Yesterday afternoon Marge came running to my office and exclaimed, full of excitement, "I've got it! I've just had a breakthrough! It's about having fun!"
[So first off, I oughta mention that that type of conversation is not uncommon for us, in fact we relish it and it's a significant factor in our working and personal relationship. And actually, there's not much of a line between our working and personal lives any more as we continue to shape our lives so our work is ever more aligned with our passions. But anyway, me running in early in the morning to wake up Marge with a cup of coffee and a new idea or her running to me in the afternoon with a strong insight are regular occurrences, which tells you a bit about our relationship, our daily work habits, and our respective times of highest creativity.]
Okay, so anyway, the rest of the conversation ran something like this:
Marge: "Here's the part people sometimes don't get. Working with your passions, building or shaping your business around your passions isn't supposed to be a struggle, and it's not supposed to be all serious and focused. There's a place for work and structure and focus, but overall, it has to be fun! It's supposed to be fun!"
Me: "Yeah."
Marge: "We've been setting up workshops and coaching groups on results and business plans and marketing plans and social media and all that's great, too, but where's the fun? If people don't get that living your passions is exciting and fun, they don't really understand what it's all about! It's supposed to be fun! People want fun!"
Me: "Yes, I see that."
Marge: "Let's sleep on this and talk tomorrow about how we can work to convey the idea of having fun in life and having fun in your business or life work is a lot of fun. People like fun, people want to have fun even if they're not topline aware of it."
Bruce: "Okay, good idea, let's think about it overnight and see what we come up with."
[Skip ahead 12 hours to roughly 4AM this morning, which is MY highest creative time.]
So this morning, when I went through my morning exercises of engaging the universe via cogitation, meditation, and social media, I put up the following two inspirations from my alter-ego Being Bruce.
"Be like the kid who goes to a park and has a great time and helps others have fun, too." - Being Bruce
"Today I'm going to take having fun and being fun very seriously." - Being Bruce
I posted those two quotations not with any end result in mind, but because they came to me, I liked them, and I wanted to share. I put them up on FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a few of the other usual suspects (I post to multiple sites simulataneously using a utility called Ping.fm, which saves beaucoup time). I also posted the first one on another forum I frequent, we.entheos.me (an international forum of folks with a philosophical leaning).
Anyway, imagine my surprise, and delight, when I received this response within minutes of posting the first quote above on we.entheos.me from someone from New Zealand, "Yay! I get to be like a kid again!! Tonight I decided to move back to the U.S. and go back into teaching. (-: Your quote is awesome, Bruce. Thank you." - I won't mention her name to protect her anonymity.
My heart is smiling and happy. My #2 Passion in Life is "Being a significant positive change agent in the lives of as many people in the world as I can to help them live extraordinary lives." Check.
So, hmm, looks like Marge is on to something. People like to play, they like fun, and the memory of the energy and fun of being a kid playing in a park can spark and/or support people - at least one person - to make significant work/life decisions.
Go Marge!! Woohoo!
We are supposed to have fun!
I think now I'll take HER a cup of coffee and tell her what she/we did!
So how about you? Do you have fun in your life? How about specifically in your work life? If you don't, or if you'd like even more fun and joy in your life, consider taking The Passion Test with either Marge or me. For an increasing number of people, that's where it starts. Check out what some others have said about taking The Passion Test with us at www.BrucetheCoach.com.
