Tag Archives: joy

The Joyful Entrepreneur

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Vreugde and more Gioia! Yeah, I had to look them up too. The first word is Dutch, and the second word is Italian. But they mean the same thing. In Spanish, the word is alegría and in Swedish it is glädje. So enough with the mystery. The word is JOY. Unfortunately, this is a word that is foreign to many entrepreneurs.

You see, we entrepreneurs are a serious and driven bunch. We have important stuff to do and companies to build. We are always moving at the speed of light and struggle to find enough hours in the day. Joy? Let’s see, maybe we can squeeze it on the calendar three weeks from Thursday at 2:00 PM . . . for 20 minutes. Is the picture coming into focus yet? The point is that many of us do not allow joy to get within two miles, much less become an integral part of our lives. After all, feeling and celebrating joy is not very macho and we don’t want someone to get the wrong idea.

Why do we persist in having such an allergic reaction to joy? Can we become one of the next captains of industry and still allow for a modicum of joy? Of course, we can answer in the affirmative and we must. Joy and success are tied inextricably by definition. If you do not believe me – look it up! Merriam-Webster clearly states that “joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” But here is something else that I have learned. We can feel great joy when we celebrate the success and good fortune of others.

I believe that joy should become a part of our daily lives. It is one of the healthiest emotions we can have. And here is something I have learned that become your secret weapon. Do you know what it feels like to get stuck in the downward spiral of negative thinking? We lost a deal to a competitor that we were sure we had in the bag. Or one of our key team members just quit. And maybe the bank would not make the loan we needed. When faced with these kinds of issues our thoughts can turn dark very quickly. But we can just as quickly turn the tables by “jumping into joy” and with both feet. I started practicing this concept years ago. Every time I would start to feel down, I would intentionally find someone who was in a good place – a friend, family, or team member. Then I would applaud their success or good fortune. It is amazing what a lift this provided for me, not to mention how it made the other person feel.

Joy is uplifting. It is a shout-it-from-the-rooftops passion. It is at least one level above happiness if not more. Joy kicks the endorphin rush into high gear and does all sorts of positive things to our bodies. We can experience joy through all five of our senses – sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. If we do not practice it or if we wait for it to come to us, then in effect we are suppressing it. But if we go looking for joy it is incredibly easy to find. And don’t we like to be around people who are joyful? They are easy to spot. Their facial features are etched with a permanent smile and a twinkle in their eye. They radiate warmth and bubble with personality.

We can continue to be Mr. or Ms. Seriously No Nonsense, or we can lighten up and have some fun at work. For many summers, we had an Ice Cream Day. I dressed up in a ridiculous looking ice cream cone suit and pushed an ice cream cart around the office passing out Nestlé drumsticks, fudgesicles and other delectable delights. I had a blast, and everyone had a good chuckle. This truly was a joyful moment for all.

Life is boring without joy – and so are we. Joy tramples negativity and helps balance our emotions. There is no downside whatsoever to reveling in joy.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

The Opportunity-Seeking Entrepreneur

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Knock-knock. Who’s there? Problem. Problem who? This childhood riddle is emblematic of a common perspective that many of our daily encounters present problems for us. But are they really problems? I’m sure that an argument can be made that anything a bit perplexing or where a less-than-favorable outcome is realized, could be considered a problem. But why do we choose to believe this so often? Some of us by nature are problem-solvers (I’ve been known to fall in this category) and so we may see situations as problems to be solved. But I submit that there is a different way to look at this.

For the last many years, I’ve become more and more inclined to be an “opportunity-seeker.” And what a difference it makes to see things as less problematic and more opportunistic. Obviously, this is a subtle shift in mindset – does it really matter what we call it? I believe that it does because of how we tend to react internally to problems versus opportunities. Some of our natural feelings when facing a problem may be dread, fear, surprise, fatigue, victimization, overload, resignation, procrastination and apathy. All of these feelings are cloaked in negativity. Of course, there are positive ways to view problems and many of us may do so; but I’ll bet that the natural tendency is to focus more on the negative perspective.

