Fundamental #29: Keep Things Fun

The 30 Fundamentals that make up the “ConnectSMART Way” describe how we want to run our business – the way we treat our clients, the way we work with each other, and even the way we relate to our vendors and suppliers.  They’re who we are and they’re the foundation of our success.  They drive everything we do, every day. Each week we focus on a different fundamental and discuss in depth.

Fundamental #29: Keep Things Fun

While our passion for excellence is real, remember that the world has bigger problems than a slow computer or a line of code. Keep perspective. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Laugh every day.

Let’s put the fun back in fundamental!

My daughter Ashleigh was a little over two years old and my wife was about eight months pregnant with my youngest and we were doing our bi-annual drive up to visit my parents in Georgia. Ashleigh was not an easy child to travel with. We had to stop quite often and it was a very difficult trip. We made a gas stop and Debbie took Ashleigh to the bathroom. Ashley as a three-year-old was crawling all over everything, touching everything, took her shoes off – it was a disaster! My wife was hollering at her about the filthy bathroom and for her to put her shoes back on and stop touching everything. Ashleigh turned to my wife with her hands on her hip and said in her sassy voice “mommy you need to just woosen (loosen) up and have some fun!”

Confucius said “if you do what you love we will never have to work a day in your life”, I think that is a little bit of a stretch but there is an element of truth there. While work isn’t all fun and games it IS the “Great Game of Business”. It is also where we spend a vast majority of our waking hours. When was the last time you laughed at the office? If it wasn’t Friday I hope you had the day off! We can easily get caught up in all that we have to do and our own problems and forget that there really are more important things. Things like our families, relationships, and life itself.

Ella Wilcox famous first line of the poem “Solitude” is “Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone”, but both are contagious. Nothing make a difficult or undesirable task easier than laughter. I think there must be something wrong with my wife though as she didn’t find my sense of humor very funny while she was in labor! I thought I was hilarious, but I guess some people just don’t get great humor or appreciate comedic timing.

If you take yourself too seriously you won’t be taken seriously by anyone else, so “woosen up and have some fun”. Now get back to work and make sure your time sheets are submitted!

Dan