One reason companies don’t measure joy is that enjoyment looks slower on the surface. If you stop to enjoy writing an email—feeling the sensation, allowing pleasure in the expression—it takes longer than speed-typing. But you’ll write fewer emails, have better relationships, generate fewer problems to handle, and maintain context rather than losing yourself in the to-do list.
Joe gives the example of Silicon Valley executives multitasking through meetings. Everyone feels more productive, but it generates so many follow-up emails and nobody enjoys it. If they instead said “the number one thing is that we are going to learn to have a meeting that we all enjoy,” that meeting would be super effective. As the Navy SEALs say: “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”
The deeper reason companies don’t track joy: most people believe joy must be earned, that you have to “be of value” to deserve it—even though they’ve been of value for twenty years without experiencing deep joy. This raises the uncomfortable question of whether people actually want joy or want to recreate their emotional background of seeking joy.
“The seeking of joy is the way that we push it away and the joy itself is scary.”
Related Concepts
- Enjoyment is the true measure of efficiency
- Enjoyment is more efficient than pushing through
- Five-star meetings hack