Make It Fun

Is fun missing from your life?  I know I feel sometimes that life has become more drudgery than anything else.  And the truth is that you need to find ways to bring real fun back into your life.  Although I might be able to help inspire you to find some fun in general, right now, I want to talk about bringing a little fun to the various things that we need to do in our homes.  If we can make our chores less tedious, we’ll be more likely to get them done.

I encourage you to brainstorm your own ideas for making things more fun.  Therefore, to help get those creative juices flowing, I’ll share some of the ideas I’ve used and ones that have worked for others.  Use them for yourself if they interest you.

I’ve mentioned before that I am not an avid cleaner.  I also record TV shows to watch at a later point, often enjoying the ability to fast-forward through commercials. I now use those commercials as a perfect time to get some vacuuming done.  I look up periodically to see when the show starts again.  That is my cue to stop for the moment.  I then use that time to move things either out of the way, or back into place.  Our rooms are small, so the whole room is easily vacuumed within two commercial breaks.  It doesn’t necessarily make it fun, but it does help it feel less tedious.  It also stops the task from feeling overwhelming; I work at it for a limited amount of time and then stop for while.

Teamwork is a great way to make tasks more fun – even having company can help tasks feel more fun.  This can work in several different ways – from the actually doing the work with someone else to simply working in the same area on different tasks.  Another way to apply this idea is to have a phone buddy.  Before starting anything, you talk on the phone, sharing what you’re each going to tackle and agree on a time to call back.  You then hang up and begin your tasks.  You can imagine what they are doing and can look forward to talking later.  The key here is that if one of you doesn’t actually work on those tasks, you wait to talk.

I often play music while working on the various things around the house.  I’ve heard back from clients that this has helped them as well.  (It of course varies depending on the person.)  Going through papers are one of the most tedious tasks, and surprisingly draining.  One woman found that if she had music playing, she could sort papers for longer periods of time as it made it more enjoyable.  As my music tastes are quite eclectic, I vary the type of music – considering my mood as well as my task.

Be sure to have different tools for bringing fun to your tasks, so that our fun things don’t become routine!  Then it’s not fun anymore.  Mix it up, have alternatives, and explore what works for you.

Of course, anytime we can make our tasks enjoyable, the more likely we are to get them done and feel good about it.  I hope you will find ways to make your tasks fun – let your creative juices flow in finding ways that work for you. The holidays are here, and if we can employ ways to make the things we do more fun, it can only help us enjoy the holidays even more.