Joy.

A strategy. Not a feeling.

After 20 years building brands at Disney, Mattel, and CAMP, I learned one thing above everything else.

The work that lasts is not built by people who are good at the brief. It is built by people who are lit up by the problem.

This framework is for the people who have felt that. And the people who are trying to find their way back to it.

Joy is not the reward for doing good work.
It is the condition that makes good work possible.

The Framework

The Joy Cycle

Joy does not leave a career all at once. It leaves in stages.
Most people do not notice until they are deep inside one of them.

Entry Erosion Defeat Belief
The
Joy
Cycle

Click a stage on the wheel to explore it.

Entry

You are lit up.

Ideas are flowing. Nobody wants to leave the room.

You arrive. The work is interesting. The potential is motivating. You have things to prove and the energy to prove them.

  • The clock disappears when you are in it
  • You are building on ideas, not waiting to say yours
  • You want to show up tomorrow
  • The problem feels worth solving
Erosion

Going numb.

Still here. Still hoping. Just not fully feeling it.

The work is still there and you are still showing up. But something has gone quiet inside you. The hope has not left yet. It has just gotten harder to hear.

  • The clock is louder than it used to be
  • You are going through motions you cannot explain
  • Still telling yourself the next thing will be different
  • The ideas are there. The energy to fight for them is not.
Defeat

The numbness broke.

Now it is sadness. Or anger. Or both.

Something cracked. You are not numb anymore. You are feeling it, just not the feelings you want. And they are not staying at work where they belong.

  • The impatience and frustration are louder now
  • The feeling is coming home with you at night
  • You hear yourself and do not recognize who is talking
  • People have quietly stopped bringing you things
Belief

A decision, not hope.

The moment you decide what you actually want.

Not hope. Hope is passive. This is the moment you decide what you want from work and whether you are willing to build toward it.

  • You know what kind of work lights you up
  • Done adjusting your expectations down
  • Building toward something, not just away from something
  • You can articulate it clearly when someone asks
01 Entry

You are lit up.

Ideas are flowing. Nobody wants to leave the room.

02 Erosion

Going numb.

Still here. Still hoping. Just not fully feeling it.

03 Defeat

The numbness broke.

Now it is sadness. Or anger. Or both.

04 Belief

A decision, not hope.

The moment you decide what you actually want.

The Audit

Where are you right now?

Five questions. Your answers locate you on the cycle. No math. Just honesty.

0/5

Question 1 of 5

When did you last forget what time it was because the work was that good?

Question 2 of 5

What are you bringing home at the end of the day?

Question 3 of 5

When someone brings you a problem at work, what happens?

Question 4 of 5

What are you telling yourself about where things are right now?

Question 5 of 5

If you are being honest, what do you actually want from work right now?

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This is what this work is for.

Senior strategic counsel for leaders who are tired of campaigns that hit the metrics and miss the moment.

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