Just Having Fun

This afternoon, I conducted a teambuilding session for leaders in education. It was a short session that emphasised, among other outcomes, having fun.

Having fun - sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? How do you have fun? Is it about playing games, and having a few laughs? What is having fun all about?

What we learnt at the end of the session - when I had them reflect on the experience - was that fun was a welcome addition to a working day. Having fun could mean: learning a new skill; solving a puzzle; realising that there are other creative ways to solve the same problem; enjoying a joke; or discovering that we shared similarities.

Having fun may boil down to making a choice. If you decide you want to have fun, you probably will. Fun involves emotions that make you feel good. Don't we want to feel good? Sure, you do. We can feel good by giving or receiving a compliment. We can encourage somebody to do more, because we express that we believe in them.

When you have fun, time appears to go by quickly. It involves values like passion, enthusiasm, curiosity, and intrigue - and these make us more alert, and interested in others.

So, go ahead - have fun at work, and at play!