Sunday, March 28, 2021

The Happy Journal

This is my Happy Journal.
I bought it years ago for one specific reason: to make me happy.

I wanted a notebook that would evoke happiness just by looking at it. To find this particular notebookI had pawed through all the notebooks at the store and eliminated one by one all other notebooks of lesser happiness. 
Donuts won.

Inside this Happy Journal are dated entries detailing things I did that made me feel smart, capable, and valuable. I kept it with me through previous jobs to remind myself that I was smart, capable, and valuable. I wasn't getting the kind of feedback or support I needed from coworkers or management. In fact, more than once at multiple companies I was told, as a matter of assurance, "If no one is talking to you, that means you're doing a good job."
That simply doesn't fly for me. So I went out, bought a notebook, and created my own support system. 
Support system of one.

I present to you this Happy Journal now because as of today,  it has been retired.
Management and coworkers at my current place of employment are generous with their support and feedback. It's been 20 months since I've had to write myself a reminder that I'm smart, capable, and valuable because other people do that for me now.

For your consideration:
Friday morning the head of my department sent an email to his boss and to my supervisor and to me. The email spelled out how ecommerce revenue has increased as a direct result of the work I've done. He included stats and comparisons to past financial performance as evidence.

I don't know what prompted him to send this email, but it clearly displayed how smart, capable, and valuable he believes I am. 

I found out over the weekend that he had also shared the stats from his email with the owner of the company and Board of Directors. 

So.
Not only does the head of my department think I'm smart, capable,  and valuable, but he also thinks upper management needs to know it, too.

Damn.
Is that amazing, or what?

So, yeah.
I don't really need a Happiness Journal for reminders anymore. The reminders come from other places now.

It is Sunday night, and I am genuinely excited about going to work tomorrow. 

1 comment:

stapeliad said...

This is awesome. I'm so glad for you.
I do something similar every day, but a slightly different theme. We are what we focus on. It really works.
Donuts are perfect happiness!
<3