technical side of my website. I don't do this all that often, but when I do - it's really something I do enjoy (even though I'm not efficient at it!).
Beautiful: Going out for a run one day this week, and just letting my mind wander in the process - felt like I wanted to keep running forever! Such great thoughts came over me as I was out there!
Hi Jannie, Thanks. It's just been about improving each video I shoot. It must be a wonderful gift to have the songs come easy. I have no talent for stringing notes together. My wife attest to my lack of musical talent. 🙂
Hi Hayden, I love how you said that gratitude and inspiration is reciprocal. So true.
Hi Evita, It's tough adapting to a new routine. I say bundle up and get out there even if you have to take a shorter walk.
Hi Positively Present, Procrastination is always hard.
Hi Megan, I'll let you know as soon as the book is done.
Hi Patty, Nothing better than having a nice dinner with a close friend. I would like to have one with my wife soon. Since having the baby we haven't had much "us" time.
Hi Tess, Breathing is very important. Always working on improving it. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Emily, When I am feeling bad it's hard to be happy.
Hi Marelisa, loved your science of getting rich posts. They were so indepth and insightful.
Hi Sue, SPUD patrol is a wonderful way to spend a few hours. I bet the people loved them.
Hi Lance, It's funny how a project can start out so glorious can turn so lousy.
Hi Karl,
Sounds like you had a good week. As for the book, no worries. The more relaxed you are, the easier it will be for you to write the book.
As for me, this was an interesting week. I have been off from work due to my aunt passing away which made me really think about the direction of my life. Sometimes you just get to a point where you just have to jump off the cliff and trust that you will land. I have done this many times and I realize I may need to do that again soon.
As for fun and beautiful...well...nothing like a blue sky and bright sunshine to make me smile and see that life is beautiful. And for fun, spending time with those who are a part of my life.
May this upcoming week be awesome for us all. 🙂
Awesome stuff Karl! I love Naomi and I know you'll be taking it to the next level like there's no tomorrow. 😉
Way to go on your happy-news email. Those make my days too.
Loved it when you turned the paper around!
Hard: still fixing my website and deciding on a target mkt
fun: on Thursday I auditioned for the co-host position on a morning tv show that airs on Fox Providence ( in Rhode Island) super fun experience.
Beautiful: knowing the work I do really helps people.