Is being a TSA agent your dream job?

Probably not, especially right now.

But imagine being that agent and doing everything in your power to make every moment fun and joyful. You’re energetic, playful, cracking jokes and generally making a normally agonizing experience more pleasant and fun.

Now imagine your boss comes over and rips you a new one for daring to have fun on the job. Suddenly your whole energy shifts. You’re crabby, on edge, defensive. Making everyone around you miserable.

Which version of that agent would you want to be?

This is the choice we face every day at work. How we show up for ourselves and others. Will we choose joy? Or something else.

Amy Dickens is a walking, talking, smiling, dancing joy expert who helps adults reconnect to the joy we all have inside of us. The joy that life is so good at scraping away until it becomes nostalgia.

Amy witnessed that TSA agent on a recent trip. It inspired her. And it made her sad to see that man’s boss stuck in the story that work must be miserable.

Our conversation was an absolute joyride, her infectious energy creating a delightful back and forth around ways we can make work (and life in general) more fun. Adult summer camp. Joy parades. Using the word “shaboozy.” And a book filled with 101 Ways to Spread Joy. One of my favorite bits was when she mentioned the idea of a “Joy Gym” in passing. Suddenly it was like, why don’t we have Joy Gyms? That sounds awesome. We should have one in every office.

We also talked about how a more enjoyable workplace is a more profitable and productive one. It’s one of the easiest cheat codes out there and yet most businesses are stuck in the old model of grinding people until they break down like my old Camaro did weekly back in the late 80s.

We don’t have to wait for those corporate execs to get it. We can bring joy into our work every day, just like that TSA guy. And if you’re a leader thinking about scolding someone for daring to have fun at work, consider joining them instead. You might like it.

I know your team will.

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Amy on Instagram and TikTok @theamydickens. And check out livejoyfullyyou.com to learn more about her book, her podcast and to simply feel better about the world.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Amy:Imagine you’re 80 years old, looking back on your life. What are you thinking? What version do you wish you had optimized for more success? What does success mean to you at that age? When were you fully alive? What does that version of yourself wish you had done differently?

DesuckifyWork® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The problem:The attention (addiction) economy is killing us.

The way to solve it:Moving to a trust-based economy

The world we could be creating:One where it doesn’t feel like we’re slaves to a system nobody actually wants

How we can create it:🐱 Step away from the algorithm once in a while🐱 Notice things, wonder, be curious🐱 Give attention instead of demanding it🐱 Shift from coercive funnels to actual human connection🐱 Bring inefficiency back into the system🐱 Embrace creativity

Why inefficiency is glorious:Because it’s load-bearing. Trust is built in the slow, the cumbersome, the figuring it out together moments. Trust takes time, it can’t be automated. In fact, the more we streamline our operations, the more we strip trust out of the system.

How AI fits in:AI is a symptom of the problems we’ve been creating for years now. And it can also help us dig out of them, if we use it smartly.

Why creativity matters more than ever:Creativity is the best tool for navigating complexity. Integrative thinkers who can connect disparate ideas and build trust are exactly what we need right now.

Question Nick wants you to ponder:What’s one thing that you think would be difficult to give up in the algorithmic system? What could you actually give up?

Remember pondering? Let’s do more of that.

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Nick on LinkedIn. And check out damnsgiven.com to learn ore about his work and upcoming book, The Damn Rules. You can also visit trustmadegrowth.com to join his online community.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

The world is on fire. AI is coming to replace all of us. Trust is at an all time low.

Good news?

That’s the premise of a new book co-written by James Patterson (yes, that James Patterson) and Patrick Leddin, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.

The book is called Disrupt Everything and Win. And it’s basically a how to manual for the wacky world we’re living in right now.

It starts with the story of Patterson, who rose up to CEO of J. Walter Thompson in NYC before deciding to throw all of that away and try his hand at a business where about 1% of folks actually earn a living at it. After blowing that goal out of the water, he decided to rewrite what it means to be a best-selling author, essentially creating a fiction-writing empire and deciding it’s completely normal to co-write books with folks like Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton.

Then Patrick comes in, whose career includes jumping out of planes for the US Army, creating a successful consulting business and working as a professor at Vanderbilt University, along with his current role as a co-author with one of the most famous writers on the planet.

So how do they do it?

By viewing disruption as fertile ground for growth, not a threat. That sounds counterintuitive, when our nervous systems are screaming for some sense of normalcy. But our nervous systems have it backwards. We don’t need “normalcy,” we need to recognize that a chaotic, disrupted world is normal.

Patrick and James make this clear through four fundamental principles in their book:

* The status quo is a seductive little devil: we need to accept that change is inevitable.

* We’re wired to disrupt: we have big brains that dream up amazing things. Creativity IS disruption.

* Relationships require disruption: lean into the ones that support you and step back from the ones that make things suck.

* Time is Finite: nothing lasts, what are you going to create in this moment?

The book outlines 16 “Disruptor Behaviors” that we can all tap into. The good news is that you don’t need all of them. Just the ones that work for you.

My favorites:🐱 Believe better is possible.🐱 Think deeply to gain insights🐱 Stand firm in the face of doubters

My takeaway from all of this? The world isn’t getting any less nuts, let’s find a way to live a great life that acknowledges and even appreciates that reality.

