What if happiness at work wasn’t just an abstract ideal but something you could actively cultivate, one small action at a time? In today’s episode, we speak with Andreea Pap, from the world of positive psychology, whose innovative tool help individuals and organizations embrace happiness in practical, measurable ways. From the science-backed principles of gratitude and mindfulness to creative practices like Serious Play, this no-nonsense conversation dives into what it takes to build more joyful, balanced environments. Get ready to uncover actionable strategies, heartfelt stories, and a tool that might transform your perspective on happiness.

More information about Andreea here.

Transcript

*Please note that the transcript has been automatically generated and proofread for mistakes. But remains in spoken English, and some syntax and grammar mistakes might remain.

Elisa Tuijnder: [00:00:00] What if happiness at work wasn’t just an abstract ideal, but something you could actively cultivate one small action at a time. In today’s episode, we speak with an inspiring guest from the world of positive psychology whose innovative tools are helping individuals and organizations embrace happiness in practical, measurable ways.

From the science backed principle of gratitude and mindfulness to creative practices like serious play, this no-nonsense conversation and dives into what it takes to build more joyful, balanced environments. Get ready to uncover actionable strategies, heartfelt stories, and a revolutionary tool that just might transform your perspective on happiness.

Before we dive in, you are listening to The Happiness At [00:01:00] Work podcast by Management 3.0 where we are getting serious about happiness.

I’m your host Issa er, happiness Enthusiast and Management 3.0 team member. In this podcast, we share insights from industry experts, influencers. And thought leaders about what it takes to be happy, motivated, and productive at work, so that loving your job becomes the norm and not the exception. We’ll be publishing every fortnight on Friday, so be sure to tune in and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Today we are joined by Andrea B, founder of Happiness Digger, creator of Transformative Unhappy Action Cards and Exodus for applying positive psychology in the workplace. Her approach to integrating happiness into daily routines [00:02:00] resonates with us. So today we’ll explore Andrea’s journey, the impact of her work and her insights into building happier, more productive environments.

Hi, welcome, Andrea. Hello. 

Andreea Pap: Well, thanks for, uh, thanks for having me. It’s an honor to be on your, uh, on your podcast. I’ve been, uh, listening to the great, uh, speakers that you have, uh, recently on, uh, on board. So I’m delighted to be, uh, glad to be joining you today for, uh, this episode. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Great. Yeah. I’m really excited to explore, explore your happy action cards, uh, further and you, you bit a bit about yourself, but we cannot start until we’ve asked our signature question, and that is, what does happiness mean to you?

Andreea Pap: Yeah. So I, uh, did think about this one already as the latest signature on your own podcast. For me, happiness, uh, at this point in, in my life is really all about balance. Balance in, for example, being able to be satisfied with my [00:03:00] life while I work on what’s next. Being able to experience joy while something maybe bad is happening in, uh, in my life.

And really being able to find joy and, and laughter even when things don’t turn out the way I expected. So even when I, uh, fail as, as to say so. For me, it’s really, happiness is something that I create through my actions every single day. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Um, and I I love that, that you also said, like, at this point in my life, recognizing that maybe some point somebody’s different and that it evolves and that it might evolve again in, into something else.

So yeah, that’s cool. Hey, you, uh, have a, a, a background in the FinTech industry, which you still do a lot of things in and you’re quite enjoy it. But what time for you did this kind of, uh, focus and shift towards positive psychology came also inside of that? And what was your driver to really go after this positive psychology approach and just, uh, affecting, then driving [00:04:00] it as well afterwards?

Andreea Pap: Yeah, very, very interesting question. ’cause indeed it’s a, it’s quite a shift from, uh, from one thing to the other, but, uh, really positive psychology. Something that, uh, caught my eye, probably my mid twenties, maybe early to mid twenties, as a way to develop myself first, both personally and professionally.

And little by little I started realizing, um, this like almost shocking reality or shocking truth. That was that all throughout my education, everything was focused on how to manage the external world, how to be good at doing certain things, how to be good at sales and negotiating, and how to do marketing, et cetera.

All of these things were all about how to manage. Yeah, what’s outside, you know, the world. Uh, but nothing. I really focused on kind of how to manage the self, how to manage myself, help manage my emotions, to [00:05:00] understand how my brain works, how can I take advantage of my strengths, even knowing what my strengths were.

