5 Ways to Put More Fun In Your Business

Have you seen the classic movie, "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson? One of my favorites scenes is when his wife discovers that the manuscript he's been working on in a remote, isolated hotel, miles from any other human contact contains 100s of pages with the same sentence written over and over again, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Gulp!

As an entrepreneur, it's easy to isolate yourself in your own world that consists primarily of 4 office walls, a to do list that's a mile long, and zero boundaries as far as what times your work day starts and ends. You might take pride in this and tout it as a strong work ethic. And you might be right...for most businesses, skating by just isn't going to cut it these days.

However, working too hard can also lead to lack of motivation and creativity, drops in productivity, and even death. (OK that last one probably sounds a little extreme, but the Japanese use a term, karoshi, which literally means "death from overwork.")

To see what entrepreneurs are doing to put a little bit of fun into their business, I conducted an informal survey. Here are the top responses:

1. Take It Outside: If you work in an office and especially if you work from home, try to schedule a little work time at the beach, local park, or even just the backyard. Some people recommended making meetings "mobile" by using their cell phone during outdoor strategy sessions. Others actively schedule certain business activities that can be done in their favorite fresh air venue.


2. Tweak Your Environment: Incorporate more of what inspires fun into your work space. This could be music, games, photos, kids, or pets. One woman confessed she keeps cans of Play-Doh on her desk. (Take a break right now and watch this fun, short video featuring 2.5 tons of Play-Doh and a 30-ft rabbit, by clicking here.)


3. Schedule (And Take) a Vacation: A study shows that up to 42% of American cancel their vacation plans "regularly." Another study, done by NASA scientists, concluded that "vacationers experienced an 82% increase in job performance post-trip" but that taking 2 or 3 days off did not deliver the same benefit as getting away for a couple of weeks. Put it on the calendar and then put the necessary pieces in place so your business can run without you while you're gone.
   
4. Do What You Love: This is where you hit the sweet spot. When you love everything you do in your business, everything feels like play. Hopefully, pursuing a field that you are passionate about or that allows you to use your strengths is one of the main reasons you started your business in the first place. Still, parts of running a business might get you down. So if you only love certain aspects of what you do, see if you can delegate out the rest.


5. Play Well With Others: Instead of working like a hermit in a self-imposed cubicle, mix and mingle with people you enjoy. Hunt and gather people with whom you actually want to spend time with and put them on your team, in your virtual communities & networks, and add them as clients.
   

Author, Seth Godin, has this to say in his book, Tribes:

"'Life's too short' is repeated often enough to be a cliche, but this time it's true. You don't have enough time to be both unhappy and mediocre. It's not just pointless, it's painful. Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don't need to escape from."

This is a bit of a contradiction with point number 3 above, but very wise advice. Design your business the right way and you won't feel the need to runaway.