 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
| Bert is the brains of the website, he gobbles up information and then - using his number crunching mathematical formulae - he'll set you on the road to a better business future. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Time, Money, Love and Hate |
|
|
|
|
"The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life". Charles Schwab
|
|
| Time |
|
Since so many of us in business spend a considerable number of hours at work, wouldn't it be great if we enjoyed it? After all it would send most people mad if we spent all those hours doing something we hate. It would be much better if as Mark Twain once remarked "Your vocation should be your vacation".
"That's all very well for you to say" (I hear some of you reply) but I need the money. Well, try changing your frame of reference.
|
|
| Money |
|
|
Think about a profession that you would love to be in. Let's say you are a frustrated musician or professional sportsperson. Do you think they are only in it for the money, or is the money a by product of their success? I'll bet that most of them enjoy what they do because they are successful…money is just the icing on the cake. "That's because they don't have to worry about the money", I hear people at the back shout. My question to them is "How much money do you really need?" … think about it…once you have enough to feed yourself and put a roof over your head, what is the rest for? Mostly it is for what people call "having fun" and this translates into anything from an electronic gadget to a 60 metre yacht.
|
|
| Feelings |
|
|
But these are only possessions which help us… capture memories in photographs; feel the wind in our hair; sink the winning putt; because they give us a great feeling. If you can get these feelings at work, your life is going to seem so much more fun. Unfortunately time isn't on your side. Spending up to 16 hours a day at work doesn't give you much time left to get the rewards you really want if you don't build them into your working life.
|
|
| Love and Hate |
|
There are 3 basic strategies which occur to me to help make your work more fun...
If you hate what you are doing………………Change it or get out
If you love what you are doing………………Do more of it
If you hate some and love some……………Change the proportions in your favour
One thing is sure; if you hate what you do you will never be successful. Anything you don't have a passion for will be obvious to others and they won't buy from you. Get the passion back.
|
|
| Take out the dross |
|
Changing the proportions in your favour requires a bit of thinking and analysis to start with. Understanding what you hate doing and why is the first step to reducing it. Understanding what you love doing and why is the first step to increasing it. Once you understand the problem you can use some strategies to find solutions. There are several approaches you can take, for example;
Automate it
Delegate it to someone who enjoys it
Change it
Learn to love it
Get rid of it
|
|
| Attitude |
|
|
Fundamentally the root of change is founded in attitude. Fortunately there are proven ways to help change attitudes for the better. We'll come back to this in future articles, but for now, put your thinking cap on and do some analysis of your situation. This is the first step to putting the fun back into your working life.
|
|
| Gems of wisdom |
|
Fun and Frolics
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again…Then give up. There is no use being a damn fool about it.” W. C. Fields
Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong it will.” O’Toole’s Comment: “Murphy was an optimist.”
“If you cannot convince them, confuse them.”
“Before you have an argument with your boss, take a good look at both sides - His side and the outside.”
Rule of Failure: “If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.”
“The mark of a true MBA is that he is often wrong but seldom in doubt.”
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it - unless you are a consultant.”
“A committee is twelve men doing the work of one.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“If all the economists in the world were laid end to end, it would probably be a good thing.”
“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Benjamin Disraeli
Maier’s Law: “If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed of.”
“Nature gave us two ends - one to sit on and the other to think with. Success depends on which one we use the most.”
"The definition of a consultant: Someone who borrows, your watch, tells you the time and then charges you for the privilege." Letter in the Times newspaper
"His insomnia was so bad, he couldn't sleep during office hours." Arthur Baer
"I've got all the money I'll ever need if I die by four o'clock this afternoon." Henry Youngman
"To make a million, start with $900,000." Morton Shulman
"A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist." Franklin Jones
"All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy." Spike Milligan
"Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." Spike Milligan
"My formula for success is rise early, work late and strike oil." JP Getty
"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen
Phone
A young businessman rented a beautiful office and furnished it with antiques. However, no business was coming in. Sitting there, worrying, he saw a man come into the outer office. Wanting to look busy, he picked up the phone and pretended he was negotiating a big deal. He spoke loudly about big figures and huge commitments. Finally, he put down the phone and asked the visitor "Can I help you?"
The man said, "I've come to install the phone."
|
|
| Resources |
|
While you are doing your thinking why not check out these sites to get some inspiration and don't forget to tell Bert about how well your organisation is geared up for fun.
Business buzzword bingo
Fun site that generates business bingo cards for injecting humour into meetings!
Comedy-zone
Jokes, stories, pictures etc to liven up meetings and presentations (Caution: some adult content)
AHA clean jokes and humour
Selection of clean Jokes, stories, cartoons to liven up meetings and presentations
Woopido motivational articles
A collection of motivational stories, quotes etc from business leaders
Dilbert
Need we say more?!
Bernie Koven's Deep Fun website
Stories, musings, toys and games to use at work
|
|
|