On the other hand, becoming an “opportunity-seeker” is a proactive and positive way to move through challenging situations. Notice my language here. I didn’t talk about “facing” a problem. I didn’t talk about a “resolution.” Instead, I used the words “move through challenging situations.” This sounds effortless but it’s not. However, the process of “moving through challenging situations” does not have to be filled with our own emotional downside drama. And there’s one component to being an “opportunity-seeker” that makes it all worthwhile in my view. We get to unleash our creativity.

Creativity is one of the most positive energies that we can experience. It’s much more expansive than just figuring out how to fix something. Metaphorically speaking, creativity enables us to make things bigger and better. I’m sure you’ve felt the frustration of trying to put together a puzzle where you simply can’t find the right piece. We just want to “fix” the situation by finding the missing piece and moving on – right? Contrast this with taking a pile of Lego® pieces and building an object right out of our minds-eye. That’s the difference between being a problem-solver and an opportunity seeker. Some situations will always require finding the right piece to the puzzle no matter how creative we want to be. But we can find a way to harness our creativity in every situation. In the literal case of the puzzle, perhaps we can become more imaginative in the way we sift through the pieces to find the right one. Or maybe we make a game out of it.

The office lease for our company’s space recently expired. Even though we’re a commercial real estate company we always leased space rather than owned it. In the past we were able to secure the leasing and management of an office building by offering to be a tenant and pay a market rent. After we sold the commercial side of our business to focus on apartments, we no longer needed to rent our corporate office space. We began the search for new office space nearly a year ahead of our lease expiration. Several buildings were possibilities and we got serious enough about one such building to make an offer to purchase it. In retrospect, it was a blessing that the seller was unwilling to come anywhere close to the price we wanted to pay, and the deal stalled. This building would have quickly been too small, and we would have been spread across three floors.

Then, I woke up in the middle of the night and the image of another building popped into my head. It wasn’t on the market, and I had had a long relationship with the building owner. We reached out and lo and behold – the owner was willing to sell. We completed a private transaction several months thereafter and now occupy beautiful space in a much larger (and more attractive) building, with plenty of room to grow, and in a much better location. I am so glad that we didn’t try to “force” the opportunity we were seeking with the other building. The problem we faced regarding where to re-locate was solved with relative ease and grace.

When we choose to stop seeing challenging situations as problems, we cease to limit ourselves to being only problem-solvers. Moving through challenging situations by looking for opportunities to be creative opens the way for feelings of joy, accomplishment, euphoria, happiness and satisfaction. Knock-knock. Who’s there? Opportunity!

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

The Joyful Entrepreneur

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When you think about entrepreneurs what comes to mind? I’m betting that it’s something different for just about everyone. Some will visualize rugged individuals with a pioneering spirit while others will see highly driven and extremely creative people. To how many of us did the word “joy” come to mind?

Entrepreneurship isn’t all about 100-hour weeks and one sacrifice after another. It doesn’t have to only be about struggling to find the right value proposition or meeting the next payroll. Entrepreneurship can also be a truly joyful experience. After all the “grind it out” moments we endure, it’s good to remind ourselves of the fact that there is much to be positive, optimistic, and grateful about in our entrepreneurial existence.

Our joy is derived not necessarily from the financial rewards we eventually realize. After all, the dollars are simply a measure for keeping score. No, the joy comes from our leadership and coaching that enables younger or newer colleagues to blossom into confident and productive contributors – both professionally and personally. The joy comes from our ability to stop for a moment in the midst of chaos; assess a situation; identify a problem and then solve it. Great joy comes from creating a product or service for which the marketplace responds enthusiastically and perhaps a difference is made in the lives of many.

