Jerry Seinfeld has a fabulous long-running web series called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Each week there’s a cool old car, and a famous guest with whom he discusses life.
The latest season opened with Barack Obama as the guest. In the bowels of the White House, Obama started asking Seinfeld questions. One of them was about how Seinfeld stayed grounded while being so famous.
Seinfeld’s answer — and I’m summarizing from memory: “I loved the work. It was challenging, and I found it joyful.”
This line has stuck with me for many weeks. I found the work joyful.
I’ve built a business around work that I find joyful — speaking, teaching, writing, helping people in different ways, across different mediums. And, critically, I’ve whittled away those things that do not bring me pleasure. I don’t like busy work, or record keeping, or repetitive actions. So, I delegate them, or, simply, get rid of them. Not surprisingly, business is thriving. I’m having a record first quarter, and there’s still a week to go in February.
I excel at this work because I find it joyful.
What parts of your job, and your company, do you find joyful? Double down on those aspects. Triple down. Then, if at all possible, avoid the unpleasant action. Delegate it. Work around it. Is it even necessary, or are you doing it because you always have?
If you hate it, you won’t do it.
If you find joy in it, you will tinker, improve, and, almost certainly, you’ll find ways to succeed.
Best part: when it’s joyful, it doesn’t feel like work. And that’s a pretty good way to live!
The new episode of the Revenue Growth Video Series is about setting revenue goals and priorities. Watch it here.
Read the backstory about the publication of my latest book, The Revenue Growth Habit, in my Huffington Post column here. The sales book of the year was rejected more than 50 times by the “experts” in the publishing industry. This is the kind of perseverance it sometimes takes to grow revenue.