Business Book Club: Joy at Work
I've set myself a goal to read one self-development book per month. To make sure I truly reflect on what I'm reading, I'm going to extract the wisdom from the best business and personal development books and share it with you.
This time, I've been reading Joy at Work by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein
The Book
Having seen her television programme on Netflix, I strongly believe that Marie Kondo is as much a life consultant as she is a tidying consultant. I feel that when she asks people to hold on to things or discard them, she is really asking people to evaluate their values. I love the way that she helps people find purpose and joy in their lives at home and I was really keen to see how she does this in the workplace too. In this book, she explains the joys of tidying our physical workspace and how to tidy the less tangible aspects of our working life such as tidying our time, tidying our decisions and even how to tidy teams. The key theme of the book is the idea of sparking joy at work through tidying to create a more inspiring work life. Could finding joy at work really be as simple as that? Here, I'm going to share what I learned by following the methods in the book.
What Did I Learn?
The book begins by addressing why you should tidy and Marie makes a compelling case. She cites various studies which have shown that when our work lives are tidy we work much more productively.
She tells stories of people who thought they had gone into their dream job or promotion and having sorted through their task lists, discover that this dream job was not what they hoped it would be. She describes how, through tidying, those people have managed to either create space for the things that spark joy in their role or have left their roles to pursue a different career entirely. I'm already sold. I'm a big believer that a tidy space is a tidy mind and of course, who doesn't want to work in a nicer environment?
She also puts forward here that this process is not about getting rid of things. She makes it clear that deciding what to get rid of is not the same as choosing what sparks joy. Her suggestion is that you visualise your ideal working life (the physical environment, your behaviours, the things you'd like to be doing, the feeling you want to get from your workspace) and move towards it.
The Process
If you have seen Mari Kondo’s Netflix series, you will know that when helping people tidy their wardrobes she gets people to find all the clothes that they have in the house, pile them on the bed, and then sort through them. This process comes up a lot throughout the book, even with things like tidying time and decisions. Each time she encourages us to ask the same three questions, which are:
Does it spark joy?
Do I need it for my work?
Will it bring me future joy?
And if the answer to those three things is ‘no’, then maybe it’s time to let the item go and focus your time and energy on the things you really want.
Here are some of the tips I learnt from the book:
Physical space
Books
Marie starts with books because this is a nice, easy category for people to tackle first. I have a rammed bookcase with books stacked on top of books. So this was a really good place for me to start to gain some more valuable space.
Get all your books out, pile them all up into one place, take each one in turn and ask yourself the three questions:
Does it spark joy?
Do I need it for my work?
Will this spark joy for me in future?
If the answer is no, thank the book, express your gratitude and donate or sell it.
If you haven't read it, will you? If you think you will, set a deadline for reading it.
Some tidied books, now in need of a good home.
Papers
With regards to things like papers, the general rule is just to discard everything. It’s a great tip!
Again, ask those 3 questions and if you do want to hang on to something, Marie suggests that you take a photo of it or scan it, and then tag it in a digital filing system somewhere.
If you do want to hang on to the physical papers, she suggests you:
Categorise the paperwork so you always know where to find it when you need it.
Store it up right so that you can see it.
Have a pending box on your desk for papers that you're actively working on.
Kimono
Added bonus. I found the glasses I lost a year ago!
These are any other miscellaneous items such as office supplies, cosmetics, electrical cords, business cards, personal care items and food and drink.
Again, Marie suggests categorising these and getting them all into one place. The thinking is that if I see I have 5 packs of sticky notes for example, (I have much more than 5) I know what I have and I won't stockpile. Most of us have far too many lip balms, tea bags, snacks and obsolete chargers. Can we get rid of these or store away just want we need so we have it to hand when we need it?
For business cards, she suggests getting rid of all of them except the most important. Marie says she threw away all her business cards except for one, her fathers. The rest simply won't be looked at again and they can be scanned using an app or if needed, you can find the same details on LinkedIn.
Sentimental
These are items such as photos, gifts, cards and quirky stuff you keep around. These are left to last as they are often the hardest to part with.
Gather these together.
Hold each one and ask: does this spark joy?
That quirky paperweight a friend got you from holiday may have sparked joy at one point. Does it spark joy anymore? If it doesn't, is it time to let go of it?
Thank the item for what it has given you before letting go of it.
