Microdosing joy.

Making happiness a habit as a self-confessed startup addict.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it takes to “make it”. To climb to the peak of the mountain. To build something huge. Bank lotsa money. Fulfil one’s potential. Change the world.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since listening to a podcast interview with the smart and stylish co-founder of Triangl Swimwear, Erin Deering. She’s had the type of success that most brands only dream of: recruiting Kendall Jenner into her fan club, cracking the lucrative US market in a big way, and, at one point moving to Monaco (yep, Monaco) to be at the centre of the action.

But at the height of it all - while making millions and gallivanting around the globe - she was by all accounts, “fucking miserable”.

Erin Deering on the Dream Bigger Podcast.

I certainly haven’t built a multimillion dollar fashion label, but as a former founder slash current startup addict there’s a lot I relate to in her story. I love building stuff so much that I can let it take over my life. More than once I’ve prioritised work over almost everything and everyone else, sacrificing my entire identity in service of whatever I was trying to pursue.

But I’m realising that winning big in one area - like work or business - often involves losing in others. Sometimes it involves losing everything. Joy and happiness. Relationships and mental health. Our identity. Our sanity.

“I see these founders, they come to me and they can’t access happiness because they’re running on so much stress.” - Erin Deering

So many of us (myself included) hustle and grind to go after our dreams, but at what cost? And if we lose all joy in the process of building something, then what’s the fucking point?

Build with joy, or don’t bother

Coincidentally, straight after listening to Erin’s chat I stumbled across a genius TikTok sharing a framework called ‘save the day’, which simply suggests to do one tiny joy-filled thing a day that’s solely for you. By saving each day, we take back moments for ourselves no matter how crazy life gets.

I took the fact that both Erin’s podcast and this video surfaced concurrently in my social feeds as a sign from the universe that I might need to chill out and lighten up, and so now I’m on a personal mission to microdose joy on the daily.

For the last few weeks I’ve been building this into my routine and tracking it the same way I track all my habits. I realise that scheduling joy seems sort of psychotic but hey, it works for me.

I’ve done things like:

• Going for a walk in the early morning sunshine.

• Brewing a hot cup of tea and reading a few pages of fiction before opening my emails.

• Styling a cute outfit and taking my laptop to a bar, just because.

• Going to the market at 11am on a Wednesday to get a random ingredient for a new recipe I want to try.

• Getting a bougie gua sha facial.

It seems little, and it is. That’s kinda the point. Because with consistency and time, little compounds into big. Into great. Into more.

Save every day

For me, the lesson from Erin’s founder story isn’t that I should temper my ambition, it’s that I should check in with myself constantly on the way up. It’s that I should prioritise joy just like I prioritise other habits like writing or going to the gym.

If you’re chronically overworked and/or addicted to building, perhaps these questions will help:

• What’s driving your fervent desire to work all the time? Is it excitement? Fear? Inspiration? Desperation?

• When was the last time you did something purely for enjoyment’s sake? Something non work-related that made you feel energised and alive?

• How might you create a little space in your life just for you? In your schedule? In your brain? In your environment?

• How might you take a small moment to save the day?

“Making it” isn’t making it if you lose yourself while building the dream.

“Making it” is making it if, in every crevice, nook and cranny, you find the person you’ve always been.

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🎧 A deep dive into how I’m making joy a priority by building it into my schedule

• The texture of my day to day life as a solo operator [1:07]

• The question I’ve been asking myself up until recently: what’s my next big goal? [1:38]

• The new question I’m asking: how do I want to spend my time? [2:17]

• Why working less isn’t the answer for me [3:22]

• How I’ve made ‘save the day’ operational in my life [5:08]

• The OG Tiktok that started it all [7:40]

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😬 Do you build joy into your routine?

…or is it just me out here on this limb?

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💌 PS…

Do yourself a favour and listen to the Dream Bigger podcast ep here and check out Erin’s book “Hanging by a Thread” here, they’re both well worth it.

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