Give Your Work Life a Little Boost

Work Life Boost

In a study done by Harvard professor Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer, they studied 26 project teams from seven firms of a total of 238 individuals producing 12,000 diary entries, “to discover the states of inner work life and the workday events that correlated with the highest levels of creative output.”

The result isn’t surprising. Amabile discovered in the study that people experience the best work days when they experience some forward progress in meaningful work, no matter how small, as well as nourishing social influences towards the workers, and project ‘catalysts.’

In contrast, setbacks in the project, or ‘inhibitors,’ or toxic social influence toward the workers, resulted in bad days.

Try this: brainstorm what ‘meaningful work’ is for you in the medium and long-term. Spend the first hour of your day working on these medium and long-term projects.

Assess how you feel at the end of each workday. Set an alert in your calendar to analyze your progress at the end of the week. Build uplifting social relationships with your co-workers. Try being the person at work who lifts other’s spirits and see how it gives YOUR work life a boost.

Wishing you joy, radiant health, and a beautiful work day, Heather

Source: https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins