😃📂 Create Your Smile File

Ritual 04: 5 Ways To Bring You Instant Joy at Work and Home

While spring cleaning, I redecorated my office, which included repurposing an old picture frame. As I searched for a photo to feature in it, I turned to my memory file of cards saved over the years. Instead of a picture, I selected two thank-you cards as a physical reminder of the way these cards made me feel — happy — and to pass that feeling forward frequently.  

Before I closed the frame, I read the messages inside the cards once more and smiled — it was an instant joy. I realized my memory file needed to be rebranded to a Smile File because my mood shifted like a rush of sugar — the equivalent of a lot of chocolate, according to a British study which found:

“one smile generates the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.”

It also boosts your mood, according to Ron Gutman who shared that statistic and discussed this phenomenon in his TED Talk, “The Hidden Power of Smiling.” 

When you’re having a tough day — what helps change your perspective? Perhaps you go for a walk, eat your favorite (chocolate) snack, call a friend or open your Smile File. 

😁 A Smile File is a collection of happy memories

It includes compliments, thank-you notes, projects you’re proud of accomplishing or anything else that will make you feel a burst of joy and smile as a result. A Smile File is particularly powerful whenever you need it most, whether you’re feeling low or nostalgic. Your Smile File can be digital — a label in your email or physical — a folder or box filled with cards and printouts. 

I’m not the creator of the Smile File. I learned about the concept years ago from a mentor. While writing this article, I searched for the source without success. Still, I would like to share this meaningful resource for flourishing at work and in life with a few variations to make it your own or adapt it for your organization. 

In Positive Psychology, flourishing is defined as the following: 

Flourishing is the product of the pursuit and engagement of an authentic life that brings inner joy and happiness through meeting goals, being connected with life passions, and relishing in accomplishments through the peaks and valleys of life.

In Harvard Business Review, Dr. Brandy L. Simula wrote about four strategies to “Use the Science of Flourishing to Increase Your Well-Being.” Her list includes a few topics I’ve also championed:

1. 🙏🏽 Establishing a Gratitude Practice: Why We Should Say Thank You All Year Long

2. ❤️ Prioritize Act of Kindness: Celebrating the Kindness at Work Honor Roll

3. 🤹🏻 Leveraging Your Signature Strengths: Top 10 Skills to Succeed in Internal Communications

4. 🎉 Celebrating Your Accomplishments: The topic of this article with a twist — focusing on happy memories! 

Dr. Simula shared the following recommendation: 

When you pause to celebrate your accomplishments, it helps you actually feel them — what psychologists sometimes refer to as “savoring” — rather than simply checking them off a list of goals and moving forward.

That’s your Smile File! Each time there’s a moment you’re proud of, add it to your folder or box to capture that feeling. When you look back at the accomplishment, you’ll fondly remember that experience, likely leading to a smile. There’s scientific research behind this technique because smiling, like laughter, triggers a physical response: 

When our brains feel happy, endorphins are produced and neuronal signals are transmitted to your facial muscles to trigger a smile. 

From my research for the Smile File, here’s a digital and physical approach to consider:

📖 #1 “A Scrapbook of Things I’m Proud Of”

Brie Wolfson, the Founder of Constellate, shared her approach to tracking these happy moments: 

This is exactly what it sounds like; a collection of things I’m proud of. It’s a running list and hodgepodge of formats (screenshots, emails, pings, feedback, etc.) with no real organizational structure. 

Mostly because it’s such a joy to look back at. Often, I’ll end the day or the week thinking, what did I even do!? This can lead me to be a little hard on myself or try to build in more structure to optimize my time or work harder.  But when I open this file, I mostly get filled with the feeling of “you’re doing alright, Brie. Keep going.” And that’s a nice feeling (especially when you’re a team of 1). 

