How to Make Sense of Your Emotional Ups and Downs
Your Workdays Are Not Equal — You Need to Make Sense of Emotional Seasons
Research-based insights on productivity, progress, and emotions
We all experience emotional ups and downs in our workdays. How can we better map and understand them?
The aim of this article is to understand the emotional ebb and flow of professionals who are involved in intellectual or creative work.
In this piece, I use autoethnography as a tool for mapping the non-linear dynamics of emotions at work regarding our productivity and progress.
I have studied my own diary entries over the last one year for this exploratory research.
I have analyzed about 600 visual and narrative entries I have made over one year in my notebooks.
These diary notes that track my daily emotions and productivity were kept in 4 different notebooks over the last one year.
I have gone over all these personal diaries and analyzed how I recorded my emotions during each workday.
The analysis of these 600 entries resulted in a richly textured, detailed, and contextualized account of my daily emotions.
My preliminary analysis yielded four distinct phases of emotional cycles regarding my productivity and progress.
I represent each phase by four seasons: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.
Questions about the dynamics of everyday emotions of individuals at work have captured the attention of organizational scholars (Frederickson and Joiner, 2002). How and when do individuals experience positive and negative emotions regarding their productivity at work? How do they experience emotional shifts — positive or negative spirals — and how do they cope with them? How can we map the non-linear dynamics of these emotions? What are the personal, task, and work environment factors that lead to upward and downward spirals of emotions? What are the implications of these nonlinear emotional cycles for an individual’s productivity and work-life?
In this article, I will try explore these questions using autoethnographic analysis of my own professional life.
This article borrows insights from diverse disciplines– quantum physics, panarchy model, chaos theory and emergence, flow and timelessness, and creativity studies — to map the nonlinear dynamics of everyday emotions and discuss their applicability for diagnosing emotional dynamics and individual progress at work.
If you are interested in an article that explores the intersections of these multiple disciplines and discusses the implications of non-linear cycles in our lives, you can check out the following Panarchy article that I have written on this topic:
Although there has been a long-standing stream of research investigating the intersections of creativity, happiness, and productivity at work (Amabile et al., 1996; Fredrickson and Joiner, 2002; Quick and Quick, 2004); most studies that have focused on the inter-relationships among emotions, creativity, happiness, and productivity at work have been cross-sectional. They do not focus on the process of emotional changes and the adaptation of the individual over time.
There is very little empirical work that has tracked the processes and transitions individuals go through in their workplaces over time.
We need a greater understanding of our dynamic emotional changes in daily life as a result of shifting circumstances. Both organizations and individuals can profit from learning more about what kinds of events, triggers, and changes influence everyday emotions at work and how we respond and adjust to changing emotions.
Method: Autoethnography
The article is meant to provoke ideas, not to provide a comprehensive literature review or theory.
I use autoethnography as a tool for mapping the non-linear dynamics of emotions at work regarding productivity and progress.
Autoethnography is defined as “an autobiographical genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural” (Ellis & Bochner, 2000, p. 33), explicitly places the researcher at the centre of the research process (Humphreys, 2005; Spry, 2001) and provides rich and reflexive analysis (Boje & Tyler, 2009).
Autoethnographers tell a personal story by weaving connections among life, experience, theory, and explanation; with the hope that the story will resonate with readers and cause them to reflect on their own lives (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Humphreys, 2005).
The aim is to understand the emotional ebb and flow we experience while we are involved in intellectual or creative work.
I have kept personal diaries to keep records of my own emotions and reflections on my productivity at work.
I have made about two or three entries for every workday for one year where I reflected on my emotions regarding my productivity and progress.
Where I feel appropriate, I have used visual self-reflective methods, scribbles, and doodles to record my reflections and emotions. I have rated my own productivity after I have written my reflective entries.
The process yielded more than 600 entries in four journals; resulting in a richly textured, detailed and contextualised account of my daily emotions.
I have still been analyzing these entries using qualitative methods. My analysis methods entail an integrative textual and visual analysis of all data and cross-cutting themes drawn from all my journal entries.
The following section provides a glimpse of some of the recurrent themes that emerged from the initial analysis of data.
Preliminary Findings: Four Phases of Cycles of Productivity and Progress
Mapping the emotional dynamics of myself has yielded four distinct phases, which — like seasons — reflect my cyclical emotional processes.
I have found the metaphor of four seasons useful to describe my emotional narratives and cycles of change.
The four seasons have provided useful analogy on the phases of my emotional ebb and flow regarding productivity at work.
What follows is a brief description of four phases to map my own non-linear dynamics of emotions at work.
