Photo Credit: Flickr/ blinkingidiot

I’m a firm believer that you need to have fun at work.

The way I see it, you spend more waking hours at the office and with your co-workers than you do with you do with your own family. If the majority of your life is spent not having fun… well, life would suck.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should goof off all day. You need to work when you’re at work. That being said, work doesn’t have to be drudgery. As frustrating as some people and some situations might be, you have the ability to chose your mood and roll with the punches and actually have fun.

If you can learn to do this, you’ll be a healthier, more productive person.

How to have fun at work

There are three things that you can do that will make it really easy to have fun at work.

1. Chose the right job
2. Keep it in context
3. Play

Chose the right job

I can’t overstate the importance of this enough. No matter how cool your co-workers are, or how nice your cubicle is, if you don’t have the right job, you’re not going to have fun. In fact, you’ll probably end up pretty miserable. This is especially tough for people coming right out of school – you’ve got a mountain of debt, bills to pay, and dreams to chase, so you jump at the first offer that comes your way. As understandable as it is to do that – don’t do it. Take the first job that’s right for you. Your whole career will thank you for it.

There are two awesome books to help guide you in this regard. Check out StrengthsFinder 2.0 and What Color Is Your Parachute? Do it now.

Keep it in context

If you’re going to have fun at work, you need to be able to keep your work in context.

By that, I mean you need to be able to do two things. You need to be able to see the bigger picture of your work – the purpose. You also need to be able to acknowledge that minor inconveniences are just that – minor.

Seeing the big picture helps you realize that even though a given task you’ve been assigned might suck, it’s still an important part of the project as a whole. This applies especially to paper-pushing exercises. It sucks, but it’s important to be organized so that the project as a whole can flow smoothly, and problems down the road can be solved more easily.

Keeping minor issues in context is important, too. It’s really easy to get extraordinarily upset with Ted because Ted always schedules meetings at the last minute. Dammit, Ted! But you know what? It’s not a big deal. It’s not the end of the world. If you can roll with these little things and take them in stride, it’ll be much, much easier to have fun at work.

Play

I know this sounds simple, but it’s important. You need to play at work! Make games of the work you do. Set up competitions with your co-workers. Start a hockey pool.

I recently set up a few metal puzzles on the top of my cabinet, and you wouldn’t believe how many people take a minute or two to try and solve them, and really enjoy that time. My row of cubicles is better for it because people are having fun. It doesn’t get out of hand, and people aren’t totally distracted from work.

If you’re not 100% convinced it’s a good idea to have fun at work, check out the Pike Place Fish Market.

How do you have fun at work?

Write a comment below and tell me about what you do at work to have fun.

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