I’m up for trying. You?

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Patrick on LinkedIn. And check out his site at disrupteverything.com to learn more about the book and the power of positive disruption.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Patrick to our audience:What is one practice or habit or situation or relationship that you need to disrupt in the next six to 12 months?

If you were designing a workplace, would it look like the one you’re in now?

Stop laughing.

Okay, now that we’ve calmed down, what’s your answer? How would you set up your teams? How would the work flow, ideally? What kinds of training (remember training?) and learning opportunities would be provided?

Put simply, what would the user experience look like?

This is the question David Greene is answering every day. With a background in UX and a passion for making work not suck, he’s perfectly suited for the job.

He’s led some great efforts while in the agency world. Creating a time off program for employees who need to care for elderly parents or grandparents. And a part-time pilot that gave people and the agency flexibility to do great work and live a great life.

That’s the goal. As David says, we should be thinking about how we integrate work with our lives, not how to build our lives around work.

I couldn’t agree more. And I think you will too, after listening to our conversation.

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

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You can follow David on LinkedIn. And check out his site at greeneonline.com or reach out to him at david@evolve.work. New site at that same URL coming soon.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

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Bonus question from David to our audience:If your organization today, where is the experience being underutilized? Where do you look at it and say they’re not being used to their best ability? And if your five most experienced people leave tomorrow, what would actually break?

If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.

The conversation was so nice we had to have it twice.

It took two recording sessions for Sheri Zevenbergen and I to nail down this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast episode. Thanks to some technical difficulties.

But it was so worth it. Sheri is coach, podcast host and delightful bundle of energy and insight. With a clear vision for how we can live a life that matters.

It’s all about the dash. You know, the one between when we’re born and when we die. Sheri calls this the “DASH Mindset.” What are we gonna do with that time?

For many folks in the business world, the answer is usually achievement. Do all the things as well as we can do them and get all the rewards that come with all the doing.

Then we wake up one day and go, what was the point of all that again?

If we want to take more ownership of our dash, we need to:

🐱 Reprogram our inner voice🐱 Learn and live by our values🐱 Build new habits

The best part of all this? If we do those things, it not only makes our lives better, it makes the lives of the people around us better too. Our family, our friends, our teams at work, the dude we see every morning at the coffee shop and do the mutual grunt/nod thing with.

This is how desuckification happens. One person at a time, one habit at a time, one choice at a time.

We only get one dash. What are you gonna do with yours?

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

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You can follow Sheri on LinkedIn. And check out her site at thedashmindset.com where you can learn more about her coaching work and check out her awesome podcast.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

—

Bonus question from Sheri to our audience:What are you just naturally good at that you don’t even recognize? What are you most complimented on?

If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.

DesuckifyWork® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

People suck sometimes.All of us.Especially at work.

Our humanity narrows.We turn into strange creatures who speak in acronyms, buzzwords and status updates.

And we wonder why it’s all so hard.We made it that way.And we can unmake it.

By becoming more relatable.

Rachel DeAlto —author, speaker and former relationship expert on “Married at First Sight”—wrote a whole book about it. Two, actually. Her latest, “The Relatable Leader” lays it out plainly:

We need to connect, communicate and inspire.

🐱 Ditch the corporate speak and just say the thing. Get to know people as people, not means to an end.🐱 Stop making assumptions and start asking people what they actually need.🐱 Have a point of view and show some some genuine energy around the work you do.

That’s what makes us more relatable. That’s what makes us better leaders. And that’s what makes work suck a whole lot less.

If you’re into that sort of thing.

Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Rachel on LinkedIn. And check out her site at racheldealto.com where you can learn more about her books and her speaking work.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Rachel to our audience:What are you excited about?People suck sometimes.

If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.

A company that makes, installs and maintains piping systems in some of the hottest and most challenging environments in the world has created a work culture that should inspire any of us who work in less hazardous spaces.

I spoke with Andrew Goodwin, president of Professional Piping Systems on this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast. People love working for this company. Retention is high, career growth is open to all and the team seems to genuinely enjoy each other.

They’ve cracked the code on Desuckifying Work and the good news is, it’s not all that complicated.

It starts by knowing who you are. They have a BAMF mentality (Bad Ass Mother-Effer) and invite anyone who wants a piece of that to join them. Word gets around.

They give a crap about their team. They invest in them, with real training dollars and consistent engagement from the top of the organization.

They create an actual process to help people learn and grow. They bring junior folks in through an apprentice program that pays people to learn on the job. Imagine that? And they have a train two, promote one policy that encourages folks to pass their knowledge along so they can enable their own advancement.

Lastly, they have fun. Dirt bike and side-by-side groups meet up on the weekends. They share inside jokes. They don’t take themselves so seriously.

I half-joked that PPS should create a separate arm that trains other companies on how to build a winning culture.

But seriously, they should.

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

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You can follow Andrew on LinkedIn. And check out his company’s site at ppsphx.com.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to find some calm in the chaos of work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

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Bonus question from Andrew to our audience:For people who have been working with a company for five plus years, what’s the reason you stayed? Is it pay? Is it culture? Is it something beyond that? Is it that you’re afraid to change?

If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.