Joy is always there but sometimes (maybe often) we forget to look for it. We become so wrapped up in strategy and tactics that we miss that bright shiny apple that is there for the picking. Why does this happen? Why can we be so obsessively serious at times? Perhaps we’ve bought into the meme that entrepreneurship is going to be a difficult marathon. We’ve heard that we need thick skin and a ton of resilience to have any hope of succeeding. And thus, we become conditioned to slugging it out and expecting the journey to be tough. Of course, there’s some element of truth to this, but if we intentionally also look for the joy in what we do, guess what? We’ll find it!!

We can re-program ourselves to seek and find true joy every single day. It doesn’t take much effort to allow moments of jubilation and glee to permeate our being. That spark of imagination can also transform into an explosion of joy when we allow for it. Winning the competition for a new client can be a reason for feelings of exuberance – if we give permission for such feelings to come forth. Those smashingly positive reviews on social media can be realized as a triumphant moment when we become immersed in their afterglow. There’s a common thread to all of this. We must be active participants in pulling the lever that opens the gate whereby joy is invited into our lives. It is, after all, our choice. 

I know many entrepreneurs who lead joyless lives. I look at their businesses and see all sorts of potential for joyful moments. Yet, these entrepreneurs are so focused on their KPIs or squeezing out one more nickel of efficiency that they are oblivious to how much a celebration of joy could mean to themselves and to their entire organizations. Joy is a mindset, and it is critical to the culture we want to create.

Here’s a simple exercise. Get up early some morning and find a quiet place where you can watch the sun rise. Feel the warmth on your face. Watch the changing color of the sky in all its exquisite glory. Do you get a tingle up your spine as a wave of splendor washes over you? If not, were you a real participant at this moment? Or were other thoughts creeping into your consciousness? Perhaps you remembered something you absolutely must do today. Or a nagging worry that caused some tossing and turning during the night emerges once again from its hiding place. I love watching the sun peek over the horizon and I never fail to enjoy an endorphin rush while experiencing this spectacle. Finding joy throughout each day in everything we do is an identical process.

Happy and well-adjusted entrepreneurs realize that there are massive gold nuggets of joy just below the surface of their daily lives. They also understand that they can walk over these gold nuggets without even knowing they are there. Or they can choose to find them with very little effort. I hope that you decide to begin finding your gold nuggets of unlimited joy.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

The Culture of Tang

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What in the world? Are we talking about the iconic breakfast drink called Tang that was launched in 1959 by General Foods? No, this is a blog about an amazing man named Jerome Tang. Never heard of him? No surprise – most people haven’t.

Jerome Tang was born in Trinidad in 1966 and moved with his parents to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was the head basketball coach for the Heritage Christian Academy in Cleveland, Texas. In 2003 he was hired as an assistant coach for the Baylor Bears basketball team where he served for the next 19 years. In March 2022, Tang was named head coach of the Kansas State Wildcats where the basketball program was suffering successive losing seasons. The team was in such despair that only two players were left when he arrived – the remaining players had transferred to other schools. Pre-season polls unanimously picked Kansas State to finish last in the Big 12 conference. Fast forward to March 2023. Kansas State claimed third place in the conference; was a number three seed in the NCAA Tournament; beat blue-blood teams including Kentucky and Michigan State; and lost in an Elite Eight contest by three points, finishing the season with a 26-10 record.

This is an incredible “rags to riches” story about how Jerome Tang created a winning culture – instantly. And it has profound implications for entrepreneurs. With only two players waiting for his arrival, Tang turned to the transfer portal and was successful at bringing together a group of young men who wanted to win. He spoke often about how he wasn’t there to rebuild the basketball program – he intended to elevate it. He told the players that his goal the first year was to win the NCAA Championship (something Baylor accomplished in 2021). Big Hairy Audacious Goal? You bet. But why not?