So that’s kind of how, how it started, how it came into my life. And, uh, later, during, uh, 2020 when, uh, I was forced to stay at home. So obviously I wasn’t traveling. So much for work anymore. And yeah, there wasn’t also much to do anyways, so I took the opportunity and I started studying again to certify as a positive psychology practitioner.

And uh, as I was doing that, I actually also was able to start applying, but I was learning really immediately with everything that was going on, and I could really see the positive impact that it was having on people’s and on people’s lives in general. So, yeah, at some point it just made sense that I took the steps to dedicate myself, uh, fully to sharing and really empowering individuals to create a more happy [00:06:00] and fulfilled life for themselves.

And I always say it’s Atard, but it’s also at home. So. It really is in both, uh, dimensions of our lives. But yeah, the FinTech industry continues to have a special, uh, place in my heart and I continue to, of course, to, to stay connected with the industry and I serve it through yeah, my new role. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely.

And, and yeah, with a different focus, but still there. And I also like that you said you had the pandemic, the global health crisis. You were immediately applying it to yourself and then probably helping the people around you and then decided, okay, let’s get this ripple effects going. And I see that a lot of people would do positive psychology, and I, I love it that in a sense that they see the fans just for themselves and then have, okay, let’s pay it forward.

We need to get other people or more people, uh, involved in this. So it’s nice. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It’s such an important that they are part of science. That, first of all, it’s quite new, but second of all, I really think we all should know and should learn, and I think [00:07:00] for some of us, like I think my generation, maybe even a bit younger and definitely older, did not have access to any of this education.

I see Nowadays things are changing little by little in different countries, different schools, and it’s starting to be part, uh, but it wasn’t traditional. So yeah, we have to catch up with it now. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. And there’s still a lot of work to go. So let’s dive in, uh, into these happy action cards that I’ve told the listeners about a little bit already in the, in the introduction.

Let’s first kind of drive into what are they and how do they work so that people can understand what we’re talking about. ’cause I was really excited reading about them. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah, sure. Let me, uh, yeah, start a bit with what inspired them, and I hope you can resonate. With the idea because the reason why I came up with this concept, and I really thought about it a long time, was that, so for a long time, how you, uh, maybe you read the book, you listen to a podcast like this one, you watch a documentary and then you feel [00:08:00] like really inspired by the ideas that you read or hear or see, and then you think, okay, I’m gonna start implementing, I’m gonna do things differently.

But yeah, the moment it used to me, the moment that I put the book away, it’s almost as if the ideas are also put away at the same time. So I really wanted to bridge that gap between, you know, feeling inspired and motivated and acting, really taking action and implementing the changes. So that’s how the concept came to be, that I wanted it to be something that you have to do.

Not so much about learning and reading, et cetera, but really you have a small context of why a certain action is important and then you actually, the, the goal is to do it. So that’s how it started. That’s what how I ended up with the Happy Action cards and. The way they work, it’s actually quite, well, quite simple in a [00:09:00] way.

So the idea is that everyone obviously can integrate in a simple way, um, positive psychology, um, in their lives by, um, taking one card, um, every week. And, um, yeah, doing the action that is in on the card. So the deck contains the 52 card, so you have actually one for each week of the year. So you get to experiment for a full year with different actions.

And of course they are is all positive psychology. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Amazing. Yeah, I know. I, I, it, it’s really, I have this as well. The problem sometimes, like you read something and then yeah, implementing it into your daily life is hard. And also bringing in an element of fun there also probably is quite helpful. So we’ll talk about the little element of fun and, and playfulness, uh, uh, a little bit later as well.

But I wanna talk about like, sort of. The how the simple act can lead to significant changes, uh, in most daily life. And you know how this little card, uh, [00:10:00] 52 times what kind of impact that could have, it will probably have to link it to one of the practices that’s on there. Or you can already pick one out so that people can listen to the examples.

Andreea Pap: Sure. So first, um, well, I, I mentioned that obviously that there are 52 cards, so the idea and yeah, the concept is to, to draw a card. Really build, um, this small habit. So for me, really the important thing to kind of know and understand when it comes to happiness in general, it’s that it’s not about these big things, you know, about the promotion and maybe the getting the bigger house or the fancy holiday.

