What’s FUN got to do with it?
What’s fun got to do (got to do) with it? (RIP, the fabulous Tina Turner)
I don't know about you, but for most of my life I didn't think that having fun mattered all that much in my pursuit of excellence.
A childhood playmate once described me as “not knowing how to have fun.” She might have been right — and that didn't really bother me.
For most of my professional life fun has been an afterthought, an elusive and unpredictable experience like catching an especially gorgeous sunrise. My life is undeniably rich, and many of my experiences are deeply satisfying, interesting, and rewarding — but are they pure fun? Maybe not.
It turns out that I’m not alone. Highly accomplished people are often either indifferent to fun or have a pretty fraught relationship with it.
But just because we’ve experienced success with one formula, does that mean this is the only — or best — way to go about it?
I recently gathered a group of high achievers together for a workshop to explore that very question. Here's what they said:
“Fun is a waste of time”
“Fun is too hard to schedule”
“Fun is unproductive”
“I’m too tired for fun”
So? Why does this matter? (Besides the obvious bit about fun being, well, fun, and it might be fun to have more fun.)
It matters because many highly accomplished folks aren't exactly thriving. We can struggle (and fail) to stave off burnout. Add to that, anyone in leadership has the important responsibility of providing inspiration to those around them — pretty impossible when you’re just grinding it out day after day.
The poet David Whyte was on to something when he said, “The antidote to exhaustion isn’t rest. The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.”
And this is where fun comes in.
Science researcher Catherine Price and others have shown that actively prioritizing fun in our lives has a whole host of benefits — we become more resilient, more creative, and better able to make effective choices. (Not to mention happier.)
So, how exactly do we have fun, you might ask? (I had that same question.) It turns out that true fun occurs when we experience PLAYFULNESS + CONNECTION + FLOW all at once.
Fun is an experience, not a thing, so we can’t just “go get” some fun. (Or order it online.) But we CAN start to look for opportunities to bring those three elements together. For me, playing Jenga with a nephew is almost guaranteed to be fun. Playing with a puppy, too. (Until they pee on the rug.)
So rather than waiting around for fun (or ignoring it entirely) I’m actively working to create more opportunities for fun to happen in my own life.
What about you? What’s fun got to do with it, for you?
ACTION: Look at your calendar and identify opportunities where you might bring together those three elements that make fun more possible. Sometimes one or two are already there — it's just a matter of adding in the third. Try not to make this into a chore, but rather notice what might be available if you had a little more intention.
RESOURCE: Catherine Price has a great TED talk and book on this subject. I recommend them both.