At the start of the pandemic, everyone was "Marie Kondo-ing" their homes. I know you remember the trend. The commitment to extreme de-cluttering and organization that was in part born out of the fact that we were spending far more time at home and happened to notice our surroundings that much more acutely. Donation bins and thrift stores were flooded with donations, and social media was abuzz with pictures of wonderfully organized spaces. At the heart of heart of Kondo's philosophy was a simple question that became synonymous with the movement. Does it spark joy? The idea was fairly straight forward. If the item doesn't elicit an emotional reaction, you can probably consider purging it from your life. Life is too short, after all, to be surrounded by things that don't bring you joy, right?
This question of what brings you joy is an important one, although arguably one that is much easier to ask when you have the privilege of having your basic needs met, which is sadly not the case for many in this country. I would posit that this same question of joy is relevant to our working lives. What brings us joy in our jobs and how do we tap into that more effectively?
In many instances, that task or area of our job that brings us joy also happens to be the thing we really excel at relative to our other responsibilities. Put another way, it becomes our super power. Identifying your super power and finding ways to lean into it more effectively can be an important strategy for happiness and success at work. It can also save us from a little bit of frustration along the way.
When we identify our super power, we develop the ability to move into roles and take on tasks that suit that super power. We begin to see the things we can contribute most effectively to, and we find more opportunities to do those things. Not surprisingly, the happier we are with what we are doing at work, the more likely we are to excel at it and stick around longer. As a manager or supervisor, it then behooves us to identity the super powers of those we lead, and do our best to ensure they are spending as much time as possible doing those things.
When we find ourselves in a role that doesn't utilize our super power, everything just seems like more of a struggle. We end up working harder for less reward, and we don't derive the joy and satisfaction that comes with that particular task.
For most of us, working as a part of a team is a reality and expectation. The benefit of being surrounded by others is that there is a good chance that someone else's super power is different than your own, so you don't need to try and do the thing they excel at, because they'd much rather be doing it themselves. If you think about the colleagues you work best with, I'd venture to guess that each of you have different and complimentary super powers. There's no sense putting in 100% effort for a 70% return when someone else can yield a 100% return and derive joy from the activity in the process.
Recently, Marie Kondo made headlines for saying she has "kind of given up" on the organizational structure that brought her fame a few years prior. The birth of her third child changed her priorities, and she gave up in a good way, allowing her home to be more messy so she can spend more time with her family. Perhaps she simply discovered something that sparked more joy for her?
Your super power may be obvious to you or you may not have found it yet. Taking advantage of opportunities to take on new responsibilities and work on new and different tasks can be incredibly beneficial when searching for that thing you feel really strongly about and excel in. Once you find your super power, you can begin asking yourself how you can spend more time exercising it, whether that be in your current role or in a new role. So, what's your super power?
