Who doesn’t want to have a good day, right? Unfortunately, life is unpredictable, so they won’t all be good. But most “bad days” didn’t go well at work.

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Fortunately, researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer have unlocked a clear-cut direction on how to have a good day. They discovered:

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“If a person is motivated and happy at the end of the workday, it’s a good bet that he or she made progress. If the person is disengaged and joyless, a setback is most likely to blame.”

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Your progress that day at work has a strong correlation to whether your day is good or bad.

AND THE SECRET TO HAVING A GOOD DAY AT WORK… You make progress on whatever you’re working on that day!

And there is one major catch: if the work doesn’t mean anything to you, your progress won’t translate to feeling good. If you’re making progress on things you don’t care about, there won’t be any motivation or sense of fulfillment.

When it comes down to it, the secret to making meaningful progress is to make a small difference every day and celebrate your small wins.

‍Really? C’mon Dr. Rob! I can’t celebrate all the time… I’ve got work to do.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(Don’t worry, more on that next week!)

Dr. Rob