This is fun to me: standing at the marathon starting line, adrenaline pumping, the minty vapor smell of the athletes, the nervous tension, the hopping around to stay limber and burn nervous energy—to me that is fun. Then the gun goes off and we run in rhythm floating into the runner’s high. Then kilometer 36. Pain. In fact, if you’re wondering what I’m thinking, it usually has to do with a bullet putting me out of my misery like a wounded horse.
Then I see the goal. Pain pulses throughout my body, aching, breath labored. This too is fun. Crossing the finish line, euphoria.
Work can be like that. But don’t expect your employer to serve it up to you on a silver platter. Your company is there to create a product or service. You’re were hired to make the company money or save money (or both). No one was thinking about fun or providing your life’s mission. That’s your responsibility.
And it is hard. Of course it is hard.
We don’t ski on slopes that are easy. We want deep powder and steep slopes.
We don’t want calm, serene waters when we head out for white-water rafting. We want white waves!
As my mentor, Dr. William Boast advised, “It has to be fun. Then from there, to joy. And then to beauty.”
When you go to work, do you seek fun? Not easy, but fun.
We talk about life being hard sometimes. Of course it is! That’s the point. Now get out there and make it fun, bring joy, create beauty.