How to Bring Joy to Your Business

I was reminded of my own learning and how this mirrors the experience of many other women in business, during my recent experience of running a dancing competition and the different approaches taken by different dancers on the day.

Some dancers focus purely on the job in hand – on winning. Others focus on getting it right – on not making mistakes, not falling over, not looking foolish, or not letting anyone down. And yet others just seem to enjoy the process, by which I mean they love dancing and they don’t appear to be too attached to the results they get.

It reminds me of the saying “It’s not the winning but the taking part that counts,” and how most people seem to miss the point of this. To me this is about the enjoyment of the process (of dancing), rather than just about the dance.

Some dancers are so focused on the result, they don’t enjoy the process of dancing, and that shows on stage – they are technically great but with no smile on their face, sparkle in their eyes or joy in their step!

Others have worked themselves into such a state of anxiety and fearfulness they literally cannot enjoy their dance, and again this is obvious in their demeanour, particularly before and immediately after the dance.

For the remainder, the dancers who enjoy their dance, they appear to skip onto the stage, to connect fully to the music and to their dance – to dance from their heart and soul, rather than from their head. They trust their skill level, their knowledge, their expertise and experience enough to let it all go, to trust in the process, and just ‘be’ in the moment in their dance – connected to their soul, to the music and to their audience.

Audiences engage and emotionally connect with these dancers who seem to become their dance, who live their dance. There is something so attractive and magnetic about this; and the best part is, because the dancer’s let go of the worry and the struggle, it becomes easy and feels effortless!

So, I have 4 questions for you to relate this to your particular business or work situation. I suggest you make notes, and that you don't judge yourself or analyse what comes up but that you trust in and enjoy this process of exploration!

1.Where is your focus in your business/work?

• On the destination or the journey?
• In your head or in your soul?
• In the future or the present?

2.What counts most in your business/work?

• Winning?
• Not losing?
• Saving face?
• Enduring?
• Enjoying?

3.Who are you in your business/work?

• Tentative understudy?
• Competitor?
• Showgirl/man?
• Principal dancer?

4.What can you learn from these dancers?

• What can you trust about yourself and your business/work?
• What can you let go of?
• How can you connect more fully to your business/work?

I believe we all have a unique dance to dance, a dance that we showcase through our business and through our work. So how can you bring joy to your dance, to your work and to your business?

When you can answer this you’ll be able to focus on the joy here and now in order to create the joyful future you want; you’ll also start to get clearer on what that future looks like for you and your business. And most importantly, you will connect more fully with yourself – with who you really are and who you want to become - so that you can be more at ease in your personal and business relationships and you can live your dance.