Finding Joy in Your Work

What do you love doing so much that you would practice until your fingers bled while loving every minute of it?

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Consider this the ideal state of your life when you are doing what you love doing most of the time.  

Quote: I got my first real six-string. Bought it at the five-and-dime. Played it 'til my fingers bled. Was the summer of '69. Bryan Adams.

Do you think this is realistic to achieve with your career?   With the careers of your team members?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.”

Henry Ford

There are people in all sorts of jobs that are absolutely joyful in their work.  There are people in those same jobs that are absolutely miserable and everywhere in-between.  

Don’t confuse joyfulness with happiness at work.  Happiness is momentary and usually based upon external factors like the cool videos we all see about tech companies.  Joy is internal and long-lasting.  

As a leader you will get the most out of your team in terms of both retention and what Mark Breslin calls “Discretionary Effort” if you can improve engagement to this level.  

  • Peak:  Developing deep competencies. People tend to love doing things they are very good at.
  • Triggers:  Great advice about how to improve employee engagement by asking the right types of questions and forming the right daily habits.

As a leader your team will never be more engaged or love their work more than you do.  

How would you answer these 6 critical questions?




Taking 100 Percent of Responsibility
Imagine having 100% control over everything. It starts by assuming 100% responsibility for everything.
Business Operating Layer
Execution is the discipline of getting things done and is especially critical for contractors because we work in a highly competitive business with relatively low margins compared to the risks taken.
Black Box Thinking
Failures, mistakes and problems are part of every contractor’s business. What separates out high-performing teams is a relentless focus on learning from these problems then creating systems and training to mitigate them in the future.