Twisted Love

When I talk about love in the context of work, I don’t mean a sentimental affection for a company or role. Love at work is the experience of emotional resonance—the sense that your daily activities amplify rather than drain your vitality. We each have unique configurations of enthusiasm. One person feels most alive when analyzing data patterns; another when comforting a customer; yet another when designing something beautiful. Love marks those moments when time seems to vanish, when competence stretches into mastery almost unconsciously.

Psychologically, love is the intersection of intrinsic motivation and engagement. When you operate within your loves, dopamine and focus intensify, creativity spikes, and resilience builds naturally. It’s not about positive thinking but about honoring the neurological wiring that connects joy with sustained achievement.

For years, management systems have ignored this, focusing instead on efficiency and standardization. But it’s impossible to standardize love. This emotional signature is individual—it’s what makes human performance beautiful and unpredictable. My message is clear: don’t wait for permission to bring your loves to work. Identify them, claim them, and let them direct how you show up each day.

Love doesn’t mean avoiding challenge or discomfort. It means finding energy even within difficulty. The person who loves turning chaos into clarity finds excitement in problems others avoid. The marketing strategist who loves narrative feels invigorated by deadlines because each project is a story waiting to unfold. Once you recognize your loves, every demand becomes a chance to express something authentic rather than just survive.

For decades, my research has revolved around strengths—the recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that make you effective. Strengths are not simply talents you were born with, nor skills acquired through repetition. They are activities that make you feel strong. The science shows that when people use their strengths deliberately, their engagement skyrockets, productivity rises, and stress transforms into flow.

Gallup’s studies, as well as those at the ADP Research Institute, demonstrate that strength-aligned employees are six times more likely to be engaged and three times more likely to report thriving lives. That’s not because they avoid weakness, but because they orient their energy toward what naturally builds momentum.

In *Love + Work*, I expand this idea into a personal development tool. Identifying a strength begins with noticing what you look forward to, what drags you in effortlessly, and what leaves you feeling restored instead of depleted. This awareness is an act of honesty. Many people confuse competence for strength—they’re good at something but secretly dislike it. True strength has emotional charge. It’s not neutral; it’s nourishing.

When you align your job with your strengths, learning accelerates, relationships improve, and creativity flourishes. The work no longer feels like an external demand but like an organic extension of identity. Your task is not to fit into a predefined mold but to expand your current role around your natural loves. Once you begin working through your strengths, the sense of purpose that follows is not accidental—it is evidence that love and work are finally converging.

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Explore this chapter in the FizzRead app.

Explore this chapter in the FizzRead app.

Explore this chapter in the FizzRead app.

Explore this chapter in the FizzRead app.

Explore this chapter in the FizzRead app.

Explore this chapter in the FizzRead app.