Episode 264: "The Value of Joy in the Heart of a Leader."

SELDI Podcast with Tony Williams

Greetings, Leaders.

Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice! This is a new season for our growth as leaders.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Joy flows from our hearts and our thoughts. Your thought process affects your feelings, and feelings produce behaviors.

"As a person thinks in their heart, so they are."

Joy! This one emotion enormously impacts a person's ability to endure, gain new strength, and develop the power to overcome all life's challenges.

"A joyful heart does good like a medicine." gives insight into the value of cultivating a joyful heart. Our heart condition is directly proportional to our effectiveness in leading ourselves and others.

"How to Rediscover Joy at Work." is an excellent Harvard Business Review Webinar that shares critical insights for igniting your joy. Authenticity is one contributing factor to a joyful heart.

"A joy that's shared is a joy made double." Proverb.

Their sharing lifts everyone's mood, boosts their energy, and brings smiles to their faces! Neuroscience calls this the Dopamine effect, known as the feel-good neurotransmitter, a chemical that ferries information between neurons. The brain releases it when we experience joy. Sharing joy helps regulate movement, learning, and emotional responses to life's challenges.

The connective power of joy is visible in sports. When a team performs at its best, overcoming its challenges, every player — indeed, the entire arena — experiences an overflow of joy that lifts the team even higher.

Joy is a multiplier in our ability to endure and the strength to perform.

Please try this exercise. Close your eyes and deeply breathe while smiling for sixty seconds. Think about what comes to your mind. A person, a scene, an image, or a word may come to you. What does it look like for you?

I recall words highlighting the effects of joy "... for the joy set before him he endured," and "the joy of the LORD is your strength." "You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace."

Gratitude can ignite our joy. Being grateful creates a mindset for resiliency, strength, and victory. Counting our blessings cultivates, stirs our emotions, and positions us to win the battles of life and career.

"The king rejoices in Your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give!" King David

Everyone in every walk of life can be a force for good through their response of gratitude with joy!

How can we cultivate the emotion of joy for life and career and experience endurance, strength, and victories?

Start each day by writing down several things you are most grateful for in your life and career. Think about them for a few minutes. Let your mind replay them throughout the day and replenish your joy.

Keep asking for joy, seeking it, knocking on the door, and you will find it!

Research indicates that cultivating this habit of dispositional gratitude increases our state of joy over time.

"A joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together." Brene Brown

Please remember to share your joy with others in your journey. Joy is contagious! We will reap what we sow and more than we sow.

Count it all, joy!

Victory!