Kansas State happens to be my alma mater, so I had a close-up view of how this man built a winning culture so quickly. He did it with joy. Jerome Tang was always smiling. It was obvious that he was having the time of his life. Before games, the team would sit in the locker room and dance to a rap song. Guess who was leading the clapping and swaying? Jerome Tang. Bramlage Coliseum had been coined as the Octagon of Doom in earlier days but the fan base had slipped over the years. Tang preached joy from the moment he set foot on campus. During the 2022-2023 season, the Wildcats won all but one game at home and the fans came roaring back. Tang did not disappoint. After each game he would jump into the stands and dance with the band or the students. At the conclusion of the last home game the entire team went into the stands and danced.  

Along with joy came a positive attitude. Coach Tang set the tone and the players responded to the positivity. When the Wildcats lost their final game in the NCAA Tournament, Tang met every player as they entered the locker room and congratulated them with a hand slap and a “head up” exclamation. Star player, Markquis Nowell explained, “he said if this is the worst thing that we have to go through, then our life will be pretty damned good. There are some people really going through some hard things in life, and I just lost a basketball game.” Earlier in the season, the fans were engaging in a derogatory chant about archrival, the Kansas Jayhawks. Tang grabbed the microphone at the end of the game and encouraged everyone to cheer for K-State and not against another team. He then led the crowd in a K-S-U chant that became the standard at the games thereafter.

Jerome Tang led by example in the off-season and throughout the regular season. He is a man of deep faith and did not hesitate to thank God for his blessings. Many of the players embraced his proclamations of faith – something he called Crazy Faith – and did the same during press conferences and media interviews. He was the epitome of humbleness and never took credit for himself. His players did the same – always pointing to the team effort. Clearly the players loved each other and celebrated each other’s success.

Tang was also a most gracious man. Thirty-three minutes before the start of the Michigan State game in the Sweet Sixteen, Coach Tang dialed a stranger in Wichita, Kansas to offer his condolences to a couple who had tragically lost their daughter (a K-State student) days earlier in a car accident. The grieving mother said, “He didn’t do it for it to become public, so if anything comes from this, we would want it to be a beautiful example of how Christians not only treat each other, but how Christians treat other people.” After the final game in the Elite Eight when the Wildcats lost in heartbreaking fashion, Tang made a trip to the opposing team’s locker room and told them that they were the “toughest sons of guns we’ve played all year.” He congratulated the opposing players and urged them to stay together and not get distracted and told them how proud he was of them. The opposing team! And, in his opening statement at the press conference after the game he said, “If we can’t be grateful in these times, then all the love and joy that we talk about is fraud. And we’re not frauds.”

Jerome Tang has a bountiful future ahead as the charismatic head coach of the Kansas State Wildcats basketball team. The legacy he is building is something for which every entrepreneur should take notice. A Winning Culture can be built with Joy, Positivity, Grace, Humbleness, Faith, and Love. And it can happen quickly.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

The Up and to the Right Entrepreneur

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Damon is an entrepreneur. He runs a small but growing company that recycles old computer equipment. Damon is very frustrated right now. Stephanie is a stay-at-home mom. She has two small children under the age of five and produces marketing materials for three companies, working from a spare bedroom. Stephanie is very frustrated right now. Why are Damon and Stephanie so frustrated?

Damon’s company has been growing at a rate of 25% a year for the past three years. He’s doubled the size of his team and his margins are increasing. If you looked at a graph depicting his business, the line would be up and to the right.

Stephanie has two beautiful and healthy children. Her husband is a physician, and the family is financially secure. Her marketing venture is flourishing. She’s landed a new client each of the last three years and the type of work has become much more substantive. By all measures, Stephanie’s graph looks the same as Damon’s – up and to the right.

Why in the world would these two individuals be so frustrated? Damon has chosen to reinvest a major portion of his profits back into his company. As a result, he hasn’t seen his personal cash flow increase in any meaningful way. Intellectually he knows he’s doing fine, but it still rankles him that his bank balance has remained fairly static.

Stephanie loves her marketing business, and she is ecstatic over motherhood. She worries that her two primary roles may someday collide (at times they already do) and she feels guilty that she may fail to do justice with either. Stephanie wonders how she can possibly achieve her personal and professional goals with the juggling act that she is managing. 

