I grew up watching Mary Poppins and always marveled at her existence. She whisked in to the Banks family with her carpet bag, captivated the children and, more importantly, the parents. Fast forward thirty years and watching the 1964 original film still has the same effect on me. Thankfully my sons were so hooked by the music and the entertaining Dick Van Dyke that they concluded the original was great and they’d see the new release, Mary Poppins Returns, with me. We all loved the film, but I just kept going back to the original concepts and thinking how much we could all learn from Mary Poppins.

My number one takeaway: In every job that must be done, there really is an element of fun.

We always hear people say find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, this may be true, but reality is we all have tasks to do that don’t thrill us. We may struggle through a spreadsheet or extremely difficult decision. What we can do along the way is find areas to learn, grow, and create some fun, or at least enthusiasm that the task is done. What good does it do to dwell in something you don’t like? Visualize the task, set a timeline to achieve it, and move on.

Number two: Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking.

Mary Poppins had a way to rely on reason rather than emotion. The latter happens so often in the workplace. We start making decisions based on work relationships and not wanting to rock the boat. Every organization began because of a simple concept or solution they wanted to share. Each decision along the way should support that mission. If you have individuals making decisions based solely on emotions, you will find yourself not moving forward, and that can be devastating to a company.

Both concepts are critical in creating a JoyPowered workspace. People have to be willing to find fun in their day regardless of the task at hand and they cannot start making decisions that are not logical. We can let our emotions get in the way, but we don’t have to, recognizing the reasoning behind our decisions will help set you up for success. Mary Poppins saved a family from despair two times; you can use her tips and magic and add so much value to your JoyPowered workspace. Try it! It can be Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!