I was recently asked by a former colleague what my dream job would be. Thinking that the joy I feel in my new and current role should be obvious to all, this struck me as a rather strange question! My puzzled but immediate answer was, ‘The one I’m doing now!’ If, like me, you take steps in your mid to late 50s to leave a successful, established, full-time career to retrain and set up your own business, it’s likely to be because it’s a passion.
When I made my decision to leave a 30-year career in education, I wanted to do something that would be a practical and viable career move but also something that would allow me to ‘live joyfully’, to quote this month’s Fusion theme. During my studies for a coaching qualification, I came across the Japanese concept of Ikigai. The word means ‘reason for being’ and can be used in career coaching or for individuals to reflect on their working lives. If you can find the sweet spot between doing something you love, that the world needs, that you can be paid for and that you’re good at, you’ll be working as well as living joyfully.
“If you can find the sweet spot between doing something you love, that the world needs, that you can be paid for and that you’re good at, you’ll be working as well as living joyfully.”
My own Ikigai insight led me to retrain as a personal stylist and colour consultant after thirty years of working in education. My love of education, and the values that are important to me, manifest themselves, albeit in exciting new ways. Working joyfully for me means putting empathy, diversity and sustainability at forefront of all I do.
Picasso noted that, “Colours, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” Working as a colour consultant, I understand how colour can have a physical and emotional impact on the wearer and on those we meet. Being exposed to red light for instance can raise our blood pressure, and a study by the Royal Society showed that when women viewed images of men wearing different colours, they perceived those in red t-shirts to be more aggressive than those wearing blue or grey.
‘True’ red, however, suits all skin tones, and despite its associations with anger and danger, red can be energising and motivational. You could try wearing a red tie or scarf or even a red suit or dress if you want to exude confidence when delivering a keynote speech.
Whilst brown can speak of dependability and blue of trustworthiness, the colours of living joyfully are generally acknowledged as yellow and orange. Whilst you may not want to dress head-to-toe in sunflower yellow or mimic tennis champion Jannik Sinner’s carrot-outfit-wearing supporters, incorporating one of these colours into your outfit can bring energy and cheerfulness and give the impression of self-confidence and joy.
Colour analysis is the process used to discover someone’s optimal colour palette. To assess which tints and shades will resonate most with their personality, I go through a personality questionnaire with clients. Responding to, ‘Do you radiate joy?’ I’ve found that people are either sceptical that anyone ‘radiates joy’ or they reply that they do! Whether it’s through finding a job you love so much that you’d do it whether they paid you or not or whether it’s the sense of confidence and wellbeing that comes from mood-boosting colours, I wish you all your own way of ‘Living Joyfully’.
* This blog post was originally written for Instagram magazine Fusion for the November series on the theme of 'Joyful Living': https://www.instagram.com/p/DCWJ-IKNOMI/
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