Here’s a simple but powerful truth. Damon and Stephanie have not yet learned how to celebrate their success. To those of us looking in from the outside these two are ideally situated. Everything seems “up and to the right” for them and yet they are frustrated. Damon and Stephanie are trapped in the tunnel of limited thinking. They have set lofty expectations for themselves – both in terms of what they want to achieve and how quickly this will happen. How many entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs do you know who are suffering the same plight? What can be done to break this negative-mind cycle?

If we were coaching Damon and Stephanie, we would tell them to become quiet for a few minutes and clear their minds. Then we would suggest that they “go to gratitude.” That would involve creating an inventory of all that in their lives for which they are grateful. Going to gratitude helps them get out of themselves and see beyond the tunnel walls of their frustration. And it’s a way to re-set the mind in a positive manner. In fact, we would advise Damon and Stephanie to use the gratitude exercise in the future whenever they feel frustration welling up.

As armchair coaches we would next encourage Tyler and Stephanie to discover how to celebrate their successes – no matter how large or small. Sometimes we tend to singularly focus only on the BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals – that we have set, and we fail to see the progress we are making along the way. Damon and Stephanie need to re-pattern their thinking to be able to see the smaller achievements that occur every day and intentionally celebrate them. One of Damon’s team members earned a difficult industry certification. Damon celebrated this success with a pizza party and some congratulatory remarks. When his company recycled its 10,000th CPU, he walked into the middle of the warehouse and rang a big brass bell. He left the bell there to be used as future milestones are realized.

When Stephanie’s four-year-old daughter read her first book Stephanie took her out for a special lunch and lavished her daughter with praise and encouragement. One of Stephanie’s clients entered her brochure in a regional marketing contest, and it won first place. Stephanie celebrated her accomplishment by laminating the brochure cover onto a plaque along with her award. She hung it in her home office to remind her that she does really fine work.

We all need to learn to celebrate our successes no matter the size. And going to gratitude helps us to break out of the tunnel of limited thinking. This puts us on the path to appreciate each and every day as one filled with joy and promise.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

The Joyful Entrepreneur

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Vreugde and more Gioia! Yeah, I had to look them up too. The first word is Dutch, and the second word is Italian. But they mean the same thing. In Spanish, the word is alegría and in Swedish it is glädje. So enough with the mystery. The word is JOY. Unfortunately, this is a word that is foreign to many entrepreneurs.

You see, we entrepreneurs are a pretty serious and driven bunch. We have important stuff to do and companies to build. We are always moving at the speed of light and struggle to find enough hours in the day. Joy? Let’s see, maybe we can squeeze it on the calendar three weeks from Thursday at 2:00 PM . . . for 20 minutes. Is the picture coming into focus yet? The point is that many of us do not allow joy to get within two miles, much less become an integral part of our lives. After all, feeling and celebrating joy is not very macho and we don’t want someone to get the wrong idea.

Why do we persist in having such an allergic reaction to joy? Can we become one of the next captains of industry and still allow for a modicum of joy? Of course, we can answer in the affirmative and we must. Joy and success are tied inextricably by definition. If you do not believe me – look it up! Merriam-Webster clearly states that “joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” But here is something else that I have learned. We can feel great joy when we celebrate the success and good fortune of others.

I believe that joy should become a part of our daily lives. It is one of the healthiest emotions we can have. And here is something I have learned that become your secret weapon. Do you know what it feels like to get stuck in the downward spiral of negative thinking? We lost a deal to a competitor that we were sure we had in the bag. Or one of our key team members just quit. And maybe the bank would not make the loan we needed. When faced with these kinds of issues our thoughts can turn dark very quickly. But we can just as quickly turn the tables by “jumping into joy” and with both feet. I started practicing this concept years ago. Every time I would start to feel down, I would intentionally find someone who was in a good place – a friend, family, or team member. Then I would applaud their success or good fortune. It is amazing what a lift this provided for me, not to mention how it made the other person feel.

