How much fun can you have?

I had fun at the weekend. Did you?

My son and his girlfriend were visiting and on Sunday we walked into the historic old town in St Albans. We stopped in one of the pubs and went in, intending to get a drink. Well, two of us did get drinks, but when I saw Blue Bubble Gum Ice Cream listed on the board, I just had to order that!

As you can see, it was very blue! And it really tasted like bubble gum. The taste took me right back to my childhood, collecting comics in the Bazooka packs, with my sister. The only thing I couldn’t do was blow a bubble, but I still stuck out tongue to prove to you how blue the color really was.

(By the way, if you live in the UK, I’ve just seen that Iceland sell a bubble gum ice cream which is suitable for vegans – just don’t read the ingredients unless you want to try and pronounce them, which is also kind of fun! If you live in the U.S., you can probably find these products in many stores.)

So why all the excitement around my treat with a very disturbing shade of blue? Isn’t this all a bit silly? It’s about having fun! I believe many people could do with more fun in their lives. There are so many challenges and real problems in the world that you can actually forget to have fun. Having fun in any way you can simply redresses the balance. Being professional does involve being serious about your subject and seriously committed to your clients and success, but you don’t always need to behave in such a serious manner. 

Bring out the little kid in you. Challenge yourself to add fun and maybe a bit of silliness to your day. You may have to get out of your comfort zone to do this. And most of all, recognize, celebrate and encourage the fun-loving people in your network and in your life.

When speaking and presenting to clients, I usually warn them within the first five minutes that I will be having fun and it is up to them whether they do or not. We can’t control how people respond to us, interact during a session, or even how they allow themselves to show up when in a group. I have observed, in over 30 years of speaking and training, that the majority of people will pick up on your energy and mood and follow the leader. If you regularly present to groups, ask yourself right now: “How much fun can I have?” It’s probably more than you are allowing yourself at the moment. And how much more engagement can you create if you bring out that side of you?

In addition to regular people and a few boring ones, there seem to be lots of truly inspirational, fun-loving folks in my network. After all, I enjoy being with other fun people! I will put in the comments a few names of fun people to follow. Please forgive me if I have somehow forgotten to include you in the list. Simply add your name, and mention any other friends and contacts we should get to know. I’m not allowed to use emojis in these articles, but if I could, you know which one I’d insert right now…

So, here we go. A list of people to follow, an invitation to add your name and the names of other fun folks to the list, and a reminder that you can add fun to almost any situation you find yourself in. Here’s to having more fun and sharing it to make others smile.

#fun #thoughtful #leadership #thoughtleadership #challenges #business #people