24 Hours of Happy Working

Yes: I spent a day with Pharrell Williams’ videoclip; only pausing it for sleep, meals and football. This is what reading Jack Kerouac (On the Road) can do to you. Riding Kerouac’s wave of spontaneity/experimentation, as soon as I got wind of the videoclip, it was promptly decided that I had to challenge myself to 24 hours of happy working.

Some brave (or depressed) souls might sit through the whole thing, which would mean listening to the song about 360 times. Before you dismiss that as crazy-making, consider that the video’s crew listened to “Happy” probably 500 times and “no one is tired of it yet,” says Steiger. “That says something.”

Challenge accepted! Is Pharrell Williams implicit claim of being able to provide 24h of joy actually true? I tested this on a working day for a real challenge. This is how it went…

First day:

• 12pm – smiles
• 2pm – still smiles
• 15:30 – best idea ever
• 4pm – a little repetitive maybe
• 6:30pm – still a great idea
• 10pm – I actually missed this stuff after dinner and footy time, so much that I’m playing it off work too.
• 10:30 – wow, this stuff is the best when you’re dimming the lights before sleep

Second day:

• 8:30 – ha!
• 10:30 – t’was a good idea
• 12pm – I made it!
• 3pm … starting to miss the damn song

Yes, it was worth it and I definitely got the happies. Particularly since I didn’t pull an all-nighter like these guys did. But if you’d like to know a few of the highlights from the videoclip beforehand, their article is a good reference.

More interesting, yet, is the crew’s description of the process:

“The best work comes from people who are motivated by crisis–when something stops the original idea, they respond by coming up with something even better. Existence is all mathematics,” he says. “There’s an equation for success in every obstacle.”

But the coolest thing is finding some of the easter eggs:

Do it! You know you want to. 🙂