Mark: A recent study found that workplace fatigue costs the U.S. economy a staggering $136 billion a year. And the wild part is, that’s not from people calling in sick. It’s from 'presenteeism'—you’re at your desk, you’re logged in, but your brain is just… gone. Michelle: It’s that 3 PM feeling, when you’ve been staring at the same email for ten minutes and you’ve forgotten how to spell "sincerely." We all try to fix it with another cup of coffee or a quick, frantic scroll through social media. Mark: Right, more stimulation. But what if the real fix wasn't another jolt of caffeine, but the exact opposite? What if the answer was… total darkness? Michelle: That is precisely the kind of counter-intuitive, slightly weird, but surprisingly effective idea we're diving into today. It comes from the book The Joy in Business: Innovative Ideas to Find Positivity (and Profit) in Your Daily Work Life by Joy Baldridge. Mark: The Joy in Business. I like the sound of that, though it sometimes feels like an oxymoron. Michelle: Well, Joy Baldridge is a character who embodies this. Her entire career as a top-tier corporate speaker was launched when she, at just 19 years old, decided to cold-call the White House. And she actually got a speaking gig. Mark: Hold on, she just called the White House and they said, "Sure, come on down"? That’s exactly the kind of person who would write a book like this. It’s not about waiting for an opportunity, it’s about making one. Michelle: Exactly. Her whole philosophy is about proactive, often unconventional, solutions. And it starts with something she calls the "Purple Break." Mark: Okay, I have to ask. What on earth is a "Purple Break"?

Michelle: It’s a technique her father developed to restore energy. And it's deceptively simple: you just stop what you're doing, cover your eyes with your hands to create total darkness, and breathe for about 60 seconds. Mark: Huh. It sounds a bit like a toddler hiding in a corner when they get overwhelmed. Is this for real? Or is it just a fancy name for taking a one-minute nap at your desk? Michelle: It’s very real, and there’s a fascinating bit of science behind it. The story is actually about her father, Ken Baldridge. Back in the 1960s, he participated in a sleep study where he had to live in a room in total darkness for three months. Mark: Three months in the dark? That sounds like a horror movie premise. Michelle: It does, but he came out of it with incredible energy, needing only three to five hours of sleep a night for the rest of his life. During the study, he learned about a protein in our eyes called rhodopsin, or "visual purple." This protein is what allows us to see in low light, but it gets broken down by bright light—like the light from our screens, our office lights, all day long. Mark: And when it breaks down, we get tired? Michelle: That's the theory. It contributes to eye strain and mental fatigue. But rhodopsin regenerates in total darkness. So Ken realized he didn't need a long night's sleep to restore it; he could do it in short bursts during the day. He called it a Purple Break. Mark: Wow. So when I’m feeling that screen-induced brain fog, the instinct is to grab my phone and scroll, which is just more bright light. But this suggests I should do the opposite. Just… turn everything off. Visually, at least. Michelle: Exactly. You’re giving your eyes, and by extension your brain, a genuine break from the constant stimulation that’s draining your energy. It’s a physical hack for a mental problem. And it’s the foundation of a larger idea in the book she calls paying your "R.E.N.T." Mark: Oh, I love a good acronym. Let me guess. R-E-N-T. Michelle: Rest, Exercise, Nutrition, and Thoughts. The Purple Break is a micro-dose of Rest. The book argues that to live in what she calls the "House of Glad," you have to pay your R.E.N.T. every single day. Mark: The House of Glad. I like that. But let's break down R.E.N.T. Rest, Exercise, Nutrition—those make sense. They're physical inputs. But 'Thoughts'? That feels a bit more abstract. How do you 'pay' for thoughts? Michelle: That’s the bridge from the hardware to the software. The book suggests that your thoughts are the most critical component. They drive your decisions about the other three. You think about going for a walk, you think about choosing the salad, you think about taking a break. She even offers techniques for this, like 'flooding,' where you repeat a positive phrase like "Every day in every way I am getting better and better" to reprogram your default thinking. Mark: That sounds a bit like old-school positive thinking. I'm a little skeptical of just repeating mantras. Michelle: And that's fair. The book has received a pretty modest reception online, and I think it's because some of these ideas can sound overly simplistic on the surface. But when you see how they're applied, they become much more powerful. It’s less about just thinking happy thoughts and more about building a resilient mental operating system. Mark: An operating system. Okay, I like that analogy. So if the Purple Break and R.E.N.T. are the hardware maintenance, what’s the software we’re supposed to be running?

