Do You Know What You're Missing?

We're talking chocolate cake and careers.

When Pineapple (my daughter) first started eating solid food, we stuck to the basics: fruits, vegetables, and simple meats. And she was perfectly content.

Broccoli? Loved it. Salmon? Sure. Lentils? Absolutely, she had the diet of a yoga instructor who just watched a food documentary on Netflix.

She had no idea what she was missing.

Then, on her second birthday, we gave her chocolate cake for the first time.

Yes this is cake. Yes it was delicious.

It was over.

One bite in, her pupils dilated, her eyebrows shot up, and her tiny brain did a full reboot. It was as if she had discovered life’s true purpose. Ever since then, if she even hears the word “cake,” her whole body turns toward the sound like a chocolate-seeking missile.

(Though who can blame her, I do the exact same thing.)

Pineapple had discovered a new dimension of delight, one she didn’t know she was missing because she didn’t even know it existed.

And I’ve seen that same moment happen with adults… at work.

Can Work Be Exciting?

I’ll never forget one of my first coaching clients, Jennifer. In our onboarding session, I asked my standard questions, including: “when was the last time you were really excited about your work?”

She looked at me blankly. “What do you mean, ‘really excited?’”

She’d had job after job, doing solid work, showing up, collecting a paycheck. But enjoyment? Fulfillment? Those weren’t on the list. She never even considered that they could be.

During our time together, we worked on small ways for her to add humor to her work, not just to make it more fun but to also stand out in her career.

Cut to a few months ago, and I got the following email out of the blue:

Hi Drew,

I saw your Ted Talk pop up on my LinkedIn and thought I'd reach out. I don't know if you remember me, but we worked together about 4 years ago.

I wanted to thank you and let you know that a lot of what we worked on stayed with me over the years. After watching your Ted Talk I realized a large part of why I am enjoying myself and my work so much is because my team and I laugh almost literally all day long. We are a small team that gets along so well and we love to laugh!

I honestly never thought I would find a job that was such a great fit. I felt like perhaps I was destined just to go to work and not enjoy it. After all, it's called work for a reason right??

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that even 4 years later your words and support have stuck with me! Thank you so much :)

Jennifer

(Bold emphasis mine.)

I’ve been thinking about this email almost every day for the last few months.

First, it’s always rewarding to hear back from previous coaching clients. Second, Jennifer isn’t alone.

Most people think about “enjoying work” the way my daughter thought about cake before her second birthday: they don’t even know it’s an option.

They’ve resigned themselves to the myth that work is supposed to be hard, stressful, soul-numbing, or at best, tolerable.

But what if that’s not true?

What if it’s not that your work sucks…
What if it’s that you suck at work?

I don’t mean you’re bad at your job. I mean you haven’t yet cracked the code on how to work in a way that is both effective and enjoyable. Productive and playful. Competent and comedic (but in an HR-appropriate way).

Are You Missing Out on Fun?

So how do you know if you’re missing out on enjoying your work?

Here’s a quick checklist:

• You dread Monday mornings (and maybe Sunday nights too).

• You refer to your job as “soul-sucking,” even if only half-joking.

• Your best workday moment is lunch.

• You feel more yourself on vacation than you do at your desk.

• You’ve said, “It’s called work for a reason.”

• You use phrases like “pushing through” or “surviving the week.”

• You fantasize about quitting every time someone Reply-Alls to an email..

• You can count the number of times you’ve laughed at work in the last week (and it’s less than 5).

If you checked off more than a few of those, I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news is that you’re missing out on a huge competitive advantage in your job (i.e. actually enjoying it).

The good news is that it can change, you just need to taste the chocolate cake of work.

The kind of work that aligns with your strengths. That lets you be yourself. That makes you laugh, out loud, on a consistent basis.

It exists. I’ve seen it. I’ve helped people find it.

And no, that doesn’t mean you have to quit your job, move to Portugal, or start a llama-based, yoga side hustle called LLamaste.

It could be as simple as:

1. Finding small moments of levity in your day—like sharing a joke with a coworker.

2. Redesigning your workspace to make it a place you actually want to be.

3. Giving yourself permission to pursue projects you enjoy, not just the ones that “make sense.”

You don’t have to flip your life upside down. Sometimes, all it takes is adding a little dessert to what’s already on your plate.

Ready to figure out what chocolate cake at work looks like for you?

Want work to feel more like chocolate cake than cold broccoli?

Sign up for a free clarity call and let’s uncover what’s been missing. No pressure, no pitch—just a conversation to help you better enjoy what you already do.

(an)drew

PS. I made an Apple Pie / chocolate cake joke in my Dry Bar special. Here’s a clip if you haven’t seen it.