Last week, my friend and tech entrepreneur and investor, David Mullings, shared a Harvard Business Review interview featuring Kevin Johnson, Starbucks CEO. After a diagnosis of skin cancer in 2012, Kevin quit his then job to spend time on what he discovered was truly important – spending time with the people he loved. He did some soul-searching and made a decision: “Johnson said it was then that he made a new rule for himself: he would only do things that brought him joy.” A few years later, when Howard Schulz, former Starbucks CEO asked him to take the job, he was clear that he would only be “doing something I think is joyful with people I love.”
David shared the article with me, because he too experienced a life threatening episode earlier this year that caused him to deeply examine his life, and to start living it with joy. Shortly after his crisis, David documented his 20 Life Lessons. Please note #1:
“No matter how important you think your work is, it all has to pause when you have a medical emergency. Somehow, the world goes on and people manage. Don’t overwork yourself and learn to share some responsibility”
I am so grateful that both of them had their wakeup calls and are still with us. But I wondered, why do we wait for something terrible to happen to us before committing to living with joy? Is this the only way to be joyful? I don’t believe it is. Please read David’s Life Lessons. Ponder Kevin Johnson’s rule. And then examine how you live, how you work – are you doing so with joy? You don’t have to wait for a life-threatening crisis to make the change!
Thanks for reminding of this vital truth. It is so good for the soul