How the Busiest People Find Joy.
By Salvatore Affinito, Leslie A. Perlow, and Sari Mentser
Research suggests that to have a satisfying life, you need to regularly feel three things: achievement (recognition or a sense of accomplishment), meaningfulness (a connection to something bigger than yourself), and joy (happiness or positive emotion) in the moment. How well are you doing on each of those fronts?
For the many ambitious professionals we’ve studied, the answer is typically OK to great in the first two areas but decidedly lacking in the third. While achievement and meaning often flow naturally from work and family, joyful experiences tend to be rare and fleeting.
Consider Maria, a private-equity-firm partner and married mom of three. (Note: All names in this article are pseudonyms.) By 9 AM on an average day, she’s already answered emails, reviewed reports, and seen her kids off to school. By noon she’ll have led several meetings, made some key decisions, tried to squeeze in a mentoring call, and coordinated a carpool via text. In the evening she will close her laptop and set her phone aside to have a family dinner and put the children to bed, but then she’ll log back on to work for a few more hours. Colleagues marvel at how she balances everything. And yet, while her calendar seems to incorporate every type of productive activity and obligation, it leaves no time for spontaneity or pleasure.
Read the full Harvard Business Review article.
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Salvatore Affinito is Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern.