What is one question, quandary, challenge, problem, issue, pickle, obstacle, or dilemma that you’ve been facing over the last few days? It could be work related. Or family related. Career related. Or even more profoundly existential. (Ok, maybe not something profoundly existential for this activity).  Whatever is it that you are tackling, day 18 of the Happiness Challenge is to ask someone in your own department for their perspective on it.

Someone from my own department did just that yesterday. And I have to admit. I was flattered to be asked.

I’d invited this colleague for a quick afternoon walk since the weather was unusually nice. And after discussing some of the things going on in our own teams, she asked: “How do you spell DevOps?”

She went on to say that her team needed to decide on a standard way of spelling it, and wanted my perspective. I said, “You know, I don’t think I’m the person to ask.”

Her response? “Well someone’s going to have to make the decision, so why not give your thoughts”? And so I did.

Keep in mind, DevOps is not my area of expertise. I don’t work in it. I’m not an IT person. But, being asked made me feel important. Like my opinion mattered. I fully expect that the industry standard for how to spell it will win out. But, it doesn’t matter to me.

What is important was that she thought to ask me my perspective.

So you see, it doesn’t have to be a deep, life-changing question to get someone’s perspective on for the Happiness Challenge to work.

What will you ask someone about today?

Now, the hardest part of keeping on track with a challenge is the accountability and support to keep on going. I hope you’ll follow along with me and the other Fed Fans that are participating. I also hope that you’ll share your successes with us either on twitter #happieratwork or on the Fedability facebook page. You can find me on twitter @danaesims_iopsy.

I look forward to hearing how today’s challenge goes! Leave a comment in the space below.

Did you miss day 17 of the Happiness Challenge? That’s ok! You can read about getting an administrative assistant to let you help.