Joyful entrepreneuring

In the new issue [Nov/Dec 2006] of her newsletter Winning Ways, Barbara Winter talks about this idea of having a "merry heart" in business: "There are hundreds of perfectly smart reasons to be joyfully jobless, not the least of which is that people who are doing work that they love tend to be, well, more loving and joyful."

Drew Barrymore has said about her work as a film producer [Charlie's Angels and others] that she wants to "make movies that I would want to go see rather than ones I would just want to do as an actor. I want people to have movies full of romance and hope and empowerment, something they can escape into and feel good about. I love happy endings."

She and her partner Nancy Juvonen in their production company "Flower Films" think that kind of positive feeling is an aspect of their success as entrepreneurs.

In a magazine interview [Vogue, Feb 2006], Barrymore commented that at their ten-year anniversary, "We really reevaluated the films we had made, what made us happy, and we realized that all of them were, like, perfect experiences. The truth is, we're a small company, and we like it hard-core family-style. We're very hands-on. It's certainly the family I never had, and a really good important source of stability for me and an outlet for creativity. It's kind of ideal."

Oprah Winfrey, another example of a happy entrepreneur, has said, "I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace - a connection to what matters."

But Robert Epstein, PhD., Editor-in-Chief of Psychology Today, once cautioned in the magazine, "Oddly enough, happiness is probably not a state we should even try to pursue. It seems to emerge as a byproduct of fulfilling activities. Identify and practice those activities, and you just might find - if you ever slow down to think about it - that you're happy."

He goes on to quote writer Edith Wharton: "If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time."

Winter also quotes Daniel Pink from his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future: "Inventors and play often have much in common. The best inventors are playful. The best players are inventive."

And global entrepreneur Richard Branson has commented: "Fun is fundamental. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts."

One of his books is: Losing My Virginity : How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

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To learn more about Barbara Winter and her workshops and writings to support living the Joyfully Jobless Life, see her articles Why I Will Never Have a Job and Work as a Work of Art -- and visit her site BarbaraWinter.com

Related TDR pages:
passion
positive psychology
the child self / playing
vocation / calling resources : articles / sites
Achievement Resources
The Inner Entrepreneur

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