Want in on one of the best-kept secrets of the salon industry? For me, it’s that we have the opportunity to learn from some of the most gifted and talented leaders from around the nation! The professional organizations and networking groups in our industry are amazing and come with some great educational perks.
I recently attended the Intercoiffure Spring Atelier—one of the industry’s most prestigious and professional events to inspire, motivate and learn from each other. And while the Spring Atelier focused on all the hot beauty trends and techniques we can bring back to Minnesota, some of my biggest takeaways had to do with what’s on the inside—personal growth and happiness.
One of the highlights of the event was hearing from keynote speaker Hallerin Hilton Hill—or as he likes to be called, HHH—a talk radio host from Knoxville, Tennessee. His presentation on joy was so inspiring and filled with tools we can all use to create more joy in our daily lives.
In his presentation he shared with us that the word “enjoy” is actually “joy” with a prefix of “en,” which means to cause or create. So when we say we enjoy life or we enjoy our work, it is because we are choosing to create that joy in our lives. We have the ability and the responsibility to make our own joy.
And making joy is actually pretty easy if you know how to do it! HHH shared daily tools we can use to not only bring more joy into our own lives, but also to those around us! Here are the daily tools HHH lives by:
Gratitude
A simple way to add more joy daily is to be mindful of what you most appreciate. His idea, to create a gratitude journal that you add to each morning and evening. During your morning ritual, write down three things you are grateful for today. In your evening ritual, write down three things that went well and reflect on why they went well.
Attitude
How is your attitude these days? HHH said it perfectly—check your attitude and then fix your attitude! We can reset our attitude more quickly when we can internally adjust what is needed.
The 555+1= 1% Solution
The way you start your day is vital. Recharge with 15 minutes each morning; and he suggests the following: 5 minutes of reading, 5 minutes of meditation and 5 minutes of prayer. Those 15 minutes add up to 1% of your 24-hour day. That 1% of time taken to start your day well impacts the remaining 99% of your day! And for the +1 part, schedule something you love for yourself once a week. That can be a long walk, a blowout, a mani/pedi, or a call to a family member you haven’t spoken to in awhile.
ESN
To have more joy you need to care for yourself, which includes Exercise, Sleep and Nutrition! These are non-negotiable and should be the baseline of your routine.
Positive Relationships
Great relationships with others have the single greatest impact on joy. Surround yourself with the people who bring out the best in you!
Work
Who knew?! Those who have the most joy find happiness in the rewarding and purposeful work they have in their careers. Work can actually be good for you!
Grow
Give yourselves goals to grow emotionally, physically and intellectually! Continue to stretch yourself and learn new things!
Give
You have to give! To give away your time, your talent and knowledge brings others joy and oftentimes leaves you more joyful as well!
I don’t know about you, but more joy is something I could have each and every day in this wild and crazy life that we all lead. Start by writing down three things each morning that you are grateful for, it will begin to reset your mind, change your perspective on the things around you and who knows…it might just change your life!
Heather Ehresman is on the corporate team at Cole’s Salon.
