Book – Joy at Work
Author – Marie Kondo & Scott Sonenshein
Genre – Non-Fiction
As goes our custom of writing about books, let’s begin with an enlightening quote from the book.
The goal of the method shared in the book is not just to have a nice neat desk but to begin a dialogue with yourself through tidying.
Book Review:-
The book has been co-authored by the tidying expert Marie Kondo and organizational psychologist Scott Sonenshein. It’s about how decluttering our physical, mental, and Digital workspace can help us focus on things that really matter.
The book Joy at Work is very well-structured. It’s divided into 11 Chapters. The 1st Chapter explains why we need to tidy up and how tidying can help in creating a dialogue with ourselves, an art that most of us lack in this solitude-deprived world. This 1st chapter is so well crafted with so many real-life examples that it would literally convince anyone into tidying.
Further, the authors have divided all the possible clutter at the workplace into 7 segments and dedicated a chapter to each one of them. These deal with tidying up our physical workspace, digital workspace, tidying our time, our decisions, tidying our network, our meetings, and the last one being tidying our teams.
Each chapter very well articulates the problems we face because of the cluttered workspace and subsequently gives very well-researched and easy-to-implement solutions that may help the readers in getting rid of the challenges that accompany the workplace mess and hence help in sparking joy at work.
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The only negative I found in the book is that it gets repetitive at times but that’s something seen with most non-fiction books.
Maybe it is done intentionally to make a lasting impact on the reader’s mind. Despite that, the lessons on offer definitely make the book, worth a read.
Who should read this one?
- Anyone who feels that they are living an unorganised life due to which they often lose track of things in their chaotic surroundings.
- Any working professional who wants to take the path of rediscovery.
- Anyone who wants to be happy at work.
Reading Tip:-
While reading Joy at Work, don’t forget to jot down or underline the important points. It would definitely help in getting the technique to grow on you.
6 Powerful Lessons on Increasing Productivity:-
#1: Clutter is a magnet for Misery:-
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
In Joy At Work, Marie explains how a messy environment taxes our brains. When surrounded by clutter, our brains are so busy registering all the things around us that we can’t really focus on what we should be doing at the moment. Hence resulting in lowered productivity and a negative mindset.
The misery that clutter carries with it is not just limited to individuals. It affects businesses too. Every now and then, office workers report misplacing important work-related items. It not only creates emotional stress for the workers but also replacing them causes monetary loss to the company.
Havoc doesn’t end here. The greatest loss is of the time wasted in the quest for the misplaced items which could have been used in some other productive work.
So, clutter can be called a magnet for miseries and a black hole for time.
#2: The importance of Decluttering or TIdying:-
We, humans, are critical thinkers and so it’s natural for us to question every novel technique unless it proves its efficacy in our lives. So to lure you into getting started, here I’m sharing some of the ways in which tidying up can help you in your work life.
- Higher Evaluation at Work:- A tidy desk results in a higher evaluation of our character and capacity, thus increasing expectations of our seniors from us which in turn raises our self-esteem and increases our motivation to perform better to fulfill that increased expectation.
- Put you on a path of rediscovery:- As Marie says, the final goal is not just having a nice neat desk but to begin a dialogue with ourselves. And that’s so true because the cumulative result of critically examining each and everything in front of us and choosing whether to keep it in our life or to let it go can really help us in exploring what exactly we want from our lives.
- Always ahead of deadlines:- After tidying, we might be able to complete our work well ahead of the deadline because tidying saves us a lot of time We no longer need to waste time searching for things because everything we own has been put in good order.
#3: Becoming the Master of Digital Life through Tidying:-
When you tidy your digital documents, emails, and smartphone apps, you’ll start to realize that these are just tools to help you work, not a storage depot that archives your entire professional life.
According to the author, Scott Sonenshein, our main goal while tidying our digital workspace is to find a way to gain more control over technology. Unlike physical items, we don’t notice digital items piling up.
By the time we realize what has happened, we are out of the driving seat. We are out of storage space, can’t find important documents, our device has become dead slow.
The machine that was supposed to help us has become a source of frustration.
This chapter on Tidying your digital workspace if implemented whole-heartedly can literally help you in reclaiming your master status.
#4: Fewer apps on your Phone means Fewer Distractions:-
Simply put, humans are not wired to be constantly wired.
―
An average person uses a smartphone 85 times a day which adds up to more than 5 hours a day. It’s because most of the apps specifically Social media and gaming apps are deliberately designed to cause addiction.
Also, the researchers have found that the mere presence of a smartphone reduces our productivity which in turn results in poor performance at work.
The reason is simple, the algorithm has taken control of our lives. The urge of checking useless notifications from useless apps has transformed us into being a bunch of unproductive, unhappy humans that are always short of time.
This book says that there is some light and that is in letting go of the apps that are taking away far more than what they are contributing.
#5: Invest your energy in the things you value:
Don’t trade an activity you’d love to pursue for a reward you don’t value.
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The world we live in is increasingly designed to drive us into useless competitions. Driven by this mad race we often distracted and invest a lot of our time and energy in things that don’t really matter to us.
The result is that in keeping up with the Joneses we often lose sight of our real goal, thus losing a part of ourselves.
So, while pursuing an activity always make sure that the reward on offer is valuable to you.
#6: The Importance of Delaying Decisions:-
Image by FelixMittermeier from Pixabay
As we progress in our careers we are increasingly asked to get involved in activities not central to our core responsibilities. Under the social pressure of being a good colleague, we almost always say yes despite being not interested in them.
The author Scott Sonenshein has a simple technique to overcome this predicament.
He says,
- Take a Pause.
- Say, I‘ll think about it and get back to you
- Take some time and ask yourself, does it spark joy?
If the answer is no, politely decline the invitation.
Research shows that when we delay making a commitment, we feel more empowered to say no to tasks we don’t enjoy.
Also Read: How To Cleverly Skip Participation in Extramural Activities at Work
I hope you loved reading the review and enjoyed the lessons too. It’s one of those books that every working professional much check out.
Grab your copy here: Amazon IN | Amazon US
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That’s all we have for today. Thanks a lot for tuning in to HappinessDhaba. Do let us know your views on this in the comment section.
Signing off with my favorite words.
Zindagi Zindabad!
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An Engineer-Turned-Psychologist who loves Literature.
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