I’ve just come back from brunch with a good friend who I would characterize as one of the leading thinkers in leadership and organizational design. She does a good job in prioritizing what matters for her and this is something I have been working through of late. While her advice, includes some of the elements of other prioritization frameworks (top 2-3 important things etc.) she also considers how much “fun” a project is. I’m a big believer in having fun at work. It makes hard work easier. It turns challenges into opportunities.
But you might say, having fun is subjective – I thought you wrote about objectivity. Let’s ground fun in another psychological concept coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – being in flow – when an individual is in a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. So why does it matter? When you’re having fun, you are also experiencing flow. It is a self perpetuating positive cycle – when you’re in flow, you are working on things that matter to you, that you have developed (or are developing) skill in and there is purpose and intention – regardless of how long or how much effort it takes – which creates the desire to do more of it. It’s at the intersection of inspiration, ambition, skill and mindset.
So as you’re thinking about how you spend your time and the projects you take on, consider the kind of work you find fun and how to bring those elements into your day to day. The old adage that if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life continues to ring true. Have fun and work can be play.
The Objective Co 