Michelle: The core of the software is another one of her signature acronyms: AFA. Mark: AFA. Lay it on me. Michelle: Always Flexible and Adaptable. It’s her mantra for everything. She even has a little stretchy yellow toy mascot named BOB that she gives out at her seminars to represent the idea. You stretch him, and he bounces right back. Mark: That’s a bit like a stress ball with a philosophy degree. But again, 'be flexible' is advice you hear everywhere. What makes her take on it different? How does being like a stretchy toy actually lead to profit, as the book's subtitle promises? Michelle: This is where the book really shines, because it connects this seemingly soft skill to hard results. There’s a fantastic story about a company called Sekisui XenoTech, a research firm. The vice president, Angela Kreps, hired Joy to train their sales team. Mark: Okay, so a real-world business case. I’m listening. Michelle: The sales team was struggling to connect with clients and close deals. Joy came in and didn't just teach them abstract ideas; she gave them her practical, real-world strategies, rooted in this AFA mindset and her background as a linguist. She taught them how to adapt their communication style to different personalities, how to reframe client objections, and how to find solutions where others saw dead ends. Mark: So, not just being flexible in your attitude, but flexible in your strategy and your words. Michelle: Precisely. And the results were staggering. The VP reported that within the first two weeks of implementing Joy’s strategies, the company saw a $500,000 return on their investment. Mark: Half a million dollars? In two weeks? Okay, that’s not just a cute motto anymore. That’s a serious business strategy. Michelle: Right? The VP said it was because "what Joy teaches actually worked in the field from the very first day." This connects to another one of the Baldridge family mottos, which is "Salt the Hay, Find a Way!" Mark: Salt the Hay? Where do these come from? Michelle: It comes from the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." The Baldridge family response is, "Well, then you salt the hay!" You make the horse thirsty. You don't accept the problem as a dead end; you change the conditions to create a solution. Mark: I love that. It reframes flexibility from a passive trait—just rolling with the punches—to an active, creative, problem-solving verb. You’re not just adapting to the situation; you’re adapting the situation itself. Michelle: Exactly. It’s the mindset that gets you from "we can't" to "how can we?" It's what prompted a 19-year-old to call the White House. It's what led that sales team to find half a million dollars in new business. It’s the software that runs on the well-rested, well-nourished hardware. Mark: And it explains why the book is structured as a series of quick, actionable ideas rather than a dense theoretical text. It’s not for academic debate; it’s a field guide for people who need to salt the hay on a Tuesday afternoon. Michelle: That's the perfect way to put it. It’s a toolkit. You might not use every tool every day, but knowing they’re there, and understanding the core operating system behind them, is where the power lies.

Michelle: And that really is the central thread connecting everything in this book. The title isn't just Joy AT Business; it's The Joy IN Business. It treats joy not as a random, fleeting emotion, but as an operational system you can build and maintain. Mark: It’s an engineering approach to happiness at work. You manage the hardware—your physical state—with practical things like the Purple Break and paying your R.E.N.T. Then you run the software—your mental state—with the AFA mindset and the "Salt the Hay" creativity. Michelle: When you put the two together, you get resilience. You have the physical energy to face a challenge, and you have the mental framework to see it as a puzzle instead of a threat. Mark: So the big takeaway for me isn't a hundred little tips, but those two core principles. First, you have to manage your physical state as a non-negotiable prerequisite for mental clarity. Don't just try to power through fatigue; actively do something to reset your system. Michelle: And the second? Mark: The second is to treat every problem not as a roadblock, but as a "salt the hay" opportunity. It’s a call to be creatively, relentlessly solution-oriented. That shift in perspective alone feels like it could change everything. Michelle: Perfectly put. So for everyone listening, here's a simple challenge from the book. The next time you feel that afternoon slump, that screen-fatigue we all know so well, don't reach for your phone or another coffee. Try a 60-second Purple Break. Just close your eyes, cover them with your palms to make it truly dark, and take a few deep breaths. See what happens. Mark: I’m genuinely going to try that this afternoon. And I’m curious to hear from our listeners. Does hiding in a dark room for a minute actually make you better at your job? Let us know if you try it. We want to hear about your experience. Michelle: This is Aibrary, signing off.