Art Of Money

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I’ve been thinking a lot about “fun” lately. I’ve been experiencing a lack of it in my business. Everything seems to turn a little gray, and I start to notice a distinct lack of creativity.

So I was intrigued when I received an email from Rich Schefren, pointing to a blog post of his called Are You Having Any Fun?

A core problem for a majority of entrepreneurs is that we fail to schedule fun into our day. We do this because we think we will get more done, but in reality this has the opposite effect. We end up becoming less effective, procrastinate more, become less focused, more burnt-out, irritable and stressed.

Most entrepreneurs valiantly squeeze all of the fun out of their day in order to schedule more time at work, as if hours in front of a computer somehow magically translate into additional income. But too much work and too little play has that all too common side effect of “work” time being wasted because we are simply not productive or can’t get started on the big projects.

And then it continues with a business payoff for having more fun:

Here’s the counter-intuitive reality you’ll experience: You’ll be much more inclined to work before you experience your fun activity (like gleefully completing all of your nagging tasks before leaving on vacation) and you’ll be much more productive and efficient while doing the work.

Why? Because you now have your fun activity breathing down your back forcing you to get as much done before you HAVE TO go enjoy yourself.

It’s time for you to commit to adding fun activities each day into your life, for the betterment of yourself, your business, your family and your community. Stated more simply, have fun each day and you’ll be more successful.

I’m really guilty of this, so I’ve decided to take up Rich’s exercise and written out a list of “fun” things that I’ve been missing in my life and have committed to moving them up my priority list everyday. Yes, since I do need to increase my earnings (having purchased a new condo and currently operating in a negative cash flow situation), it does seem completely counter-intuitive, but I know it is the right thing to do.

The reason is simple. The reason I work is to gain freedom, freedom to do the things that I love, so if I completely forsake doing the things that I love, in order to make money, I’ll end up being a miserable old coot, even if I do get rich.

The second and much more important reason, is that it’s the people who focus on doing things that are fun, that they are the most passionate about, that end up making the most money.

Making money is competitive and it’s tough to compete with someone who is doing it for fun rather than full of stress trying to make money.