It’s really about the things that you do in your everyday life, the small actions. So based on that, that’s where again, the concept of Yeah, action and happy action comes. Um, and the idea is to, to do, for example, I have, well, let me take a different one. I’ll take one from gratitude. ’cause this the first one, for example, this one says.

Find something or someone to celebrate every [00:11:00] day. So it has the actionable wrong. And on the back it has an explanation of why it’s important, um, to do this practice. And a tip, I always put the tip, if people don’t know how to start, for example, in this one, the deep is remember you are someone tool.

Sometimes we think only about the rest of the people, we forget about ourselves. So the idea is, as you can see, to do the small actions that don’t take a lot of time, uh, but really can have as, uh, as you were saying, like a, a really big impact. And if you think, I always like to go back to physical exercise because I think nowadays we all know that physical exercise, it’s good for us and in order to stay healthy and fit, we need to exercise.

And it’s not about exercising once a month. We have the exercise regular learning, right? Yeah. So when it comes to mental health, to wellbeing, to happiness, it’s the same, right? It’s not enough to just stay this one day a month where you, you know, take [00:12:00] care of yourself. It’s really about doing the small actions, but regularly throughout the days of the week and throughout the month in order to, yeah, to feel happier, you know, to to work on your own wellbeing and.

As I always say, you know, at the end of the day, happiness is, it’s a bit of a shared effect, and when you feel happy, you know the people around you feel happier. You know, you transmit that positive emotion to, um, to the people around you. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. And also, I mean, if you’re not happy, you can’t give away more stuff of yourself, right?

You’re not as energized you if you feel well yourself. This again, it gets chance, uh, metaphors with your, with the fitness example. If you’re not, well, you can’t. Be super, a hundred percent at work as well, even if that’s mental or physical and at home and all, and all of these things. So it’s a really good metaphor, uh, each time to use sort of the physical wellbeing as well as the mental wellbeing.

They go hand in hand and aside as well. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah, yeah. And you indeed, it’s a bit of a shift of the [00:13:00] mindset. So, you know, one of the things that I mentioned earlier about understanding how our mind works when we understand that we have a negativity bias and that our brain told what to focus on. The brain will always focus on the negative.

So we have to try to proactively and with intention decide to focus on the positives as well. So there are always positives we can notice and we can appreciate, but we have to, yeah, proactively and in, you know, kind of put a little bit of, and for in, in order to, um, to notice them and really move into this more positive mindset.

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely the, it’s a very silly thing from our brains. Silly is not the right word, but you know, why we are hardwired for negativity is, um, I have a my to do list somewhere, uh, along the lines at some point to really figure out how that came about from an evolution perspective. 

Andreea Pap: I can give you like one sentence.

Yeah. ’cause I, being that, uh, people always, uh, remember, so [00:14:00] I always tell people you can think about your brain as, uh, or yourself. As the survivor or descendant of the most negative people on earth. Yeah. ’cause the only thing is that the people that were, you know, focused on the negative, on the risks. You know, is there a lion?

Is there, you know, this tribe, is it peaceful or is it going to to hurt me? You know, the people that were like, yeah, it’s okay. Probably there’s nothing in the bushes. And for sure this tribe is very, I can walk. Those people have not survived. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. Okay. Cool. That, that, that sort of makes sense. It does. So the caution, the overly cautious and overly negative had a better survival sense there.

Yeah. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah. And at the time it works very well, right? It was all about survival, but I think that’s why it’s so important and all of the work that’s been done in positive psychology is crucial to understand and to explain to us that, you know, in order to thrive, it’s a lot more beneficial to focus on the positive.

On the positive it is now in our [00:15:00] context specifically and on the opportunities rather than all the risks and the what might go wrong, et cetera. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. Your cars are rooted in over 20 years of research in, in positive psychology and, you know, it’s a sort of fairly new field, but it’s starting to really get, uh, bigger and bigger and, and there is a lot of good work out there already.

And the cards that you mentioned them as well, let’s start with one from gratefulness. Um, so. You have these five building blocks within your cars as well, and I think they are gratitude, mindfulness, meaning relationships, and balance. How does your, your background in positive psychology and how does these five things sort of, how did they, they came into this and, and how did you think about it in that way?

I. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah, so, well, it, it really started as, as I was studying obviously to become a positive psychology practitioner. I kept coming, uh, across different themes that repeated and seemed to have a very big impact, um, on our wellbeing and on our happiness. Um, therefore, you know, kind of little by little it shaped in my mind into this, um, five, uh, building [00:16:00] blocks as I call them.

So I really decided to create some categories that, well, first of all, resonated with me as an individual and I could see, you know, the benefits of applying them in my own life and in the lives of those that were around me or that did work with me. And there I came up with indeed this five that you are mentioning.

So. For example, I can give you just a quick summary of why the reason of this fight. So in positive psychology, of course we focus a lot on positive emotions. Um, but platitude, um, in itself, it’s one of the most positive emotions that exist. So. If you think about all of the multiple positive emotions that we can experience, uh, uh, gratitude, it’s actually one of the most researched emotions.

And I think in general, one of the most researched topics in, in positive psychology. And of course it’s not without reason. Think like most of the studies from the early days and after today have proven that it [00:17:00] is a major predictor of, um, life satisfaction. So. If, if you think about it all the ability to be grateful and being able to see the good that you have in your life, it’s very telling of how you see your life, right?

So the more you see the positives in your life, of course the happier you are going to be, right. It it’s a simple as that. There was this one study actually that was done in the uk. That mentioned the, the finding was that 18.5% of a person’s happiness can be determined by their ability to be grateful.

Yeah. So a huge amount of happiness, right. That comes from this just developing this, uh, ability, which is a practice that only can be developed by doing gratitude practices. So that’s my gratitude. Then second, we have mindfulness, of course, a very well-known concept. I would say nowadays, um, [00:18:00] everyone understands the importance, um, of mindfulness, and I think pretty much everyone understands what it is.

But just, uh, to give you a kind of my definition, mindfulness moment. It’s really any moment in which what you do and what you think are in sync. So you are doing something and you’re thinking about what you’re doing and nothing else. So I think that’s, yeah. The reason why it included this, um, this category, it’s, is because of the lives, the types of life that really, where there’s always something else coming.

And we have lost this ability to, to focus and to center our attention on what we’re doing rather than thinking about the next thing thing, the next thing. And thinking about what went wrong in the, I dunno, previous meeting or the previous day. That was, yeah. How I, I, I thought mindfulness is, it’s really important for us as a, as individuals.

Absolutely. Then we have third, we have meaning, and this category, [00:19:00] it’s, I think it’s the most profound one because it really focuses on getting to know yourself, your values, your strengths, reflect on who you are as a person, and yeah. When I talk about meaning, I always talk about meaning in your lives. So really give sense to the things that you’re doing and make sure that your values, of course, are aligned with what you think and what you do and also what you sense.

So everything is aligned in that way. And then we have, uh, the last two ones are, well, two of my favorites of first relationship. It’s really, again, one of the greatest indicators of hacking serum are plenty of, uh, studies done, and I don’t know if you are familiar, but there is a very well-known study that was done by Harvard.

Yeah, yeah. 75 years plus long study on, on happiness that really proved that good close relationships. Those like quality relationships are key to our [00:20:00] happiness and not only happiness, but also health. If it wants to build happy and healthy lives, we need and good, uh, quality relationships. And the last one, balance I mentioned at the start, for me, it is something that’s been important throughout my life.

When I think about balance, again, it’s not about having everything in that perfect balance, but making sure that nothing, it’s too much or too little. That you have a view of the balance in your life, and I always like to use this 80 20 rule a bit, the twist, which is like, you know, if 80% of the things in your life are on track and you’re happy with them, you know, the remaining 20 can be a bit chaotic.

It’s fine. Yeah. It doesn’t matter. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think my, one of my, my, my bosses, she was a manager or she was one of my managers and, and she made this remark because I was really at one point like, oh, like can’t do this. All of the, I was like really stressed out and she was like, look. For me, [00:21:00] if I, I cannot have, I, I only have time for two things at the same time, if I’m focusing on my health and my work, I cannot focus on the fact that a house is completely in order and that the kids are like all of these things.

And, and so I always have to sort of add in one. And I do this every six months. I take stock and I’d be like, okay, my health is now important. I need to do less at work, or I need to put less investment in, in, in other things. And I always remember that moment and she said that to me and I was like. That was sort of one of the first starts for me of getting interested in introduc things because actually we can’t do everything at the same time.