Of course, if an item is truly important to you, there's nothing wrong with keeping it on your desk.
The general rule of thumb is that you don't keep anything on your desk. The point Marie makes is that your desk is a workspace, not a storage space.
‘Tidying Festival’
Marie suggests that you do all your tidying in one go as part of a ‘festival of tidying’. She recommends that you do this early before work or late after as you are less likely to be interrupted.
My tidied desk.
Result
I have a desktop that inspires me, I have got rid of books that don’t spark joy anymore and I’m very excited about having space for more books!!! There was something cathartic about getting rid of old papers and books too. I’m very pleased with my workspace.
Digital Space
PC Desktop
This should be very much like the desktop that you physically work on. This too should be free from clutter.
Marie’s suggestion is to have only one folder on your desktop and that's a folder for things that spark joy. All your other folders should be hidden away.
My desktop is generally pretty clear anyway
Digital files
Put everything else into one of three folders: ‘current’ (stuff you’re working on now), ’records’ (things you need to keep for compliance) and ‘saved’ (for future joy).
She suggests using the search function to find documents rather than using sub folders.
My phone home screen
My edge screen keeps apps handy but out of view
Phone
Your home screen on your phone, like your desktop, should be free from clutter too. So this should be a fairly blank space with only the core apps to help you avoid digital distractions.
Delete any unnecessary apps or ones you barely use. Remember, you can always download them again.
Tuck all your other apps into separate folders. Ideally, you will just have three: ‘business’, ‘personal’ or ‘joy’ (or similar).
For each email ask the three questions:
Does this email spark joy?
Do I need this information?
Will holding on to this information help me in the future?
Put all of your emails that you are keeping into just one folder and use the search function when you need to find them again.
My personal inbox. My work one is the same and I’m never going back!
Result
I did follow this advice to a point. I have completely cleared out both my personal and business email and my desktop was very uncluttered anyway. However, I have kept a few of my old folders as I found the search function isn't as sophisticated as I would like it to be and it’s not a completely reliable way of retrieving documents. One the plus side, having tidied my digital files, I have found I am keen to keep the junk at bay. I am now more conscious of deleting documents and I’ve become better at unsubscribing from junk emails as soon as they land in my inbox.
Brain space
Finally, we apply the Konmari™ method to the less tangible parts of our working lives such as our time, our decisions or meetings. This section of the book is written by Scott Sonenshein (author of Stretch).
Time
Marie starts this section by describing three traps we fall into when managing our time:
The over-earning trap. The trap of thinking our goals will be fulfilled by working more and earning more. We end up so busy that we forget to take a step back and reflect on our vision. We forget what we were working hard for. Often we already have the resources we need to spark joy in our lives.
The Urgency trap. Thinking that everything is urgent and needs doing now, which of course is not always the case.
Multitasking. The trap of thinking that we are being more productive when we multitask. Marie explains that we are not more efficient when we multitask, we actually are slower and less productive.
Tidying time
Put each of your daily tasks on a separate index card or sticky note.
Take this pile of tasks and use this to find out what your job actually is. Marie gives examples of people who signed up for a job/promotion only to find that they spend most of their day doing very little of what they thought the job was . In fact, Marie claims that over half of most people's working day is not spent doing the core activities of the job description.
Divide your tasks into three categories: ‘core tasks’ (your business as usual activity), ‘projects’ and ‘development’ (tasks that get you closer to your vision).
Again, we should ask three questions:
Does it does the task spark joy?
Do I absolutely need to do it?
Will it help me reach my future vision or spark joy in the future?
Let go of or delegate any tasks that don’t meet these criteria.
What I really like here is that Marie suggests you try to add joy to each working day. So if you've managed to carve out some time, create space to add a little joy somewhere. I think this is a great piece of advice. I personally prefer to use the Eisenhower Matrix or Stephen Covey's four Ds but this is a very similar process. I love the idea of using the index cards as the process makes it more visual.
Decisions
My favourite part of the book is where we apply this tidying up methodology to decisions. Tidying decisions is not something I've really thought about before but this idea resonated with me.
Write all your decisions down on separate index cards and pile them all up together so you can see all the decisions that you take in any day, week or month.
Sort your decisions into three categories: low stakes, medium stakes, and high stakes.