🎁 #2 “An Accomplishment Box”

Ximena Vengoechea

, a UX researcher and author of Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection, wrote about why you should adopt this ritual in Fast Company: 

Your accomplishments box is your personal treasure chest–you can check it as often as you’d like. Open it when you need a reminder of everything you’re capable of; of the people who have opened doors and helped you seize those opportunities; of the thought partners who have helped you deepen your skills in areas that you later succeeded in. Open it when you want to celebrate yourself, your support system, your luck, your natural talents and abilities, your hard work and spirit. Your box is a great physical reminder of that.

While the Smile File is quite personal, there are ways to incorporate it at work with your team or even broader to the entire organization. 

📁 Your Smile File at Work

🪩 #1 Embed the Smile File into Team Culture 

Introduce the Smile File at a team meeting. Once a month make time for people to share a smile file moment about a peer. Track those highlights in a virtual tool and host a Quarterly celebration gathering. For a special end-of-year look back, you could print, frame and mail this summary to team members. 

Make it more personal by incorporating this ritual into a meeting with a direct report so managers can help celebrate these happy moments. Start the conversation with that highlight. Give it a fun title as a heading so it won’t be skipped. Once, I referred to this as my “Orange You Glad Moment” of the week, thanks to my colleague, Chris who coined the phrase. 

🖼️ #2 Encourage Recognition Programs

Find ways to publicly appreciate employees with a wider reach than a team meeting, perhaps an All Hands. Tap into company values or key skills to champion contributions so that employees feel engaged and happy. Recognize them in a special way with a gift that isn’t easily purchased — a chance to shadow the CEO for a day, a signed copy of a book, a custom portrait illustration of the employee or another idea that’s related to your brand.  

In this CNBC article, Maria Schmitt, Cleveland Clinic’s Executive Director of HR Operations talked about the impact of their program since launching in 2010:

Employees who feel valued and thrive in their role are more likely to stay than those who don’t create connections or achieve fulfillment at work.

🎉 #3 Host Thank-a-thon’s 

To fill your team’s Smile File with celebratory moments, set a time each week to express appreciation. This could be as an async 5-minute calendar invite that directs employees to a central virtual destination. For in-office, consider offering custom stationery in the “lunch room” with your organizational values printed on it so employees can write thank-you notes to each other.   

In Harvard Business Review, Whitney Johnson, CEO of Disruption Advisors and author of Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company shared the following research and recommendations: 

Most organizations do not seem to have a celebration strategy, and individuals also have an ‘on-to-the-next’ mindset, as though it is contrary to productivity and efficiency to relish, even briefly, reaching our objectives. Nothing could be further from the truth…Celebration is an important opportunity to cement the lessons learned on the path to achievement and to strengthen the relationships between people that make future achievement more plausible. 

Celebration is an event, not a destination. It’s the little pause where we survey the road we’ve traveled and the mountain we’ve climbed…Celebrating achievements great and small is high octane fuel for further achievement. We don’t just celebrate the win; we celebrate to win.

Most importantly, seek out those moments to smile to fill your file, box or folder with much-needed and well-deserved joy. 

What are your ideas for creating a Smile File culture? What do you recommend saving to include in your Smile File?  

This article is part of a series on Rituals. Catch up on past editions: January’s Annual Report, February’s Growth & Learning, and March’s 🎫 🍫 Golden Ticket to Prioritization.

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☎️ The Switchboard Exchange

A monthly round-up of joyful links that made me smile:

• Professor Adam Grant of

  Granted
  took a look back at the 10-year anniversary of his first book, Give and Take. He applied re-thinking (a topic of another great book of his). Learn more.

• Typewriter Artist James Cook creates masterpieces from vintage typewriters. He describes his artwork as “a picture worth a thousand words.” Watch him work.

• Executive Coach

  Schlaf
  introduced a Quarterly Report ideology and template in his newsletter
  Where the Road Bends
  . Access the guide.

• The Smithsonian released Open Access with millions of historic images and exhibits available to explore online. Explore now.

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Thank you for reading The Switchboard. ☎️ Every edition is personally written by me — Julia Levy. Learn more about why I write. Review the Index of past posts.

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