Marie Kondo began a revolution back in 2019 when she told us – via her Netflix show, Tidying Up – to throw away any possessions that didn’t “spark joy”. Apparently, applying this mindset to your working life can also help to offset the impact of burnout.

It’s an issue affecting working women in particular – 2022 research found that burnout is the number one reason why women either have or are planning to quit their job. 25% of women are planning to leave jobs due to burnout, in comparison to 21% of men. According to life coach Irina Musteata, the assumption that all success comes from hard work alone is part of what is leading so many women to feel burned out and ultimately disconnected from their work.

“The common misconception is that high performance and success comes from hard work and sacrifice but the reality is, in the long run, this will only lead you to burnout, feeling demotivated and completely disconnected from your role,” she says.

“It is only when we prioritise joy and our well-being, we become more productive, motivated, creative and overall, a better colleague,” she says, insisting that doing so will change our perspective on success, making our career wins much more meaningful and sustainable.

Irina proposes holding a “joy audit”, which involves taking stock of the places, people, objects and activities that make you feel joyful, and making a conscious effort to implement and prioritise them within your working routine. Think about identifying places in your home or office that make you feel most comfortable and focused, as well as the colleagues or clients that make you feel energised and optimistic in your work. Similarly with objects, whether it’s your favourite mug or potted plant or a family keepsake that brings you joy, consider how you can bring these things into your working day. Finally, making space for activities that bring joy within your working routine is crucial – whether it’s your morning walk or a coffee break. The audit itself will cause you to be more mindful of joy in the context of work.

She also suggests repositioning what we celebrate within our careers, recommending “getting into the habit of celebrating not just milestones but progress, commitment and effort”. Sure, taking time to acknowledge a promotion or pay rise is important – but incrementally, the smaller wins are just as important in maintaining morale and building towards where you want to be. Irina suggests taking 10 minutes each day to celebrate these things, whether it’s completing a mundane or different task or honouring a work-related boundary. Irina promises that this practice will leave you with a “fulfilled sense of accomplishment”, helping to train your mind to look for joy everyday at work.

Thirdly, Irina recommends thinking about implementing “play” into our working day, which she describes as the “truest expression of joy” and something we tend to deprioritise after childhood. It can help us to live in the moment, as well as bring an element of fun to otherwise mundane work-related tasks.

“Most successful people I know manage to keep play time in their diaries: a recreational sport, improv comedy, a band they jam with on the weekends, a friendly game night or an hour a week they dabble into water colours,” she says. “These people often bring the spirit of play time into their work: they bring a sense of lightness to difficult conversations, they enhance meetings with a fun attitude.”

Psychologist Audrey Tang agrees that joy can “create a buffer to the effects of stress and burnout”, adding that “self awareness of what we really want as success is more important, and joy will often flow out of that.”

She explains that being self-aware of what will bring us joy, inside or outside of success, is a key caveat that most don’t think about. Is it validation, is it money, is it something that we think career success will bring us indirectly?

“It is certainly likely if we work hard we will achieve our goal – but we may not get the other psychological benefits that we’d hoped for,” Audrey explains. “People may work hard and win that big contract or award and still feel a bit “meh”.

“Unless we are honest about what we’re aiming for, then we are less likely to feel joyful even when we objectively succeed – because what we succeeded at (and worked hard at) is immaterial. For example, if someone who wants praise from their parents and works really hard to get achievements or awards may well succeed at them, they may not feel joy unless the parent acknowledges it…and actually, it might not be the awards or achievements that brings them the longed-for response.”

So, in a working world where burnout has become the norm – particularly amongst women – it has never been more important to consciously bring joy into how we work, as well as a conscious awareness of exactly what will bring us this feeling.

“By prioritising joy in our work, we create a sustainable foundation for success that goes beyond mere accomplishments,” Irina says. “It allows us to find purpose, fulfilment and happiness throughout our journey, making success more meaningful and sustainable over time.”