Joy is a leading indicator of capacity, clarity, creativity, clean decision making and ultimately profitability and success.
Joy isn’t soft skills speak, it can be measured on your bottom line.
So, here’s a different perspective on joy in your business:
Joy is not the first loss. Loss of regulation precedes the loss of joy. However, feelings of lack lustre may be the first casualty you notice that you’re nervous system fuel is running low.
Joy is often the first casualty of a nervous system that’s been running on:
- constant urgency
- context switching
- micro-threats of pressure, expectations, people’s emotions, “being misunderstood”
- over-responsibility – ever heard your mind voice saying “I’ll just carry it… again.”
When the human system is in survival, it automatically reallocates resources simply because biology is efficient. So switches are switched off and energy diverted away from:
- play
- connection
- long-range, strategic thinking
- creativity
- risk tolerance
- nuance
Instead energy is put into:
- scanning for constant perceived threats
- controlling situations
- pushing for outcome
- proving a point
- “just get it done”
You can still look successful. But your company is running on emergency power. And as we know, emergency power is expensive.
The business cost of joy loss is not mystical, it’s mechanical.
When joy drops, these “hidden emissions” start leaking into operations:
- Decision drag
You second-guess. You delay. You over-check. This is not indecision, but your system wanting certainty because certainty feels safe. - Relationship thinning
Your communication becomes efficient, clipped, transactional. Warmth, the peaceful, satisfied exhale, the genuine love and caring all get rationed. Clients feel it. Teams feel it. - Creative drought
Your best ideas don’t arrive when you’re tight. They arrive when you’re spacious. And, as I often say “clarity is my compass… and stillness is the map.” - Pressure pricing
You discount to relieve discomfort and the immediate pressure. Or there is over delivery so you feel your company has earned the fee. Either way profit suffers. - Visibility shrinkage
You stop being credibly visible. Not strategically because you’ll probably be turning up, but energetically. Your system equates visibility with threat and others subconsciously feel it.
Joy isn’t the cherry on top. Joy is the signal your system has enough safety to create.
When I created the Human Energy Continuum I found the direct correlation of emotions to business performance fascinating. When I’d cracked the code, that became a driver to share more of this hidden world with driven business people.
And here’s the part most people miss…
Laughter. In every single one of my client consultations, without exception, there is always joy and some laughter.
Not the forced, inappropriate “laugh it off” kind and definitely not affected, performative positivity laughter. Simply a respectful, human moment of lightness that arrives when the system finally exhales.
That’s not a side effect. It is a strategy. And it is knowing precisely when to exhale, smile and silently encourage the laugh of relief.
The tipping point of change.
Because when a leader can laugh again, even ever so softly, it usually means:
- threat has reduced
- the body has stopped bracing
- perspective has returned
- possibility is back online
- and the next decision lands cleanly
The view always returns.
Joy is often the first sign clarity is returning. But here’s the twist… chasing joy can make it worse and makes it feel… always… just… out… of… reach.
If you try to “get joy back” like it’s another KPI, you accidentally add even more pressure. You’ll hear your inner critic lamenting, “Why am I not joyful? What’s wrong with me? I should be grateful…”
That’s not joy. That’s performance.
Joy returns when the system stops bracing.
The real question
It’s not “How do I get my joy back?”
The real question is retrospective for future success! It’s “Where did my system decide it wasn’t safe to be spacious anymore?” Identify the precise moment and you’ll put yourself back on track.
Here are the common culprits I see in founders and revenue-responsible leaders:
- Your business became a dependency machine where everyone needs you for everything.
- You outgrew your old operating rhythm, but kept the same pace.
- You’re carrying invisible emotional labour. Perhaps of the team stability, client reassurance, family steadiness.
- You haven’t had a true stillness in months because you’re settling for collapse rest.
- You’ve been trying so hard to fix a biology problem with a mindset tool.
I’m a big fan of “Tiny Tweaks” because they create rapid momentum and make a massive difference… but only when they’re the right tweaks.
A simple recalibration sequence – it’s private and safe
This as a pattern interrupt, not a lifestyle overhaul:
Step 1: Stop the leak.
For 48 hours, remove one high-frequency drain. This is not a productivity hack it is nervous system triage:
- device notifications
- constant checking
- one unnecessary meeting
- one “filler” commitment
Step 2: Restore one daily micro-dose of aliveness.
We’re not talking a spa day or a retreat A 10–15 minute “I’m alive signal” because joy often returns through the door of the senses, not the mind:
- walk outside without a podcast
- a cup of tea in silence
- stretch and slow breath
- music that changes your state – dance like no-one’s watching you.
Step 3: Make one commercial move from calm.
Pick ONE that you feel strategically ready and able to do. This helps you step in to power. Power is calm authority. Profit following precision thinking and action:
- raise or simplify pricing
- say no to a misaligned client
- tighten delivery so you stop over giving
- ask for the referral you keep hinting at
The diagnostic that changes everything
Ask yourself:
- Where am I operating from tightness, not truth?
- Where am I trying to be right instead of rich?
- What’s the smallest decision that would restore self-respect?
- What would I do this week if I trusted my capacity was renewable?
Because here’s the punchline When joy returns, it doesn’t just make life nicer. It upgrades:
- your discernment
- your leadership presence
- your client selection
- your communication
- your profitability
Remember Peace. Power. Profit. In that order. It makes a difference and often more than people like to admit.
Contact me If you’re brilliant at what you do but your income doesn’t match your value. Book a Joyful Profit Session and we’ll identify the leak, reclaim your leverage, and map your next best move calmly, strategically, and fast. I share a unique perspective on power, human and organisational energy, presence and influence that affect your affluence.
Love. Gail.