Joy is uplifting. It is shout-it-from-the-rooftops passion. It is at least one level above happiness if not more. Joy kicks the endorphin rush into high gear and does all sorts of positive things to our bodies. We can experience joy through all five of our senses – sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. If we do not practice it or if we wait for it to come to us, then in effect we are suppressing it. But if we go looking for joy it is incredibly easy to find. And don’t we like to be around people who are joyful? They are easy to spot. Their facial features are etched with a permanent smile and a twinkle in their eye. They radiate warmth and bubble with personality.

We can continue to be Mr. or Ms. Seriously No Nonsense, or we can lighten up and have some fun at work. For many summers, we had an Ice Cream Day. I dressed up in a ridiculous looking ice cream cone suit and pushed an ice cream cart around the office passing out Nestlé drumsticks, Fudgesicles and other delectable delights. I had a blast, and everyone had a good chuckle. This truly was a joyful moment for all.

Life is boring without joy – and so are we. Joy tramples negativity and helps balance our emotions. There is no downside whatsoever to reveling in joy.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

The Joyful Entrepreneur

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When you think about entrepreneurs what comes to mind? I’m betting that it’s something different for just about everyone. Some will visualize rugged individuals with a pioneering spirit while others will see highly driven and extremely creative people. To how many of us did the word “joy” come to mind?

Entrepreneurship isn’t all about 100-hour weeks and one sacrifice after another. It doesn’t have to only be about struggling to find the right value proposition or meeting the next payroll. Entrepreneurship can also be a truly joyful experience. After all of the “grind it out” moments we endure, it’s good to remind ourselves of the fact that there is much to be positive, optimistic and grateful about in our entrepreneurial existence.

Our joy is derived not necessarily from the financial rewards we eventually realize. After all, the dollars are simply a measure for keeping score. No, the joy comes from our leadership and coaching that enables younger or newer colleagues to blossom into confident and productive contributors – both professionally and personally. The joy comes from our ability to stop for a moment in the midst of chaos; assess a situation; identify a problem and then solve it. Great joy comes from creating a product or service for which the marketplace responds enthusiastically and perhaps a difference is made in the lives of many.

Joy is always there but sometimes (maybe often) we forget to look for it. We become so wrapped up in strategy and tactics that we miss that bright shiny apple that is there for the picking. Why does this happen? Why can we be so obsessively serious at times? Perhaps we’ve bought into the meme that entrepreneurship is going to be a difficult marathon. We’ve heard that we need thick skin and a ton of resilience to have any hope of succeeding. And thus we become conditioned to slugging it out and expecting the journey to be tough. Of course there’s some element of truth to this, but if we intentionally also look for the joy in what we do, guess what? We’ll find it!!

We can re-program ourselves to seek and find true joy every single day. It doesn’t take much effort to allow moments of jubilation and glee to permeate our being. That spark of imagination can also transform into an explosion of joy when we allow for it. Winning the competition for a new client can be reason for feelings of exuberance – if we give permission for such feelings to come forth. Those smashingly positive reviews on social media can be realized as a triumphant moment when we become immersed in their afterglow. There’s a common thread to all of this. We must be active participants in pulling the lever that opens the gate whereby joy is invited into our lives. It is after all, our choice.

I know many entrepreneurs who lead joyless lives. I look at their businesses and see all sorts of potential for joyful moments. Yet, these entrepreneurs are so focused on their KPIs or squeezing out one more nickel of efficiency that they are oblivious to how much a celebration of joy could mean to themselves and to their entire organizations. Joy is a mindset and it is critical to the culture we want to create.

Here’s a simple exercise. Get up early some morning and find a quiet place where you can watch the sun rise. Feel the warmth on your face. Watch the changing color of the sky in all its exquisite glory. Do you get a tingle up your spine as a wave of splendor washes over you? If not, were you a real participant in this moment? Or were other thoughts creeping into your consciousness? Perhaps you remembered something you absolutely must do today. Or a nagging worry that caused some tossing and turning during the night emerges once again from its hiding place. I love watching the sun peek over the horizon and I never fail to enjoy an endorphin rush while experiencing this spectacle. Finding joy throughout each day in everything we do is an identical process.

