Your Coworkers Do Not Need to Know It's Spirit Week

Honestly,

I have decided we need to bring back Spirit Week.

Not company Spirit Week.

Your company does not need to approve this.

There will be no committee.

No budget request.

No executive sponsor.

No email from Corporate Communications reminding you that participation is optional but somehow making it feel mandatory.

This is your Spirit Week.

In fact, I'm giving you permission to make it a:

Top Secret. Double Secret Probation. Personal Spirit Week.

Your coworkers don't even have to know it's happening.

Although admittedly, it's more fun if you eventually recruit a few unsuspecting participants.

Because whether you work remotely, in an office, or somewhere in between, sometimes work could use a little more...

Pep.

Not a strategic engagement initiative.

Not a culture transformation.

Pep.

Sometimes Tuesday is just Tuesday.

And perhaps Tuesday would be slightly better if there were ice cream involved.

So here's your completely unofficial Colleen Honestly guide to creating your own Personal Spirit Week.

Show Your Mug Monday

We're starting easy.

Grab your favorite coffee mug.

And yes, I know some of you own mugs that are absolutely hilarious and completely inappropriate.

Those stay home.

It's Spirit Week, not Carnival.

Now take a picture of yourself holding your coffee mug in front of your mouth so it covers the bottom half of your face.

Because mug is also another word for your face.

You're showing your mug.

With your mug.

I cannot tell you how delighted I am by this.

Send the picture to a coworker with:

“Show Your Mug Monday. Your turn.”

No lengthy explanation.

Remember, they don't necessarily know they're participating in your Top Secret Double Secret Probation Spirit Week.

If they send a picture back?

Excellent.

You have recruited your first operative.

If they don't?

Also fine.

Spirit Week is for you.

Drink your coffee and proceed with the mission.

Ice Cream for Breakfast Tuesday

Yes.

Ice cream.

For breakfast.

You're an adult.

There is no breakfast police.

If you want mint chocolate chip at 8:17 in the morning, I am certainly not going to stop you.

If you work remotely, this is remarkably easy to pull off.

If you're in the office, you may need to exercise slightly more creativity.

Pack it.

Stop somewhere.

Keep emergency ice cream in the freezer at work, which frankly feels like excellent succession planning.

And if someone sees you eating ice cream at 8:17 in the morning and asks why?

You have choices.

You can invite them into Spirit Week.

Or you can look them directly in the eye and say:

“It's Tuesday.”

No further explanation required.

Wild Card Wednesday

I refuse to tell you what Wednesday is.

That's because Wednesday is the surprise.

Pick something ridiculous.

Crazy socks.

Wear a color you never wear.

Listen to your favorite high-school album between meetings.

Eat lunch outside.

Use the fancy pen you've been inexplicably saving for a special occasion.

Bring a tiny trophy to work and award it to yourself for answering an email you've been avoiding for four days.

You are never too old for Crazy Sock Day.

You are also never too old to decide that an ordinary Wednesday deserves something weird.

There is only one rule:

Whatever you choose has to make you smile.

Nobody else even has to notice.

That's the beauty of Top Secret Spirit Week.

THree THank-Yous THursday

I warned you.

We're committing to the TH.

On THursday, THink of THree people who deserve a THank-you.

THen THank THem.

Not because THey just did someTHing for you five minutes ago.

THink backward.

Who taught you something?

Who helped you when you were new?

Who makes work easier?

Who says the thing in meetings that everyone else is thinking?

Who checks on you?

Who gave you an opportunity?

Who quietly does excellent work and probably doesn't hear about it nearly enough?

Send THree THoughtful THank-Yous THis THursday.

There.

I believe I have now violated several rules of THe English language.

Worth it.

They don't need to be elaborate.

A Teams message.

An email.

A handwritten note.

Two sentences.

“I was thinking about this today, and I realized I've never properly thanked you for ________. It mattered to me.”

That's enough.

One of the easiest ways to put a little more good into your own workday is to put some into somebody else's.

Friday: Go Undercover

Friday is where things get slightly uncomfortable.

Remember our conversation about keeping receipts?

Remember how we're practicing actually saying what we've accomplished instead of waiting for someone else to notice?

Good.

Because Friday is your undercover mission.

Choose three people.

They do not know they've been selected.

Do not announce that this is part of Spirit Week.

That would compromise the operation.

At some point during the day, tell each one something you did this week that you're proud of.

That's it.

It doesn't need to be enormous.

“I finally finished that project.”

“I had a really difficult conversation and I think I handled it well.”

“I solved the problem I've been stuck on.”

“I gave a presentation today and absolutely nailed it.”

“I've been working on something new and I'm really proud of how it's coming together.”

You're not fishing for compliments.

You're practicing letting your accomplishments exist outside your own head.

Three people.

Three wins.

Undercover.

Mission complete.

And that's Spirit Week.

No T-shirt order.

No decorating committee.

No mandatory fun.

No one from HR had to create a PowerPoint.

You just made an ordinary workweek slightly less ordinary.

That's really the point.

We spend an enormous amount of our lives working.

Not every week is going to be inspiring.

Not every Tuesday is going to contain a breakthrough.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is intentionally put one small thing into your day that makes you laugh, connects you to another person, reminds you what you're good at, or gives you something to look forward to.

You don't need permission to enjoy your own life.

Even between 9 and 5.

And if someone eventually notices that you're wearing neon socks, eating ice cream at 8:17 a.m., sending unusually enthusiastic thank-you notes and telling random coworkers about your accomplishments?

Tell them nothing.

Spirit Week is classified.