And if we are super hardworking on fitnessing or getting healthy or at some point or super hard focusing on something at work. Then everything else can’t be exactly perfect in the other sides of our our lives as well. So that is great that you brought that back in there or that you brought that into the cards as well.

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Andreea Pap: Absolutely. I, I couldn’t agree more. Uh, yeah. And yeah, I want, uh, to keep track of, uh, of, of things I use, uh, with my clients. I usually use something called the Wheel of Lies. Um, so it’s very nice because it’s very easy. You can just, you have, uh, different categories in your life and you just have to rate [00:23:00] where they are.

And I think the point is just to, to reflect, okay, where are the different things in my life on a scale from zero to um, to 10? And am I happy with them being there or do I want to work on them? Do I want to focus a bit more on family and friends or fun instead of, uh, I dunno, maybe, um, career. Or, you know, maybe professional development, uh, you know, for people that, uh, are studying, for example, once you finish.

Okay. Do you want to shift your priorities a little? I really like this, uh, will of life as a, just as a way to reflect on where you stand. I. 

Elisa Tuijnder: And in some way that’s actually also, I, it’s kinda how see is also almost a mindfulness ex exercise. Like, or because what you’re doing, I, I, before I sort of understood all of these things, all these things were happening in my brain, but they were not happening on a mindful, or they, I wasn’t bringing awareness to them.

And by bringing, by doing this small exercises, knock us like every now and again, having a feedback with yourself almost, you’re [00:24:00] making, you’re doing a moment where you’re doing. All the things you weren’t, that you were doing, un unknowingly, you’re actually putting them in line with your conscious self and, and it’s so powerful.

Well, what was your, uh, I’m gonna hear some of more of the practices obviously, because here we’re always, uh, looking for practical, uh, insights and tangible tips, uh, for our listener. But let’s first hear some of your, maybe first your sort of standout happiness practice. The one that when you put it into the depths, like, okay, yeah, this is the one I really love.

And, uh, maybe also one that really surprised you where the feedback has been for some kind of way surprising and when you, when you, when you went out there in the world and people tended to give you like some comments on it. 

Andreea Pap: Okay. So favorite one and the surprising feedback. Okay. It’s still my favorite one.

Of course I love all of the practices. I ones, I feel like they are my babies. I love them all, but my, my absolute favorite one, don’t doubt. And the one that it’s really part of my everyday life, and I think it’s [00:25:00] also because it’s something that I share with my partners that makes it like extra special, is that every night before we go to bed, we asked each other what was the best thing of today.

And on the surface it’s simple question, right? It’s just, okay, what was the best thing of today? It’s quite simple. Doesn’t take a lot of time. But the reality is that it forces your brain again to more from this, you know, automatic negative thought pattern to the looking for the good pattern. So it really builds that muscle, uh, that counteracts we, our brains automatic negativity bias.

So. What happens when you, when we ask each other this question is because you are asking about the best thing of the day. We actually start going through all of the good things that happened that day, right? So you wanna find the best, which requires it to go through all of the good things that happen in order to choose the best.[00:26:00]

Even on the hard days, this practice works really well because if you had a bad day works, yeah, things didn’t turn out as you expected, you are still forcing your brain to find at least one good thing. And there are always good things around us. You know, it can be maybe sometimes just a meal or maybe a nice shower that you had, or maybe a nice chat, but there are always things that you can bring to mind.

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely. 

Andreea Pap: That are good. Yeah. Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: I love that one. I really do. I’m gonna try and, uh, my, my partner into this ing robot into this one as well. 

Andreea Pap: Well, I, I really, it, it’s such a great thing to do and also it, it really changes also the way you go to sleep, right? Instead of, uh, so we do this at the very last moment, right before you go sleep, after we turn the lights off and everything, and instead of starting to ruminate about.

I dunno what you have to do the next day or things that Yeah, we both through all 

Elisa Tuijnder: the time. Yeah. When do I need to set my alarm? When she need to [00:27:00] leave, right? 

Andreea Pap: Yes. Your, your brain will go there automatically. So this way you’re forcing it to go to the positive and you know, it’s a moment obviously also of connection with the other.

Absolutely. Yeah. But then you also go to, to sneak, you know, in a positive state with positive emotions and, you know, feeling grateful. So. There is no better way to go to sleep and, you know, ensuring good quality night of sleep than, uh, going to sleep, uh, with positive emotions and yeah, killing, calm and when relaxed.

