What would make this more fun? 🥳

I've been thinking a lot recently about a single question: What would make this more fun?

Most of us spend an ungodly proportion of our waking hours tied to a laptop or in meetings. Neither of these are inherently joy-sparking activities. But we can't just count on our weekends and evenings to fill our cup… and our mood and experiences at work permeate into the rest of our world regardless. If we're pissed or sullen at work, we're probably not a sparkly butterfly in our off-hours.

So why not do whatever we can to make work a little more fun? This question really struck me for a couple of reasons.

First, for being a delightful reminder that, at least in my line of work, we're not out here saving lives. I’ve gotten the best reminders of this when I’ve worked with colleagues who had been in the lifesaving business (doctors, firemen, veterans). I'm not suggesting just because we write emails for a living we drop all professionalism and throw a pool party... plenty of things we do at work still hold importance. But it doesn’t have to be serious or urgent all the time. We could all do with a little more levity and laughter; a smidge more human connection.

Second, for the number of people I immediately wanted to ask the question to. What would make work more fun for Mark in Accounting who has literally never smiled on a Teams call?¹ What about for the Associate Partner who seems to run around all day with their hair on fire, hating everything?

And finally, perhaps embarrassingly, because I had never really thought about optimizing for fun at work. Optimizing for productivity? Sure! Outcomes? Of course! Learning? Most of the time! But fun? Uh… I hope this says more about the culture of corporate America than about my personality.

A couple of things I'm personally trying to inject more fun into my day-to-day:

• A sticky note reminder to BYOE on my desk. (Bring Your Own Energy. Don't get bogged down in other people’s sullenness, and don’t wait for someone to make your day!)

• Laughing when things go wrong. Not in a weird way, but acknowledging the goofy "oops"s of work life and finding humor in them when I can

• Switching up my location. I can be a serious desk hermit in the WFH world, so I’m pushing myself to get out to a cafe once a week to interact with humanity, crack a joke with the barista, maybe even invite a friend

What do you think, what would make your work life just a little more fun? What else should I be trying?

BYOE,

Abby

1 Name, department, and meeting platform have been changed to protect the innocent