I have tentatively called these phases as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.
These four phases describe the upward and downward spirals of our emotions regarding my own productivity and progress at work. I have found that all this process unfolds in circles and cycles.
1. Alpha Phase: Striving, Aspiring, Opportunities, Hope, Anxiety
Spring represents the alpha phase of creative work and sowing to prepare for the opportunities ahead.
It is the best time for striving, aspiring, goal-setting, pursuing, crafting, undertaking, progressing, and adapting.
The emotional weather is windy.
There are forces of multiple changes that pose a need for relentless adaptation.
The future is uncertain, and there is excitement, anticipation, hope, and often some anxiety.
The following notes capture my observations and reflections about this phase:
This is the phase when I enter a new territory of research or when I start a big project. Everything seems downright overwhelming and scary.
I feel anxious as I feel I have to climb up the mount of Everest. There is a long way to go, so I try to motivate myself.
I seek ways of really getting into the project. I engage in a series of rituals to prepare myself and my mood into crazy work. I do research and read articles to warm up.
I try to make this project more enjoyable and less painful. I tweak it and play with ideas.
I force myself to write — regardless of how bad my writing may look like.
I remind myself that academia is a game of discipline and persistence; and perspiration comes before inspiration.
If I engage in the hard work, inspiration will follow.
It is a battle with myself; though.
It is not easy to maintain my focus and keep my morale high when things seem so hard to conquer.
Still, patience and persistence pay off.
I find it fascinating what I can do when I push my boundaries, discipline myself, and just stick to the practice of writing.
2. Beta Phase: Thriving, Flow, Momentum, Peak Performance, Flourishing
Summer represents the beta phase of maximum productivity and peak performance.
It is the best time for thriving, performing, producing, advancing, flourishing, and accomplishing.
Summer is the time of intense realizations and full immersion.
The emotional weather is sunny and happiness is at its peak.
The intensity and heat of the project define the emotional flow I experience during this stage.
There is hard work and a fast pace surrounding myself like intense summer heat.
Although I do face challenges and hardships, wisdom begins to grow and ripen like fruit.
Summer is the time for momentum and harvesting the best of performance.
Then comes a period when everything flows more easily and faster.
After periods of long and hard work, I finally start to feel the momentum.
Although I still face challenges, I feel more empowered to tackle them.
As the horizons widen, there is more space to breathe, play, create, and make a difference.
It is as if I now have been able to climb up the mount of productivity.
I feel on top of the game and the view from the top is breathtaking.
Being fully immersed in the process, I feel I can use my best skills and thinking.
I feel captivated at these moments of creativity and progress.
Sometimes I am teaching during those moments. I am probably talking about new ways of thinking, learning, and innovating for our lives as I look into the shining eyes of my students who embody hope, eagerness to learn, positive energy, and a brighter future. My eyes are shining and my heart is glowing with love.
Sometimes I am dreaming about my future research and my new manuscript during those moments. I am reading, discovering, wondering, exploring, reflecting, sketching ideas into my journals, and writing up. I just feel grateful and energized. These are sweet moments and they become fond memories afterwards.
Paying a tribute to Csikszentmihalyi, I feel mesmerized and even forget about the time and the place. It is an absolute privilege to enjoy the work that you are doing, find a deeper meaning in it, be carried away by your passions, and contribute to a larger cause.
I find myself taking passionately or raving about the project that I am involved in.
I feel inspired and I inspire others.
These are the lovely moments of my life that provide a good cause for me to get up in the morning.
I wish I could continue feeling that way throughout all my academic life.
Alas, this does not last forever and there arrives the next stage of the cycle.
3. Gamma Phase: Crisis, Decline, Grief, Reflection, Humility, Blues
Fall represents the gamma phase of grief and stagnation.
It is the best time for reflecting, discovering oneself, struggling with ideas, exploring the deeper meaning of work, questioning the viability and worth of own work, dealing with crises, balancing work and life, and becoming aware of one’s own emotions.
Autumn carries the seeds of change and challenge.
The emotional weather is rainy.
As the cool of autumn sets in, the individual is faced with multiple changes in his or her life.
Sometimes these changes reflect unfortunate life events; for which the metaphor of the rain can be insightful.
After experiencing momentum and deep enjoyment in one’s work, it is always difficult to face challenges and stagnation.
As the individual is faced with upcoming risks and challenges, there is a dire need to prepare for what is ahead.
I feel this one is the most difficult phase of all. This is the phase when you seemingly stop making progress.
Your creativity and productivity slows down because of internal or external reasons.