So the second one is said, surprising feedback. I did get quite a bit of feedback on different cards and how people use the cards, which was quite surprising, but they find to, to pick, uh, uh, the feedback on, on a specific card. It was, uh, it, it, it was a funny one, so I’ll pick that one. I have a card in the meaning category that says, uh, to create a list, but of 100 things to know about you.

So you know, when you hear 100 things, you’re think it’s a lot. Yeah. It’s love. Yeah. What things can I write down? So the idea is to make it [00:28:00] obviously a very self discovery exercise when you, where you write down really so many things. And at some point, because yeah, you run out of the standard ones, you really need to look big.

To find things and to put things in in, um, yeah, on the list. But the funny thing is that I, I do recommend on the card that you share it with your partner, with friends, with family, et cetera. So someone told me that had written the, the list of the 100, uh, b. Has, uh, gifted it to her partner under the title How to Operate.

Yeah. I thought it was quite embarrassed. Yeah. But those are very nice way though. Yeah. Give your partner a, a very profound idea and you kind of want list of things to know about you overall if you are maybe starting a relationship or you know. Absolutely. Yeah. You need to reconnect again. Throughout the relationship, so this could be a fun ex Excel fight.

But yeah, the way she presented it to her partner was, uh, quite [00:29:00] hilarious. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, I love that as well. Yeah, I mean, yeah, and it’s a good one, right? ’cause also sometimes people, some things are very, very outspoken that some things are not, and this is what we also do a lot at work, right? Uh, to give these manuals of how to work with me and how to communicate with me, or that’s what we sort of try to bring in as well to make sure where we don’t have that time to get to know a person incredibly deeply, well.

And also what the point of it is to give an overview, like, okay, please work with me like this, or communicate like that with me. And that really actually leads me into the work side of this. ’cause I, I mean, I can see the benefits obviously keep in both sides, but I. I just wanted to kind of see how you have used them or how you’ve helped companies use them, incorporate them in their wellness and and development programs or their happiness, uh, programs and how that went.

So I’d love to have a story around that. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah, for sure. So, um, most of the times, obviously the, the work that I do with organizations are, uh, it’s mostly linked [00:30:00] or around workshops that I facilitate around mindsets. Trends. Yeah. Energy, all of the things kind of, uh, linked to positive psychology and the Cardex, they really are a very nice continuation.

So obviously I, I, I run a workshop, um, for a few hours. Um, and then, you know, the participants go away. Sometimes they don’t return until maybe next quarter or the following year, uh, for another workshop. So then the idea is to have these cards to be able to practice, to continue to discover different things from positive psychology that they can do, um, to, to improve their wellbeing and their happiness.

So. Um, they’re usually, so yeah, as part of my workshops or as a follow up, let’s say of my workshops. But then, um, employees also use them for their wellbeing week, for example, as gifts. Um, anything that has to do with happiness or like happiness day, mental health day. And even like a Christmas gift. So the idea is to, uh, yeah, provide something that obviously has a, a, a [00:31:00] value in terms of, you know, being a gift, but being a gift that is personal and that focuses on the employee’s wellbeing and employees happiness and really giving them those, uh, tools.

But it’s funny because some then, so obviously this, reach the organization and reach the people and then most of the time it’s up to them to, to utilize them and incorporate them and yeah, obviously I, I facilitate and I give them my ideas, but some things really, um, eat them in very creative way. So I had one team that, um.

Created a bit of a challenge, if you will. Yeah. Challenge, uh, where every Monday someone, and it was really, whomever was fastest, would drop a card in their king chat and for that week they all had to do this action. And because everyone was doing it, then they had something to talk about that was more Yeah, absolutely.

Personal rather than just asking, oh, how are you? No, they would act, okay, so how is the celebrating going? Who have we celebrated today? Or a wine? 

Elisa Tuijnder: It’s a good checking question. 

Andreea Pap: Wonderful. [00:32:00] Yeah, so it’s a really nice way to connect, um, and really go a little bit deeper than just how are you? And I always try to, um, reinforce that overall nowadays that we all work in this hybrid environment and we need to connect a bit more and we need to get to know the other person a little bit.