Low stakes decisions: you should not spend too much time on these. For example, does it really matter which font you use in the PowerPoint presentation? Does it matter which brand of copier paper you use? Make these decisions once, automate the decision or just go with the default setting and stick with it.
High stakes decisions: this is where you should spend most of your time. These are important decisions and normally the ones that further your career. These are the ones you should hold on to.
Medium stakes decisions:
Ask yourself:
Is there anyone else that is affected by the decision more?
Is someone else in a better place to make the decision?
Does someone else have better expertise than me when it comes to that decision?
Could you entrust that decision to someone else?
Could it be a development opportunity for somebody?
How often does this decision need to be made?
Could it be automated?
Your Network
Marie's suggestion is to sort through all the people that you know (in your contact list, on LinkedIn or in your social media accounts) and then ask yourself, do these relationships spark joy?
This seems quite an odd thing to do with relationships but the suggestion here is that it's about the depth and the quality of the relationship as opposed to the size of the network. Marie thinks it could be disingenuous to stay connected with somebody if you really have no intention of speaking to them again. She points out that sometimes, it's the more in-depth relationships that actually have the most value both for you and for other people.
She also shares some great networking tips:
Be present.
Always help others. Consider how you can help other people do their best work.
Be open and trusting.
She suggests being a little bit vulnerable with people you connect with. We shouldn’t be afraid to be silly and bring a touch of fun into your network, which I think is great advice.
I really like this idea of having fewer connections, deepening the relationship with each one and building a relationship that's based on mutual trust, support and sharing. This resonates with my own experience of using a network.
Meetings
Start by visualising your ideal meeting. What would that look like? What would you be doing? What role would you play? How would you participate? What would the purpose of that meeting be?
Make a list of all your meetings and then sort through them by asking:
Does this meeting spark joy?
Do I absolutely have to attend it?
Will attending this meeting help me in future?
What I like about this section of the book is Marie’s meeting tips. The big one for me is the idea that anyone can bring joy to a meeting. What I love about it is that it's about what you bring. It’s not just finding joy in your work, but bringing joy to your work too.
For meetings she suggests six rules for bringing joy:
Show up and be really present in the meetings.
Come prepared to each meeting.
Put away your electronics.
Listen. Really listen.
Speak up. You have a unique perspective and share it.
Do no harm. No talking over, blaming or dismissing other people.
Teams
A final area of tidying up at work that didn't really resonate with me was the idea of tidying up your teams. Again, the advice here is to:
Visualise your ideal team. What does a good team look like to you? How will people behave? How will they interact? What role will you play?
Write down all the teams that you are a part of. This means the day to day team that you're in, and also the various project teams that you're asked to join.
Write a sentence to identify the purpose of each team and see if you can write a sentence crystallising very clearly what the purpose of each team is.
Then, sort through this list using the three questions.
I am not sure that this is an area where the method of piling up and sorting really works. Regardless of whether or not a team brings you joy, you're probably going to have to work in it anyway. However, Marie also shares some tips for how to be a good team player, and how to have a tidy, well run team and these are worth reading.
Result
I found the tidying time and decisions chapters of the book incredibly valuable but not so much the other topics.
What Did I Think?
Not only were the tips in this book useful, it was an enjoyable read too. I have applied the tips for tidying my digital and physical workspace and I have to say that I am really pleased with the results. Not only did I create an ideal space, but it has also encouraged me to keep it tidy. One month on, my desk is still tidy and my emails are clear. Having taken time to tidy them, I'm really keen to keep them in good shape and I've maintained those good habits so far.
Some people may find a few of these tips difficult to implement. If you're employed, I don't think your manager will thank you for deciding to let go of some of your meetings or for deciding that certain tasks or decisions are not really yours. If you're self-employed, your clients may not thank you for ditching client meetings either. That said, just because you can't implement all of it doesn't mean you shouldn't implement some of it. I think it's definitely worthwhile reading the book and taking the time to tidy up your space, both physical and digital. More than anything, I really liked the positivity in the book and this idea of sparking joy at work. We spend over half our waking lives at work when we're adults and I think we may as well enjoy it and add real purpose to it. This book has made a compelling case for creating a space that is inspirational, productive and more importantly, sparks joy.
What should I read next?
Have you read Joy at Work? What did you get from it? What should I read next?
If you have any recommendations let me know below or via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn
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