Welcome to The Joyful Career!
Two summers ago, I was at a Montana rest stop and bought a huckleberry ice cream cone. Huckleberry is the taste of summer in Montana and I love it. There’s nothing quite like enjoying a huckleberry cone or milkshake, knowing the berries are locally sourced. Few other desserts give me as much joy as that Montana ice cream.
With my cone happily in hand, I hopped into our truck and rhetorically asked my husband (Noah), “What if our careers could be as joyful as eating this huckleberry ice cream? I don’t mean always, but usually, even when our work is hard?” Something within me stirred at that moment (maybe it was the sugar), as I knew that my mission was to help people find more joy in their careers, and also their lives.
Since that fateful day in Montana, I’ve helped hundreds of people find more joy in their careers and lives through individual coaching, group programs, corporate talks, and the show I co-host, Successful: The Podcast.
My personal and work philosophy is that everything in our lives is interconnected:
a joyful career makes for a joyful life and a joyful life makes work more joyful.
When we feel joyful, we think better thoughts, and therefore do better work, have stronger relationships, and amplify our impact.
This is not your typical “career” newsletter.
You won’t find tips for improving your LinkedIn profile or your resume here. Rather, through this newsletter, I share what I know moves the needle on the joy meter: opportunities to look within and apply tools for the mind, body, and heart.
This newsletter, “The Joyful Career” is my way of sharing more widely what I already do with my coaching clients: I will help you build a more joyful life and career.
My mission with each weekly post is to help you:
Think better: Evolve how you think so you can change the way you feel. By changing how you feel, you can change what you do to get the results you want. Better thoughts = better results.
Feel better: Understand what gets in your way of feeling joy (like your inner saboteurs) and how you can leverage your body’s natural tools to self-regulate and feel good (like breathing and centering).
Do better: Know yourself more deeply, including what you value and how you define success in your career and your life. When we connect who we are with what we do more deeply, work becomes play.
What can you expect from me?
Every week, I will pose a coaching question for you. To help you think about this question, I will share my personal stories and tools, inspired by the teachers and frameworks I love:
Energy Leadership Coaching, the foundation of my work as a coach to help my clients shift their perceptions (of themselves and their world)
Positive Intelligence, a neuroscience-based framework I use to help my clients strengthen their mental fitness
Design Thinking, a human-centered set of problem-solving tools and mindsets used in business that I also apply to life
Yoga and meditation principles that I practice to stay calm and healthy, both as a yoga teacher and practitioner
You can learn about my own story here. I can’t wait to support your success and most importantly, help you feel more joy, just like the joy I experience when I eat that Montana huckleberry ice cream 🍦.
With love and joy,
Karla
