Wonderfuel Issue Number 21– Did you have any joy with that?

”Did you have any joy with that?” is such a wonderfully British expression.

When we say this, we usually mean “Did it work?” or “Did you get anywhere with that?”

But it’s such an odd little expression when you actually stop and think about it. Because it suggests that success isn’t measured by the outcome. It’s measured by whether there was joy during the experience.

We spend so much of our lives chasing our destination. Or the promotion, the bigger house, the next client, the holiday or the retirement. We always manage convince ourselves that joy is waiting just over there, over the brow of the hill.

But what if we have got this all wrong. What if we have got all this backwards and what if joy isn’t the reward for our success. What if joy is the reason our success turns up in the first place?

The happiest people I have met in my life, aren’t the ones who’ve achieved the most, they are the ones who have learned to enjoy the process. The conversation. The making. The learning. The helping. The tiny joyful wonder(mo)ments that most of us rush straight past.

Ironically, they’re often the people who end up succeeding anyway. Because joy has a habit of making us more curious, creative, generous. and more resilient. Joy is the thing that keeps us coming back tomorrow.

So maybe the best question at the end of each day isn’t “Did I achieve everything I wanted?”. Maybe it’s simply “Did I have any joy with that?”

Because if the answer is yes... you’re probably doing better than you think.

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// Quote of the week //

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// The founder diary //

There I was standing in front of a barrier at the train station. I had not bought a ticket. I needed to jump over the barrier.

I stood there, frozen to the spot, not as a teenager avoiding spending my pocket money on a train ticket and dodging the fare, but as a forty-something business owner, properly in the shit.

The business had hit a super rocky patch and we had been unable to pay ourselves for months. The overdraft fast got maxed out. I’d been in the ticket office to buy a ticket. The credit card was now maxed out too.

I had to be in the office for a client meeting and I had no option but to get on the train anyway.

All the way into Waterloo I waited for the guard to come along and check tickets, ready to run into the loo or to wing it somehow. But they never came.

This left one last obstacle. The barriers. Not a jump over them but a part-panic, part-desperate push through, setting off the alarm. The barrier guard glanced over but I already had last week’s ticket out and was gesticulating as if it was the barrier’s fault and they waved me on.

I had spent that entire train journey realising how, when we got ourselves out of the hole we were in with the business and personally with our finances, I was never again going to take money for granted.

Look after the pennies. The barriers take care of themselves.

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// The joyful brand – Puccino’s //

Train station coffee. Need I say any more than that?

It conjures up images of weak, overpriced coffee, served at the temperature of molten lava in a paper cup that’s about as enjoyable to drink from as holding your best china with oven gloves.

Then, stage left... Puccino’s.

Opening their first store at Putney station in 1995, they proved that the mundane can be made magical and it has stayed that way for over three decades now.

From the sign in the queue that reminds you to get your order ready before you reach the till, to the fact their serviettes aren’t serviettes at all, they’re actually little capes for coffee cups. Every single detail has been designed with care.

Who needs a fancy branding system when you’ve thought so deeply about the exact moments, frustrations and thought patterns of your customers that you’ve transformed them into genuine Wonder(mo)ments?

Puccino’s is a reminder that joyful branding isn’t always about a revolutionary logo or a clever campaign.

Sometimes it’s simply about making someone’s morning commute a little bit better.

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// From the archives – V&A Museum //

OK, this one is properly from the archives.

Excuse the terrible photo of a terrible photo, but it’s worth it.

This takes us back 30 years to 1996 and one of my Art College final major projects.

It was actually a live brief that came through my work experience with legendary Art Director (and my uncle), Bill Proctor.

Bill had been commissioned by the V&A Museum to create the packaging and point-of-sale material for a collection of William Morris ties, produced by the legendary tie makers Frank Theake Rossilly.

This was my attempt.

I paired the V&A’s iconic purple and gold with William Morris patterns, using handmade purple paper and gold leaf stickers that cost me an absolute fortune as a student.

But the real highlight wasn’t the design.

It was getting to work alongside Bill, then attending the creative presentation at the V&A wearing my best ill-fitting chinos and one of Bill’s oversized jackets.

At the time, I thought I looked every inch the designer.

Thirty years later, I’m not entirely convinced my choice of outfit for creative presentations has improved all that much.

Some things change. Some things really don’t.

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// Word of the week – Joygantic™ //

For those who have never met me in person, I am 6ft 4”. So pretty darn tall. My Latin name being Seanus Maximus (given to me by a previous boss). I also have a huge personality with what many have described as infectiously positive energy.

The other day someone asked me to describe myself in one word. I struggled with this if I am honest and flitted between large, loud, fanatical and energetic amongst many others. There was clearly not a single word out there that described me down to a tee. So it was time to create one.

I’m getting used to creating new words these days and this one came to me in a flash.

Sean Cornell
Joygantic
Big on height
Even bigger on joy.

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// Does your audience need a little of your Wonderfuel? //

If you are a business owners or leader, I can help you create your own version of Wonderfuel for your audience.

Together, we’ll work out what they actually want to read or hear. Next we’ll shape the design of the newsletter and finally help curate what goes into every issue.

Here’s the bit people don’t expect. Once the system’s in place, sending out a weekly, fortnightly or monthly newsletter becomes easy. And trust me writing it, even when you don’t think of yourself as a writer, will turn out to be a whole heap of fun.

Let’s chat.

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// And lastly. Always remember //

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