Saturday, December 26, 2015

How To Have Fun

As a speaker my job is to make sure that my audiences learn and have fun during the presentation.  Conferences in general have become cookie-cutter experiences and no longer are the places people come to learn. They need fun to make the experience real.

The same is true in our daily lives.  Life if cookie-cutter for too many people and in my work I am having more conversations with people who want to get out of the rut of dull.  

I can relate (can you?).  Responsibility, mortgages, career pressure, families, saving for the future, and all the things that exist for most grown ups can get in the way of having fun.  Whether at a conference or simply on a Tuesday, fun does not always happen by accident.  We must be conscious of making sure we get more of it in our lives.

In 2016 I am committed to getting out of the "rut of dull".  I am seeking people who will help me create more joy each day. Gone are the ways of old that allowed mundane to rule the day.

Here are 5 tips to have more fun that I am trying:

1.  Recognize you need fun.  It is easy to let the pressures of life take over.  If we are honest that we want more fun in our lives the initial feeling can be the dread of how little fun some of us tend to have on a daily basis.  By making fun a priority and seeking it out you will be more able to recognize opportunities when they arise.

2.  Be less judgmental and jealous of others.   Judging others and jealousy are a daily pastime in our culture.  We see what others do and we either look down on their life or covet it.  Social media has made this worse as we now are peering into the worlds of other people constantly.  If we have to be viewing others, we are best rewarded by smiling and moving on instead of getting caught up in comparing and contrasting our lives. 

3.  Invite friends to play.  To get more fun activities you often have to be the person who plans the gatherings.  All opportunities come from people, and opportunities for fun are multiplied when you are around the right friends.  Avoid the jerks but get close to the ones that will help you discover more fun.

4.  Do something creative.  Draw, dance, sing, write, etc...  do something that gets your creativity flowing and let that jolt of insight carry over into your work, family and community activities.  We forget that most kids love to be engaged in creative play, and as we get older we drift away from these things that may just translate into fun.

5.  Don't worry what others think.  This is hard, and held me back for years.  I was worried what others would think about me if I did certain things.  I cut our a lot of fun because it seemed weird.  Too bad,  Let your weird side out and make fun happen everywhere.

The older we get the easier it is to forget that fun should happen, Just like I try to work with meeting planners to ensure they are playing up fun in their events, I like to see people find more fun anywhere they are and no matter what they are doing.  Some of the people in my life had held me back, and once I was honest that I needed new friends, I started to seek out people who brought more fun into all social situations.  

While I am not saying you should "fire your friends", seek out new associations that will expose you to more adventure and lead you to fun.  Life is too short to forget the joy in each day.  Discover people who will help you have better days.

Have A Great Day

thom singer

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