Better. So this is a, a great way, 

Elisa Tuijnder: especially in these hybrid environments, right? Uh, where we’ve taken away all of these, uh, bit of water cooler conversations or, and it’s all about being effective with our times. So these things definitely help. 

Andreea Pap: Yeah, absolutely. And a different organization, use them in a, in a different way.

But just to give you another example, I had a, yeah, I love what I love them. Nine top line that, um, used one of the cards that is to create the gratitude jar. They made a gratitude jar in their office so everyone could drop the post-it notes with gratitude, um, sentences for someone in the office or the company, et cetera.

It didn’t matter. And then at the end of the [00:33:00] quarter, in their all hands, the GM would read some of those gratitude notes, and then the rest, all of them would get posted on one of the walls in their office for the rest of the quarter. So they would always have this gratitude notes at the end of the quarter.

So again, it’s a. In this case a way to obviously also connect people, you know, giving them a way to, to express gratitude. But at the same time, you create this positive environment where you show people or people can show others that it’s not all challenges and you know, it’s not that everything is going well, because sometimes it can feel that way.

I’m on, you’re on your own. But then when you see all of this gratitude notes, then you can really. See, okay. There are good things, there are successes, there are, you know, good stories out there. And it’s a way to, yeah, connect and have them visible to the, yeah, to the organization in general. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. And somehow, not all of them might be linked to this, but also there’s a peer to peer recognition system in there as well.

And it’s also [00:34:00] super important if that wasn’t involved yet, so. I would really highly recommend all teams and, and, and I guess you would do the same as well. It’s just to kind of see what works for you. Right. Especially ’cause teams are not all the same anymore and everyone is at the nine to five in the office, and certain teams have different values and other teams and other organizations have different values.

So just having a set of 52 cars that you can then somehow bring and customize within your teams or your organizations, depending on the size. Is very powerful. And also to, to have that conversation with your team just to go, is there something we could implement here? Just that conversation starter is already very strong.

Andreea Pap: Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yep. Yeah. Hey, so you also, so a lot of those times we have this with Management 3.0 and uh, a lot of those times it doesn’t, it does happen that people go like, yeah, but all this like, you know, serious play and the cards and this and that, isn’t it A little bit to kindergarten. Why do we do this, this we are, we are like, [00:35:00] and um, and, and I always have to, I, I always love to contract that fully.

But you’re also, obviously, otherwise you don’t make this, this amazing cards like, like very much an advocate for serious play. And why do you, uh, why, what is your answer to them? What, why is it important in serious grownup organizations also to bring in the fun, to bring in these, these elements of of play?

Andreea Pap: First of all, I think I am a, a big advocate, as you said. Yeah. Uh, and I am a player myself. I really think, um, the, my ability to, to play into, uh, sometimes, uh, bring in a fun moment, in a tense situation really helps me, uh, yeah. Kind of distress, calm down, you know, be able to, to, to think. But when it comes to adults in general, I think we kind of started at some point and maybe happens during our teen years.

Around that time where we start seeing play, [00:36:00] you know, as a bit like purposeless, you know, a bit of a waste of time. And obviously when you become a, uh, when you start your career, it even becomes like an unproductive period of time, right? If you’re playing, then you’re not productive, you’re not working. So then it becomes this enemy of productivity and of doing things or achieving things, and I think that’s where the kind of bad reputation, or maybe we stop.

Playing, uh, as adults, but it really has lots of benefits. There is a, uh, again, a lot of research that in this area, uh, when it comes to how play impacts us as individuals, but overall us, uh, in organizations as employees of, of the organization. And the results of this studies are really incredible. So if you look at that play in the context of work, uh, it really makes us more creative and innovative.

It also allows us to experiment without real consequences. So if you think about how to manage, for [00:37:00] example, failure or rejection better, you know, what better way to do it than through play? You know, when you play and you know, you fail, you lose a game, or you lose whatever you’re playing and then you know, you, you are able to process that failure easier.

So when it comes to real life, you’re also more attuned. With, yeah. Failing or losing, and I think that’s something that. Also in our society, we caught a big out of touch. We think that everything is winning and we’re always winning and nobody’s losing, but obviously that’s not the reality, unfortunately.

Yeah. Probably the other thing is losing or you know, it playing a gig and then ones the winner and the other one is, and it’s really learning this type of, yeah, real scenarios or real life skills in a non consequence environment, which is plagued. Yeah. If, if I was to put it then probably like three simple words.

