Joy isn’t just for weekends and vacations

It’s for laundry day and traffic jams, for leftover night and sweatpants on the couch.

We’re here to help you put more hooray in your everyday.

You deserve joy.

Really, you do.

Download the Joy 101 workbook to find joy right now — right where you are. In it you’ll find five science–backed strategies to squeeze more joy out of every single day.

As featured in

Home

Make your home a haven. Our most popular course will help you confidently create a space that brings you more joy every day.

Sign me up

Work

Foster well–being, creativity, and community at your company with our employee and leadership workshops.

Learn about bringing the School of Joy to your work.

“Your course freed me from a lot of misconceptions, and gave me the confidence to be more myself...”

— Georgina D.

“There’s just nothing like this anywhere else.”

— Silvia R.

“Your work has really shaped how kind I am to myself. I learned I was putting myself second in my home and work life. I was exhausted, and dealing with anxiety and burnout. I felt disconnected with many activities and things that I've always loved. Now, I feel reconnected with these important aspects of myself.”

— Cullen L.

“It has absolutely transformed my life. I can't tell you how grateful I am.”

— Barb R.

“I feel more open and more joyful. I feel like I have a clearer vision than I've had in ages about what I want my life to be now and in the future.”

— Catherine C.

Joy can help you

stress less.

A burst of joy can help your body return to a state of calm and balance, lowering cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate. [1]

stop hitting snooze.

Studies show that feeling joyful can help you sleep better at night. [2]

finish your to-do’s.

Feeling joy can make you up to 12% more productive. That means saving almost a full hour every workday. [5]

make better decisions.

Studies show that business leaders make better decisions when feeling joyful, and joyful doctors come to a correct diagnosis more quickly. (One reason? People consider more scenarios in the decision-making process, and are less likely to get hung up on the wrong choices.) [9, 10]

find common ground.

Joyful negotiators reach more win-win agreements. [6]

keep the spark alive.

Sharing moments of joy with a partner deepens the sense of intimacy and trust in the relationship. [7]

be a better BFF.

Sharing in a friend's joy strengthens your bond. When you celebrate their good news enthusiastically, it deepens the friendship. [8]

think outside the box.

Bursts of joy are linked to bursts of creativity, both for individuals and within organizations. Joy increases cognitive flexibility, which is key to innovative thinking. [11, 12]

be a kickass boss.

Joyful leaders inspire excellence in their teams. When leaders are feeling good, their teams not only perform better, but waste less effort in getting their work done. [11]

turn heads.

Studies show that a genuine, joyful smile makes the average person more physically attractive. (More attractive, in some cases, than a model who doesn’t smile.) [14]

close the sale.

A joyful salesperson means more time spent in the store, higher ratings, and a greater chance of repeat business. (More attractive, in some cases, than a model who doesn’t smile.) [14]

get out of a rut.

Joy broadens your mindset, making you more exploratory and open to new possibilities. [13]

work together.

Research shows that when you’re feeling joyful, you're more likely to lend a helping hand, collaborate, and communicate more effectively. [15]

feel better.

When you're feeling joyful, your body is better equipped to fend off illness and disease, thanks to improved immune function and lower inflammation. [2, 3]

live longer.

According to research, joy may even add extra years to your lifespan. [4]

Want the receipts?

[1] Fredrickson, B. L., & Levenson, R. W. (1998). Positive Emotions Speed Recovery from the Cardiovascular Sequelae of Negative Emotions. Cognition & emotion, 12(2), 191–220.

[2] Steptoe, A., Dockray, S., & Wardle, J. (2009). Positive affect and psychobiological processes relevant to health. Journal of Personality, 77(6), 1747-1775.

[3] Stellar, J. E., John-Henderson, N., Anderson, C. L., Gordon, A. M., McNeil, G. D., & Keltner, D. (2015). Positive affect and markers of inflammation: Discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. Emotion, 15(2), 129.

[4] Harker, L., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions of positive emotion in women's college yearbook pictures and their relationship to personality and life outcomes across adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1), 112-124.

[5] Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., & Sgroi, D. (2015) Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(4), 789-822.

[6] Isen, A. M. (2001). An Influence of Positive Affect on Decision Making in Complex Situations: Theoretical Issues With Practical Implications. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 11(2), 75-85.

[7] Otero, M. C., Wells, J. L., Chen, K.-H., Brown, C. L., Connelly, D. E., Levenson, R. W., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2019). Behavioral indices of positivity resonance associated with long-term marital satisfaction. Emotion. Advance online publication.

[8] Demir, M., Tyra, A. & Özen-Çıplak, A. (2019). Be There For Me and I Will Be There For You: Friendship Maintenance Mediates the Relationship Between Capitalization and Happiness. Journal of Happiness Stud, 20: 449.

[9] Isen, A. M. (2001). An Influence of Positive Affect on Decision Making in Complex Situations: Theoretical Issues With Practical Implications. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 11(2), 75-85.

[10] Staw, B. M., & Barsade, S. G. (1993). Affect and Managerial Performance: A Test of the Sadder-but-Wiser vs. Happier-and-Smarter Hypotheses. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(2), 304.

[11] Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (2007). Why does affect matter in organizations? Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(1), 36-59.

[12] Baas, M., De Dreu, Carsten K. W., & Nijstad, B. A. (2008). A meta-analysis of 25 years of mood-creativity research: Hedonic tone, activation, or regulatory focus? Psychological Bulletin, 134(6), 779-806.

[13] Rowe, G., Hirsh, J. B., & Anderson, A. K. (2006). Positive affect increases the breadth of attentional selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(1), 383-388.

[14] Golle, J., Mast, F. W., & Lobmaier, J. S. (2013). Something to smile about: The interrelationship between attractiveness and emotional expression. Cognition and Emotion,28(2), 298-310.

[15] Diener, E., Thapa, S., & Tay, L. (2019). Positive emotions at work. Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

[16] Gray, A. W., Parkinson, B., & Dunbar, R. I. (2015). Laughter's influence on the intimacy of self-disclosure. Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.), 26(1), 28–43.

I’m Ingrid Fetell Lee, designer, author, and founder of the School of Joy.

Ingrid outdoors smiling wearing a colourful shiny tassel jacket

Fifteen years ago, I set out to understand why certain places and things bring us joy. That research has since become a blog, a TED talk, and a bestselling book called Joyful.

And while I never pictured myself at the helm of a happiness school, it makes a strange kind of sense.

Science says that joy has a powerful, transformative effect on our well-being.

Design says, “Let’s make more of it.”

And that’s exactly what we do here. We take peer-reviewed papers and turn them into practices that help you design a better life.

Joy isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a must-have. And we’re here to help you find it.

Joy is not a luxury.