Go to your happy place
This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO
Last week, Punchbowl suddenly lost a friend. His name was Chyorni, and he was the beloved cat of our most senior engineer — Blake. Chyorni was taken from this world suddenly and without warning. While it’s not unusual for cats to pass away suddenly, I was struck by Blake’s description of Chyorni’s final resting place. You see, Chyorni was simply sleeping in his happy place. In fact, Blake didn’t immediately know that he had died, simply because Chyorni was where he liked to be in the evenings. He was quiet and peaceful — in his happy place. It’s a horrible thing to lose an animal that you love so much, but I know Blake is comforted with the knowledge that Chyorni spent the last moments of his life in the happy place that he found so comfortable. We could all be so lucky.
All of us have a happy place. It’s the place where you feel most comfortable — the one you return to as a “default.” At home, it might be your favorite spot on the couch or in your special chair. For me, my happy place is quietly sitting next my wife on the couch: reading, watching TV, or writing (like I am right now). After a long day, there’s something really nice about just spending some quiet time together.
I was thinking today about the concept of a happy place in the workplace. I believe that most of us have a happy place at work as well. Your happy place at work are the tasks that you feel most comfortable doing. You know, the “to-do’s” that you return to when you don’t want to do the more difficult or time-consuming items on your list. At work, my happy place is in spec review meetings. Although I’m not a software engineer, I feel very comfortable helping to develop product specs and reviewing design issues with the team. I love working on new software — especially when great new ideas emerge.
What’s your happy place at home? What’s your happy place at work? I hope you’ll spend some time thinking about your happy place. And when you do, think about Chyorni: quiet and peaceful in his happy place.
