Last week our Leadership Team went through an exercise of listing 20 things each of them enjoy doing, and then answered a series of twelve questions about each activity such as as; Is it work related?  Does it cost money or is it free? and, When was the last time you did that activity?  The goal of the exercise was to identify the things in our lives that bring us joy and to think about where they fit in our lives because when we can harness our passions, it leads to greater well being.

During our time we also discussed the concept of the greek work; Eudaimonia, which translates in english to, “fulfillment or human flourishing”, and is what Plato and Socrates considered the purpose of life.  There is an interesting nuance between happiness and fulfillment.  According to positive psychologist, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, “pain” is what distinguishes happiness from fulfillment.  He says; “A eudaimonistic life will be full of the happiness that comes from achieving something really difficult rather than just having it handed to you.”  I’ve asked a lot of groups to think about the things in their life they are most proud of accomplishing and no one has ever raised their hand when I asked if accomplishing that thing was easy.

Psychologist Martin Seligman has written about what it takes to “flourish” and he suggests we can get there by focusing on five measurable elements.

1. Positive Emotion: Experiencing emotions such as gratitude, hope and contentment.

2. Engagement: Activities that fully absorb our attention, entering us into a state of flow,

3. Relationships: A sense of strong trust, connection and support with others.

4. Meaning: An altruistic purpose in life that is bigger than the self.

5. Achievement: Having ambition and goals and following through on them.

As our team reviewed our lists together, we talked about which activities simply just made us happy and which of those gave us a true sense of feeling alive.  The activities that contained most or all of the five elements above were the ones that truly made us feel alive and gave us a greater sense of fulfillment.  When we talk about what it takes to create a great place to work, it’s not about making the job easy, it’s about adding meaning to the work and tasks we do every day.  We can’t be afraid to challenge ourselves and our team members because those challenges are what leads to fulfillment, and if we agree with Plato and Socrates, then we should be seeking more of these challenges in our lives.

*Each week I share a leadership message with our team and we are honored to share it with you via MIBE Tribe.  MIBE (the acronym for Make It Better Everyday) Tribe delivers education on heart leadership and intentional culture building for the hospitality industry.  Know someone who would enjoy these weekly motivational messages?  We’d be honored if you encouraged them to become a “mibe scriber” too!