Being Commited to Being Fun
By Richard Bender
Are you committed to being committed?
Are you really signed up for having fun?
So much of having fun is deciding to have fun.
It’s taking the stand, “I’m
tired of not having fun and now I am going to
live life to the fullest!”
But, to be truly committed it’s sometimes
helpful to take a walk briefly in the shoes of
different perspectives. One of the exercises
I do with my clients to help them really choose
how they want to hold themselves regarding some
issue when they are making a commitment. This
exercise is called a balance wheel.
In the diagram below (You should know I love
diagrams and there will be many more coming your
way in the future), you can see I’ve done
a balance wheel for myself on fun. To work the
wheel, you ask yourself what are different perspectives
on a particular topic. To begin we will use the
viewpoint of a grumpy workaholic.
The grumpy workaholic would have slumped shoulders
and a big scowl permanently drawn upon their
face. They would probably say, “Bah, fun
is something that lazy people have. I have too
much work to do. Besides do you want me to look
stupid?” (According to the University of
California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, the perpetually
grumpy person has a higher mortality rate than
other less grumpy folks.)
Hmm, well that one perspective of fun. What
is another?
I used to play a lot of tennis and one of my
favorite players was Yannick Noah. Noah won the
French open in 1983 and is known for his flying
Rasta hair, gap toothed smile and lust for life.
Today, Yannick is a successful musician. He contributes
part of his success in tennis to the fact that
he practiced positive thinking and yes, you guessed
it having fun.
So to take Yannick’s perspective of life
might be to have a twinkle in your eye and look
for fun in everything you do.
What’s another perspective?
One of my favorite authors is the late Theodore
Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss. I love his quote
on nonsense, "I like nonsense; it wakes
up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient
in living, it's a way of looking at life through
the wrong end of a telescope and that enables
you to laugh at life's realities."
Mr. Geisel was a man committed to fun for sure.
To have his perspective would be to live in one
of the cities he created in his mind, Boola Boo
Ball. This is the city to which the Doorman of
Solla Sollew decides to relocate, because there
they have, “No troubles at all!” Being
silly was a part of Geisel’s life and it
made him a very successful man.
Are you getting the idea? I hope so.
I’ll share with you another perspective
that is near and dear to me. It’s the perspective
of my dog, Murphy, the Mighty Labrador. What’s
it like to be like Murphy? Well, she is always
curious, a good listener, loves to smell, is
always up for a party and just happy to be here.
That’s the perspective I’m going
to take!
Here’s my request to you, dear reader.
I’ve left a couple of openings in the balance
wheel above. What are some perspectives on fun
that you could take?
Now decide what perspective you want to hold
and commit to living from that perspective for
a week. Live life through the eyes of that perspective
and see what shows up. Get into it. Be the perspective.
Have a grumpy face or a twinkle in your eye.
Have fun with it and make it real.
Do people smile more at you? Do more people
want to be around you? Drop me a line and next
month I’ll share some of the best with
the Discover Fun community.
Richard Bender is a former professional
tennis player and coach and is now a Leadership
Performance
Coach. He lives in Vancouver, BC with his wife
and of course, Murphy. Contact Richard at: richard.bender@telus.net or
call toll free in North America: 1-866.824.8295
