I recently watched The 3 As of Awesome with my daughter and loved it. It's a short talk (17 min) from Neil Pasricha, the author of the 1000 awesome things blog. The talk goes through a roller coaster of emotions, at least for me, with a pleasant start, a sad middle, and a positive end. There's some humor in it, and I highly recommend you watch it.

When we finished, my daughter and I talked about what awesome thing had happened to each of us that day. She said that me giving her 5 extra minutes to play with a friend before we left was great. I told her the crazy, illegal, solo, 5 hit volleyball return I made at her practice that made everyone laugh was the highlight of my day. We challenged the rest of the family to find an awesome thing from that day, and everyone enjoyed it. Since then we've made it a point to regular ask what awesome thing happened to each other.

The philosophy espoused in the talk is one I try to follow. I stop and appreciate the cool, little things in my life. A refill of my drink when I'm flying economy class makes me smile. I get a good feeling when I can stop and hold the door for someone behind me. I appreciate the health I have, and the fact I can run regularly. A good cup of coffee, the cat wanting to snuggle up when I'm typing in bed, or the chance to step away from my desk and give my wife a kiss during the day are awesome and amazing things in my life.

Work isn't always awesome, but I'd like to think that you find little things you can appreciate on a regular basis. Maybe it's code you write that works. Maybe it's the knowledge that you saved someone else time because of something you did. Maybe it's that second monitor that lets the work flow a little smoother. Maybe it's that burst of bandwidth that made a download smoother. Maybe it's the comment someone made on SQLServerCentral or on Twitter that grew a smile on your face.

We spend a lot of time at work, and it's often work. I hope you enjoy your job overall, but even when it's not the job for you, hopefully you can find and appreciate some little thing that occurs every week that shows the universe likes you.

Steve Jones

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