The top 5 steps to Job & Joy
The aim of Job & Joy is to develop a conscious and autonomous attitude full of joy towards the own tasks, and to use this attitude in everyday life. The philosophy of Job&Joy starts with 5 top notions which shall support the development of this attitude.
Starting point is freedom, are we free? How free are we? What keeps us from feeling free? Job&Joy presupposes that man posesses an essential freedom. This freedom is the freedom to choose: In choosing our goals, our reactions, and our decisions, we are free. We often tend to forget this essential freedom, and use our “auto pilot” instead by unconsciously sticking to rules, habits, and rituals.
From this freedom that we constantly have to be aware of results responsibility for our own life. We have the responsibility for what we do, but also for what we don`t do. Quite often we hand over this responsibility to the circumstances: “If the orders only were different, if my boss only behaved differently – then I would feel better”. To take over responsibility for my own life again is one of the key points of Job&Joy. As Stephen Covey says: “The space between stimulus and response determines the quality of our lives.”
However, freedom and responsibility remain empty phrases if they don`t serve a guiding vision. The vision is that which gives our life a goal and a direction and which gathers our energies. Some people say they don`t have enough discipline to reach their goals. Could it be that these goals aren`t attractive enough? For example, do we have problems getting up when we are about to start our holiday trip? Where is the point in everyday life where our eyes start glowing?
For the first steps towards our vision we need courage. We need courage to leave our “comfort zone” and to meet new challenges. We also need courage to question the rules we have been following unconsciously (or blindly?), to walk unusual ways or to overcome mental blockades.
After the courage of the first steps, we need confidence to go on. Confidence is trusting oneself and one`s capacities. Confidence is self-confidence and belief in oneself to stay on track. However, confidence also means trusting others whom we work together with and whose confidence we have to strengthen.
So here are they again, the top 5 steps to Job&Joy:
- Freedom to choose or: From dependency to openness
- Responsibility to take or: From fatalism to confidence
- Visions to share or: From mere daydreaming to magnet effects
- Courage to begin or: From hindrances to milestones
- Confidence to go on or: From drought to longer breath
Till step 5, the whole process seem to be a lot of hard work. It does not have to be like this. If you take care of the two “bonus steps”.
6. Fascinations to discover or: From hurdling to the kick of power
What motivates us to experience joy already on the way is the fascination for the process. Were is the fire in everyday life? What is fascinating about the small steps? Where are the interesting points which I haven`t recognized enough so far?
Thus, freedom and responsibility build the ground to develop our own vision and to follow it. Courage and confidence allow us to start realizing our vision and to discover the fascinations along the way. If we manage to integrate the first top 5 notions plus the fascination in our life – then the chance that joy follows rises immensely.
7. Joy to experience or: From half-hearted agreement to happy flow
Joy is the fluid that fills our activities with meaning. Joy is not a success of our activities but that which follows. You can`t force joy, but you can cultivate the ground on which joy grows with the philosophy of Job&Joy. So take Joy as the ultimate bonus of this process. Good luck!!!
This post was written in particapting in the ProBlogger Top 5 Group Writing Project.
[tags]Top 5, ProBlogger[/tags]
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