When we first look at how we can create an impact, we often jump to solving a problem. We jump to a solution-based approach and we leap over a very particular focus we must have to create the impact we seek. Today we’re going to talk about joy.

Joy is defined as a feeling of great happiness.

When we step back and examine our lives, we find many areas of joy. You may see joy in your relationship with your partner, with your children, with your pet, with friends, with your community volunteerism, within your hobbies … it pops up in all aspects of our life. It even pops up in our work. And for many of us, we find joy in our leadership. For me, it always pops in when I mentor someone. I love passing on my knowledge and helping someone on their way up. If one person learns from my experience, I feel joy.

When we start to combine what brings us joy with how we want to create impact and then couple that with our leadership, well, the possibilities are endless. Let’s look at how to tap into all three.

In my IMPACT work, I define impact as igniting more passion to align your commitments and transform. Impact success is rooted in joy. While joy isn’t represented in the words above directly, it’s there. It’s hidden in our passion, our alignment, our ignition moment. It’s why we commit and what drives us to transform.

Passion, especially in the workplace, is something women have been told to “check at the door.” Raise your hand if you’ve been told to leave your emotions at home. I see you. I’ve been there. I listened to that “rule” for many years. I tried to fit into the mold. Turns out, I don’t find joy when I’m boxed in. When I started to tap into my passion and let it have space with my day-to-day and blend into my work, that’s when real joy entered my work.

For me, my passion lies in environmental conservation and supporting people and communities. I want to see a world better than what it is today. Being an event planner doesn’t typically allow you to conserve. Much of what we do for events is (or has been) focused on over-the-top experiences and delights that attendees can’t experience anywhere else. I loved planning events but the stress and nuances of it were eroding my joy. The solution: Go back to basics. Sitting with myself and tapping into my joy was my ignition moment. Remembering that my passion is in conservation and supporting communities led me to find the sustainable event planning movement. It led me into a new group of people trying to change an entire industry. It led me to people leading with their passion vs. leading with their job.

My passion always sat outside the work door. However, now that it comes into the office with me, I uncovered an entirely new way to approach my work. My passion for sustainability allowed me to align to new initiatives with my work. It allowed me to uncover how to bring more to the table. It brought new ideas, new approaches, innovations and conversations with co-workers and clients. My impact started to change. I then made commitments to myself on how I would continue to bring my passion into my work.  This led me into a thought leadership space and allowed me to grow as an individual. This led to leadership positions in the companies I worked for and in the industry for which I love. This transformation into my impact leadership was all fueled by my joy. It was by allowing my joy to flourish that I also truly flourished.

Spend some time with yourself over the next few weeks and open the door on your passion. Let your passion start to breath into your work and see how your joy starts to unfold. Then lean in. Lean into the joy and create your biggest impact yet.

This is the second installment of  the “Creating an Impact” series by Courtney Lohmann, an award-winning leader, CSR and sustainability expert and the founder of Courtney Lohmann Consulting. Read her first installment here.