Secrets to Corporate Success - Make work joyous & activate Winners' Mindset.

I recently had the opportunity to host segments of the Microsoft Hackathon 2020 Live Stream channel (HackTV) and speak live, in front of an audience of thousands of Microsoft employees across the globe. It was an incredibly unique experience and I wanted to share some learnings.

TLDR; Work/Fun integration for joyous work, tips on finding more meaning in your job by bringing your passion to work and practicing a winner’s mindset to fuel your journey.

This was truly a one-of-a-kind opportunity that allowed me to bring my passion to my work, exercise some of that winner’s mindset and feel much more connected to the larger Microsoft ecosystem. While it had nothing to do with my day job, I was energized with this added dimension of passion driven work in my job at Microsoft. I also reflected on some of my learnings from this experience which I would like to share.

Work/Fun Integration for a joyous experience.

On a lighter note, hosting segments of HackTV for Hackthon 2020 had me reminiscing my University days when I would precariously balance my classes and extracurricular activities together.

As we transition to the corporate world, the concept of extracurricular activities becomes progressively distant from our day jobs. We compartmentalize work and fun as if they are two separate parts of our lives (I know I did for a long time). For many of us this might lead to boredom, lack of inspiration and a general monotony at work.

Since we spend 1/3rd of our waking day for 1/3rd of our lives working, it's only fair to create a joyous, memorable work experience for yourself rather than a mundane, thrill-less experience.

You can do this by seeking your own ‘passion’ (much like the extra curricular activities you would do in school and college!) within the workspace, that energizes you & delights you. It might add the much needed ‘zing’ or ‘zest’ to your work-life.

How to Bring your ‘passion’ to work: 

1. Find your passion (this one is a no-brainer!) – Look for aspects in your job or life that bring you energy. Mine happens to be public speaking, an area that brings me energy and a skill I have consistently tried to improve upon. It is okay if you don’t feel too strongly about anything to call it your passion. Just look for activities and arenas that energize you! This picture perfectly captures how happy I feel when talking to an audience :)
2. Create your personal brand around your passion. Tell everyone around you about your passion. Your work group & manager would love to know what drives you and can even help you find or create opportunities within the workspace for your passion. Their support will make you more comfortable as your break away from your shell of hesitations & self-doubt. Since my team knows how much I enjoy public speaking, they make space for me at events where I can speak.
3. Look out for opportunities outside your comfort zone & seize them – Sometimes, we limit ourselves from reaching out for opportunities that are right in front of us because we are clouded by self doubt. In such a situation, talk yourself into feeling more confident or ask a good friend/family member to pep you up. When the Hackathon team was looking for anchors, I didn’t raise my hand initially because of self-doubt but with a little push from a colleague who knew about my passion, I went ahead & auditioned, hence bagging the role.
4. Enjoy yourself A LOT while you do this – When pursuing your passion, your mood will spontaneously be elevated. I managed to interact with super creative and interesting people from across the world while hosting the Hackathon which fueled another passion of mine, that is, meeting new people. Whenever I go on stage to speak to an audience, the experience is thrilling & delightful and I enjoy every moment of it right from the nervous preparation till the exhilarating wrap up.

Activate your Winner's Mindset

This experience also taught me a thing or two about having a winner’s mindset. Here are 3 tips to activate your winner’s mindset:

• Build Your Confidence - I realized the importance of grabbing opportunities with open arms and learning to quell those voices of apprehension in your head. A little secret to this is faking confidence when you feel like you aren’t up to a task and believing in the power of manifestation as well as self pep talk. Simply look in the mirror to reiterate to yourself that you can do this. This will create a world of difference in your attitude towards challenges.
• Don’t be afraid to work hard & fail – Your failures don’t define you, but your learning and attitude do, so don’t be afraid to fail despite all your best efforts. It will teach you something new and you will not feel guilty for not trying. This especially rings true when you are looking to bring your passion to work but feel hesitant that you might not succeed. More often than not, you will succeed in your area of passion because you are more invested in it as opposed to a task that is simply handed over to you. Trust me, try it!
• Create excellence in your area of passion – You don’t have to be good at everything but find that one thing which gives you energy and become an expert at it so that you have a ready act as soon as you find an opportunity or better still, you can create your own opportunities (at work or outside of work). Make it a part of your personal brand (tell everyone about it!) and think of how you can leverage it to benefit the organization & your career, while enhancing the quality of your work/life.

These little secrets will help you go a long way in creating happiness and success for yourself at work. So go ahead, find your passion & bring it to work!