The Power of Play at Work
Posted September 20, 2005 —
By Keith
I’m a firm believer that work should be fun. Hopefully lots of it.
However, we all know there are way to many tasks, even in a fun job, that simply are no fun to do. Anything you have to do routinely, for example, can be a drag. Checking and responding to e-mail, answering the phone, doing your accounting, etc. These things are, by simple nature, not a whole lot of fun. But that doesn’t have to be. Adding a little play into your day can make things quite a bit better.
Some Simple Ways To Work and Play
- Have toys at your desk. They can be a handy distraction and a way to spark creativity. You might not want to go as far as I do (I’ve got toys everywhere) but one or two can give you a much needed diversion. Yo-yos are great.
- Do things backwards. For example, when I’m going through my e-mail, I’ll go bottom up. Sounds simple, but even a little change can be kind of fun.
- Get outside. When I used to do tech support for Microsoft (another life) hitting the basketball court at lunch was all that kept me sane.
- Wear a funny hat or outfit. Better yet, have a “funny hat day”.
- Reward with fun. Help your coworkers play by rewarding them in fun ways. Sometimes things like little toys and fun games can be even better than free food. Plus it’s better for you.
- Compete. I think the role of competition is important on the job, just don’t take it to seriously. It can be informal, like challenging a coworker to some kind of creative or output based competition. Or, it can be formal, like seeing who can get the most “stars” for being on-time to meetings.
- Laugh and joke. Get a joke of the day sent to your e-mail. Share it with your coworkers. I used to pass around my daily Dilbert calendar. Sharing a laugh can go a long way towards having more fun at work.
- Build friendships at work. This isn’t always easy. I’ve worked at several jobs where I didn’t connect on a personal level with my coworkers. It makes it much harder to come in every day. Try and get out to lunch, or for an afterwork beer, with you colleagues. It really, really helps.
- Play a practical joke on your coworkers. One of the best I’ve heard: hook a “clapper” on/off switch to a coworkers monitor. Watch office hilarity erupt. Just be sure and be respectful. Pick the right person and don’t let it go on forever.
- Make a mental game out of your tasks. Make rules for how you do something. Write on the whiteboard with your opposite hand during a meeting. Pretend your e-mail is a horde of space invaders. Whatever works. ;0)
- Choose an attitude towards work that promotes fun. I’ve found that if I spend a bit of my day having fun, I do much better when it comes to getting my job done well. Sometimes having fun is simple—you just choose to have fun.
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Comments
Kevin on September 20, 2005 said:
In honor of yesterday’s Talk Like A Pirate Day, I love pretending that I’m a pirate and my “issues” of the day are ships that need to be sunk and plundered. When everything is booty, it’s always more fun.
Michael on September 20, 2005 said:
Another wonderful article. This site is a treasure chest!
Keith on September 20, 2005 said:
Kevin—That’s a great one! Have a “meme” at work!
Michael—Thanks! Glad you like “me bootay!”
Alan on September 20, 2005 said:
One of my favorite harmless pranks to pull in the office is to stick a small piece of opaque tape over the LED on the bottom of an optical mouse. It’ll render it useless. (of course, until after you take off the tape) To lighten the general mood of the victim, write something like “Gotcha!” on the tape with a smiley face.
Most people never think to check under their mice when something goes wrong. The last time I did it, I watched as my co-worker rapped his mouse on the desk and reboot his PC a couple of times until he finally turned the mouse over. Luckily, he had a good laugh about it.
James on September 20, 2005 said:
Great article Keith. If you head on over to Belief and dig up the The Common Desk movie (Experiments > The Pollinate Sessions) it extends on those ideas of using environment, enjoyment and experimentation to nurture creativity/sanity. Not to mention it’s got some brilliant TV spots.
whitewiz on September 20, 2005 said:
more pranks:
-the latest nVidea display drivers let you flip the screen upside down. (hard to reset cuz the mouse works backwards)
-a sheduled task that ejects the CD rom every hour
-netdisaster.com company’s public website, during a meeting, on the projector… panic ensues
-M$ word auto-correct; normally replaces the word “teh” with “the” but can be taught to auto-replace the string “yours truly” with “so blow me”
-packing foam noodles + orange highlighter = things that look exactly like Cheetos. (and are slightly healthier for you)
Britt on September 20, 2005 said:
I desperately need this at work right now.
I am actually a member of an office Fun Committee that hasn’t met in a long time. In the past, we organized a Crazy Hat and Tie day, as well as an indoor Olympics (nerf basketball, jump rope, putt, etc.), and a bubble gum blowing contest.
We’re too busy to meet these days. Sad.
Keith on September 20, 2005 said:
Britt—I’d say that if you’re too busy to have a little fun in your day, you need to rethink how you are working. I know how it is, but the quickest way to burnout is all work and no play. In the long run it’s not good for you and it’s not good for your business.
Terry on September 21, 2005 said:
We had this guy (www.mikekerr.com) do a day long seminar on “Humour in the Workplace.” It COMPLETELY changed the culture of the place (a municipal government social services department).
If you want to have more fun at work, look him up!
Geoffrey on September 21, 2005 said:
A better solution might be to get a fun job. Then you wouldn’t need Funny Hat Day. Just an idea. ;)
Julia on September 22, 2005 said:
That’s a great article. I agree, it’s important to find ways to have fun at work. I like the fact that you mentioned getting outside to let off some steam. That can be really important. I even have a blog devoted to letting of steam about work called WorkRanter.
Jed in Canada on September 22, 2005 said:
For a good office safe excursion, ask the human8ball.com for advice.
Max Leibman on October 23, 2005 said:
An ex-boss of mine had “Thurple Thursdays”: Every day at our (collars-and-tie-and-no-khakis) office, he and a handful of other managers would show up in purple dress-shirts.
It was one of the few things to smile about on Thursdays.
Laughter, friendship, and making games of things are key. I’ve had three really great jobs (out of a dozen or so); in all three cases, it was a varying balance of how much not-inherently-job-description fun I could have and the quality of people I worked with that made the work, well, work.
Darin on November 16, 2005 said:
I totally agree with the concept of power of play. When I hit a point where I need break. I take out the old PSP and play 15 minutes of games and that is enough for me to refocus and finish what I was doing.
michael on January 10, 2006 said:
grab ur workmate bit collaar throw im on floor n say haha will brighten any day haha