I, I would say when we play [00:38:00] individually, uh, so I mean, personally, you know, in our personal life, all all or at work, clay really fosters three things, and that’s connection, creativity, and innovation. And for every, you know, company out there design that they want. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a very good summary of that.

That’s a very good, if I have to shut somebody up, I mean, why is it all colorful? Why would you do it like that? And uh Okay. That, so I might, I might see, I might use that, if that’s okay. Feel free. Good. Yeah. ’cause you need more play everywhere. I know. I wanna keep talking about these cards, but, and I also now know what I’m getting people for Christmas and maybe hopefully the listeners might feel the same, but I can’t unfortunately.

’cause we’re really getting up to the mark. Uh, but since our USG really is as tangible practices, I would like to ask you to leave us with one more, uh, that you just at a randomly pick out that just sparked to mind or for a particular reason. Give us one [00:39:00] more. 

Andreea Pap: So I have one more that it’s a, another favorite of mine that I do regularly.

Not almost every day, at least every workday. And that is, uh, and it’s also one of the, the cards is to set a, to be intention in the morning each day. So rather than only looking at your to-do list and you know, getting all stressed and thinking, oh my God, how am I gonna do this? I’m not gonna manage, there are so many things.

It’s about looking at your tool list and then decide how would you like to be. During that day. So what state of being would help you have the best possible outcome considering what’s ahead of you in the day? So for me, you know, I think to myself, okay, do I need to be calm, maybe ahead of a busy or maybe emotionally charged day if I have things going on?

Or maybe do I need to be creative based on the type of work that I need to do? Or, I dunno, maybe I just need to be assertive. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah,

Andreea Pap: yeah. You know, if I have, [00:40:00] uh, many meetings or I’m negotiating something, then I’m like, okay, today I wanna be assertive. I want to really come through and make my points and, you know, reach the, the desired outcome.

So really this kind of setting, uh, to be intention, it’s, it’s a way to remind yourself of how you want to be, not only what you have to do, but at the end of the day, it really helps. You achieve what you have on your to the list because you are kind of in the right mindset with the right attitude and you know, kind of fostering that kind of energy that you need for for that particular day.

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. And I’ve seen teams who’ve used some, something like that also in, uh, to do like sort of a reminder in a Slack channel or good morning, you know, everyone, uh, and, and, and so who do we wanna be today? And, and, and those kind of things. They don’t even have to answer it. Just kind of making, making, sort of bringing awareness to it and, and, and that I, I’ve loved lots in teams doing that as well then, but on the individual level also super, super strong.[00:41:00]

Andrea, it’s been really, really interesting and, uh, and like I said, I’m getting Christmas cards for, for certain people who will probably need it. If our listeners wants to do the same, where can they find them and, and and how can they find you? Should they wanna have workshops or any other space? So just follow you in, in general and your adventures in life.

Andreea Pap: Yes, sure. So you can find me on LinkedIn. I involved, well as Andrea Park, so Andrea with two E’s. So WE. Then Pop Dap, or they can find me at Happiness Digger, both on LinkedIn or on Instagram. Or if you want to find out more about what I do, I also have a website. And that’s, uh, happiness digger.com. And that’s where you can find everything about my workshops and the happy action cards as well.

And yeah, for your listeners, if anyone wants to purchase, uh, the card, uh, feel free to use the call. Happy action. Uh, and you will have, uh, 20% off on your purchase. [00:42:00]

Elisa Tuijnder: Awesome. Well make sure that we add this to the show notes as well so that people can find them, and, and I absolutely love what you’re doing with them.

And I. They could be so beneficial for so many of us in work context or individual context. It is super important. So thank you again, Andrea, for coming on the show today and eng, uh, giving us your time and your energy today. I really enjoyed it. Thank you. 

Andreea Pap: Thank you so much. I really appreciate, uh, you inviting me and, uh, having, uh, had this, uh, amazing chat with you was, uh, was really incredible.

Thanks a lot.

Elisa Tuijnder: You’ve been listening to The Happiness At Work podcast by Management 3.0 where we are getting serious about happiness. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and if you enjoy our shows, don’t be shy. Write us a review. Share the happiness with your colleagues, family or friends. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn under management.

[00:43:00] Oh.