Happy and well-adjusted entrepreneurs realize that there are massive gold nuggets of joy just below the surface of their daily lives. They also understand that they can walk over these gold nuggets without even knowing they are there. Or they can choose to find them with very little effort. I hope that you decide to begin finding your gold nuggets of unlimited joy.

You can also listen to a weekly audio podcast of my blog. What you hear will be different than what you read in this blog. Subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also click on this link – Click here to listen to Audio Episode 117 – Little Steps to Sweet Success.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

Vreugde (and More Gioia!)

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Yeah, I had to look them up too. The first word is Dutch and the second word is Italian. But they mean the same thing. In Spanish the word is alegría and in Swedish it’s glädje. So enough with the mystery. The word is JOY. Unfortunately this is a word that is foreign to many entrepreneurs.

You see, we entrepreneurs are a pretty serious and driven bunch. We have important stuff to do and companies to build. We’re always moving at the speed of light and struggle to find enough hours in the day. Joy? Let’s see, maybe we can squeeze it on the calendar three weeks from Thursday at 2:00 PM . . . for 20 minutes. Is the picture coming into focus yet? The point is that many of us don’t allow joy to get within two miles, much less become an integral part of our lives. After all, feeling and celebrating joy isn’t very macho and we don’t want someone to get the wrong idea.

Why do we persist in having such an allergic reaction to joy? Can we become one of the next captains of industry and still allow for a modicum of joy? Of course we can answer in the affirmative and actually we must. Joy and success are tied inextricably by definition. If you don’t believe me – look it up! Merriam-Webster clearly states that “joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” But here’s something else that I’ve learned. We can feel great joy when we celebrate the success and good fortune of others.

I believe that joy should become a part of our daily lives. It’s one of the healthiest emotions we can have. And here’s something I’ve learned that can become your secret weapon. Do you know what it feels like to get stuck in the downward spiral of negative thinking? We lost a deal to a competitor that we were sure we had in the bag. Or one of our key team members just quit. And maybe the bank wouldn’t make the loan we needed. When faced with these kinds of issues our thoughts can turn dark very quickly. But we can just as quickly turn the tables by “jumping into joy” and with both feet. I started practicing this concept a number of years ago. Every time I’d start to feel down, I would intentionally find someone who was in a good place – a friend, family or team member. Then I would applaud their success or good fortune. It’s amazing what a lift this provided for me, not to mention how it made the other person feel.

Joy is uplifting. It’s shout-it-from-the-rooftops passion. It’s at least one level above happiness if not more. Joy kicks the endorphin rush into high gear and does all sorts of positive things to our bodies. We can experience joy through all five of our senses – sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. If we don’t practice it or if we wait for it to come to us, then in effect we’re suppressing it. But if we go looking for joy it’s incredibly easy to find. And don’t we like to be around people who are joyful? They are easy to spot. Their facial features are etched with a permanent smile and a twinkle in their eye. They radiate warmth and bubble with personality.

We can continue to be Mr. or Ms. Seriously No Nonsense, or we can lighten up and have some fun at work. For a number of summers, we had an Ice Cream Day. I dressed up in a ridiculous looking ice cream cone suit and pushed an ice cream cart around the office passing out Nestlé drumsticks, fudgesicles and other delectable delights. I had a blast and everyone had a good chuckle. This truly was a joyful moment for all.

Life is pretty boring without joy – and so are we. Joy tramples negativity and helps balance our emotions. There’s no downside whatsoever to reveling in joy.

You can also listen to a weekly audio podcast of my blog. What you hear will be different than what you read in this blog. Subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also click on this link – Audio Episode 15 – The Royal Treatment.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

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