Fun

As someone motivated by FUN, you resist the narrative that work and play must always be separate. Your motivation is highest when your workplace keeps a lighter tone, rather than a stressed or somber one. While all of the 28 motives connect to a longing for happiness, the FUN motive is perhaps the most overt in this pursuit. You believe that people can be serious, productive, and happy, and you don’t just want to be productive and happy in isolation. FUN is in the Personal Connection Domain. This means that, while you may enjoy FUN for FUN’s sake, you also want to have a good time with other people. This makes you a natural (and often unintentional) team-builder. When permitted, your desire for FUN builds connection with your peers, and can even help create an environment of emotional safety. Though FUN may look like frivolity or distraction to some people not as driven by it, it’s just as important to being well at work as any other motive. You have the mindset that everyone does and feels better when they can find some FUN in what they do. You like to find FUN in your responsibilities as well as in your environment. You are most engaged when laughter, play, and lightheartedness are a part of your dynamic at work. You work best in environments that allow you both to feel and to share a sense of joy and FUN. 

 You feel this motive being met when…

+ Enough elements in your job are naturally enjoyable to you.

+ You have leeway to make work FUN for yourself (and others).

+ You work with at least a few kindred spirits who also believe that work can be FUN, and who help to create a more lighthearted dynamic.

+ Your work environment isn’t relentlessly serious or boring and there is room for laughter, play, creativity and other factors that create FUN for you.

 This motive is at risk when…

– You find your work consistently stressful and/or unenjoyable.

– You feel like your desire to have FUN at work is judged or suppressed by either the people with whom you work or by the workplace culture.

– Even when you’ve made your work more FUN for yourself, colleagues don’t seem interested in sharing your levity or joy.

A Work Wellness Check-In for FUN

1. What are the first five adjectives I would use to describe my work environment? With my FUN motive in mind, how do I feel when I look at that list?
2. How often in an average week do I engage in work tasks that I find enjoyable? (Rarely? Sometimes? Daily?)
3. On a scale of 1-10, how much FUN do I experience in my current work? (1 = work is stressful, serious, and never FUN; 10 = my work is consistently FUN overall) What would my ideal answer be?
4. If I find my current job overly serious or stressful, what do I think the main reasons are? (E.g. there just isn’t time for FUN; the people I work with are very serious and/or have different motives than I do; my idea of FUN is different than that of those I work with, etc.)

5. If I find my workplace has created barriers to this motive, what can I do to lessen them? What kind of requests can I make to colleagues or supervisors to help create more opportunities for FUN?
6. How can I cultivate more FUN both in the work that I do and with the people I work with?
7. Who do I appreciate working with that adds to my FUN, enjoyment and light-heartedness at work? Do they know I appreciate them? Can I engage with these people more at work? Who detracts from my FUN motive? Can I have a productive conversation with them about this?
8. When I look back on my work life up until this point, what facets of the jobs I’ve held have been the most FUN for me? Are there common elements or qualities to the things that I find FUN?
9. If I have switched to remote work or entreprenurial/freelance work, has that affected my FUN motive in a negative way? How can I bring more FUN into the virtual working environment?
10. Do I care most about a FUN or light-hearted atmosphere and enjoyable work environment? Or that I can have a good time with peers outside of work? Is it both?

11. Do any of my work peers care about having a good time at work similar to me? Do they share a similar mindset that uplifts this motive? Do I feel like my peers make my professional life more FUN? Less? 
12. Is humor welcome in my work environment? How about playfulness, creativity or imagination? How important are these things to me as an aspect of FUN?
13. If I try to stir up FUN at work, how do my colleagues receive my attempts? How about clients? My manager?
14. Does anyone in my professional life (myself included) worry that my desire for FUN will impede my getting work done in a timely manner? If so, what countermeasures can I develop to help me enjoy my work while still finishing promptly and reliably?  Could I start a conversation with either supervisors or colleagues to help clarify my intentions and my motive, and to clear up any misconceptions?
15. Do I typically honor my FUN motive, knowing that it helps me engage more effectively, or do I stifle it in order to be more “professional” or because I view it as a lesser priority?
16. If I’ve stifled my FUN motive, how is that working for me? If I’ve been pursuing it, how is that working?