The Disciplined Pursuit of FUN

Dear Friend,

When was the last time you did something FUN?

Not “fake fun” as time spent on social media or watching TV is now considered, but real fun, where you are fully engaged in an experience that allows you to make lasting memories with loved ones or colleagues?

Randy Pausch, Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon, learned at age 46 that he had pancreatic cancer and had just 3-6 months to live.

He could have fallen into a complete despair, questioning why his life had to be so unfairly cut short.

Instead, he made a different choice.

He chose FUN.

As he talks about in his now famous “The Last Lecture – Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” which has been watched by millions of people online, and was also later published as a book.

He devoted his remaining time to achieving some of his most cherished childhood dreams, from experiencing zero gravity to winning a big stuffed animal in an amusement park. 🙂

His greatest lesson:
“Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day because there’s no other way to play it.”

When we are children, having fun feels effortless. It is our natural state of being.

As we get older, so many things start competing for our time and attention that actively making time for fun drops to the bottom of our list.

We do so many things in order to be happy…
 We work hard to become successful, so we can be happier.
 We strive to make more money, so we can be happier
 We fill our life with things, so we can be happier.
Forgetting that every single one of us has a short-cut to being happy in the here and now – by choosing to have more fun!

Not to mention all of the other scientifically-proven benefits of having fun – including
 Helping you deepen your connections with others
 Making you more productive at work, and
 Enhancing your well-being.

Here are 3 simple ways behavioral scientist Mike Rucker shares how we can make having FUN a habit:
 Put in on your calendar: While having fun should never feel forced, putting time on your calendar does serve as a useful reminder to making fun a priority

 Make having fun in small doses a daily priority: Whether it’s short breaks that you take at work to completely disconnect, or a small daily activity that you engage in with your kids, even a short period of fun can go a long way

 Get creative : Turn something not-so-fun into something fun by either changing the environment, who you do it with, or how you do it. For example – do your taxes in a nice cafe, or go for a walk or a run with a friend.

Wishing you a lot of fun and play in your life, always.