I don’t mean a little bit fun. Like fun when something great happens or when you have a breakthrough. I mean fun all the time.
What if work wasn’t hard, or stressful, or overwhelming, or burdensome.
What if it was as much fun as playing a game?
What would have to happen to make that possible?
Here’s what I’d do…
1. Get rid of all the stuff I don’t like to do.
The repetitive, tedious, soul-sucking parts of our jobs have to go. Automate, delegate, or drop them! This single step makes you less overwhelmed, and your work more fun.
2. Gamify daily tasks.
Even stuff I DO like to do needs to be funner! So when I’m writing these posts, I set a challenge time – can I get it done before the clock runs out? It’s more fun if it’s a game.
When I’m doing outreach, I look forward to the interesting folks I’m going to meet and the conversations I’m going to be able to have with them.
There’s always a way to make it more fun.
3. Lighten up!
Almost nothing I do is a life or death situation. It’s important; I’m taking it seriously, and sometimes the stakes are high – but not very often.
When we try to do everything perfectly, to maximize every outcome, we inject a level of anxiety and tension into our work, our relationships, and our life that will prevent us from doing our best work! (Don’t believe me? Look up the Yerkes-Dodson Curve.)
So maybe every workday can’t be like a picnic in the park, but with just a few changes, we could get a lot closer!
Want to try it? Hit reply and let me know. We can get on the phone and talk about how to make this real for you.
