This is Hazel.

She and her 7 siblings were brought to the shelter where I volunteer.

She and the others needed to learn how to be around humans, so part of that involved having volunteers just hang out with her (she still wasn’t used to being on a leash) and reading to her.

Why am I sharing this?

For two reasons.

Lesson One: It’s Important to Know Your Strengths and What Energizes You and…What Doesn’t

I love loving on the dogs at the shelter, taking them for walks, and runs…especially the scared and sad ones.

I don’t enjoy teaching them to walk on a lead or do any kind of dog training.

I get no pleasure from that and don’t have the patience for it.

I’m great at bringing some joy to them, though…especially the scared and sad ones, so that’s what I do.

It’s just like the world of work.

When we’re clear on what we’re good at—and not—and do work in alignment with who we are, we do better work and have more joy.

So…if you want both, figure out what you’re good at, what brings you alive, and figure out how to do more of that in your current role (called job sculpting or job crafting) or get clear on how you can translate that into your next chapter.

A simple and very effective way of tuning into this is to imagine an old analog gauge with a dial that goes from 1 to 10.

This is your Energy, Enthusiasm, and Engagement Gauge.

You can use it to get clearer on what brings you alive and what drains your energy.

To apply this, think of things you do at work and then give them a rating from 1 to 10.

Then, moving forward, as you go through your days–especially when you’re at work–notice where your gauge is and keep track of what you are doing when it’s at that level of energy, enthusiasm, and engagement.

Keep track of this over time in a notebook or whatever way works for you and notice what themes emerg.

Doing this will provide you with useful insights into what tasks, skills used, and environments are in your sweet spot and should be at the heart of what you do, and what things drain you and should be avoided.

Lesson Two: Do Things That Fill Your Cup Because You Can’t Pour From an Empty Cup

Spending time with the dogs at the shelter brings me joy and is what Jane McGonigal refers to in her wonderful book Super Better as a Power Up.

Jane McGonigal, who is a rock star in the video game world, uses video game psychology as a strategy for helping people boost their mood, break free from anxiety and depression, break bad habits, and form good habits. For more on that, here’s the link to the  SuperBetter site.

If you don’t play video games, a Power Up is anything in a game that makes the protagonist more powerful, anything that makes them more effective at whatever they’re trying to do in the game.

In her SuperBetter approach, one of the key practices is to notice what your particular Power Ups are and use them intentionally throughout the day to boost your energy and mood.

It’s hard to do good work and bring our best selves to the world if we’re running on empty, if our cup is empty.

Being intentional about filling our cup, about using Power Ups throughout our day and week, helps give us the mojo to be our best.

Power Ups are an extremely useful tool when going through the grind that a job search can be, and especially useful when getting ready for an interview.

Doing things that boost your energy and mood before going into an interview (especially if it’s on Zoom) will make a big difference in how you come across and how you feel.

BTW…the book is The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. It is one of the sweetest books ever written that also contains some simple, yet powerful wisdom.