For example, you might feel that you have done enough and a wave of sluggishness settles in. This happens when you fall into the ego traps — such as exaggerating yourself, feeling self-absorbed, or taking yourself too seriously.
Sometimes you might experience the writer’s block and you feel absolutely useless when you do not produce anything.
Sometimes you feel all what you do is meaningless — you lose the essence and joy of your work.
In other times your life might get overshadowed by a family crisis or a crisis at work. An accident, an illness, or a quarrel at work may disrupt your life like a thunderstorm. This is even more challenging as you feel the spill over effect of shock waves in all parts of your life.
Whatever the reason, you lose your pace and productivity during this crisis phase. As your attention is interrupted, you lose your focus and momentum. Sometimes, you worry so much that you cannot focus on your work.
Alternatively, your boredom or gloomy mood may divert you from your work. You start procrastinating and you lose time by indulging in guilty pleasures. These may involve killing time on the Internet, checking your emails every other minute, or watching TV shows and series one after another. You know that what you are doing is wrong, yet you continue doing it. You try to persuade yourself that this will happen once and only at this time. You tell yourself that you can stop at any time and you are in control. However, in reality, you are not in control anymore.
As your lower self has now taken over, chaos and entropy prevail in your work life. You become entrapped in a vicious cycle that you have to stop before it takes you lower and deeper.
Yet, positive change is always painful and requires an enormous amount of willpower and self-restraint. It also requires introspection and an honest assessment of the self.
You need to heal yourself like a doctor or seek help from a critical friend. The sooner you start making a move towards a new way of doing things, the sooner you will recover from the crisis.
Delta Phase: Hardships, Perseverance, Persistence, Patience, Renewal
Winter represents the delta phase of perseverance, persistence, and patience during hardships.
These hardships may include a deadline, overload, a workplace crisis, or a family crisis.
Winter is a cold time and it is often lonely.
The emotional weather is snowy with thunderstorms.
It represents the most difficult period of writing and research where it is necessary to be hopeful and persistent.
However, all the pain and suffering will yield benefits in the longer term; because spring will eventually arrive.
Maintaining hope and treating challenges as learning and development opportunities will help the individual to navigate through the hardest times.
During this phase, you try to break your chains in an effort towards freedom and recovery.
You become more and more aware of the chains that hold you back. These chains may involve mental walls, spiritual weaknesses, forces of bad habit, brakes of lethargy, or learned helplessness.
Whatever they are, you strive to break free of them. Breaking free of the chains requires a process of transcendence of the self.
You need to learn and experiment with new ways of doing things.
You need to receive and willingly accept negative feedback and criticism.
You need to come up with ways of keeping your faith and hope alive.
You need to move towards positive change and recovery.
Implications
Thinking about non-linearity in emotional transitions has far-reaching implications for understanding our happiness and well-being at work.
First of all, emotions are dynamic and they constantly move between positive and negative, and order and chaos. Emotional transitions are the opportunity for creativity and the emergence of new forms. Growth and change don’t happen in a step by step or linear way. There are tipping points — moments when change occurs or ideas take off. These phases proceed and follow each other in cycles.
Second, each of the phases requires a different type of emotional regulation and coping skills.
During alpha, the individual needs to overcome initial stress regarding the project and immerse in it until catching momentum.
During beta, the individual needs to progress quickly and address all possible problems and challenges that may occur afterwards.
During gamma, the individual needs to refocus on work with a new spin, reorient the project through a fresh angle, and prepare for the challenges ahead.
During delta, the individual needs to navigate challenges and keep hope alive.
This analysis is still very preliminary and needs to be further developed; however, it has implications for individual productivity, as well as managing and navigating emotions.
Organizations can determine what kind of flexibility and support, or what sort of job design individuals find useful in relation to the fluctuation of everyday emotions as work.
References and Further Reading:
Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 1996, 39: 1154–1184.
Boje, D., & Tyler, J. (2009). Story and Narrative Noticing: Workaholism Autoethnographies. Journal of Business Ethics, 84, 173–194.
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733–768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fredrickson, B. L. and Joiner, T. Positive Emotions Trigger Upward Spirals Toward Emotional Well-Being. Psychological Science, 2002, 13, 172–175.
Humphreys, M. (2005). Getting personal: Reflexivity and autoethnographic vignettes. Qualitative Inquiry, 11, 840–860.
Quick, J. C. & Quick, J. D. Healthy, happy, productive work: A leadership challenge. Organizational Dynamics, 2004, 33(4), 329–337.
Spry, T. (2001). Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis. Qualitative Inquiry, 7, 706–732.