The surprising importance of FUN in productive work
Eat Sleep Work Repeat
Bruce Daisley
4.7 • 989 Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2023
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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This episode explores the concept of fun and its importance in adult life, challenging the misperception that fun is frivolous.
What is fun? Catherine Price suggests that it is the confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow.
The discussion also addresses the impact of social media on fake fun and the role of playfulness in work and productivity. The conversation explores the importance of fun in the workplace and the impact it has on productivity, connection, and overall well-being. It delves into the challenges of creating a fun work environment, the role of playfulness in building connections, and the significance of in-person interactions. The discussion also highlights the value of fun in education and its potential to bridge social and cultural divides.
Takeaways
- Fun is a feeling, not an activity, and it involves the confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow.
- The misperception of fun as frivolous leads to the prioritization of fake fun over true fun, impacting mental and physical health.
- Playfulness is undervalued in work settings, but it is essential for creativity, productivity, and building closer relationships.
- Social media and technology addiction are designed to induce fake fun through dopamine triggers, leading to habituation and reduced enjoyment of everyday experiences.
- Creating space for spontaneity and identifying personal 'fun magnets' are essential for experiencing true fun in everyday life. Creating a fun work environment can improve productivity, connection, and employee well-being.
- In-person interactions play a crucial role in building meaningful connections and fostering a sense of community in the workplace.
- Fun and playfulness have the potential to bridge social and cultural divides, creating a more inclusive and connected society.
Chapters
00:00
The Essence of Fun: Playfulness, Connection, and Flow
08:27
The Impact of Fake Fun: Social Media and Technology Addiction
15:27
The Role of Playfulness in Work and Productivity
31:20
Focusing on Inputs and Creating a Fun Work Environment
34:22
The Role of Playfulness in Building Connections
39:02
Fun as a Tool for Bridging Social Divides
Catherine Price is a science and health writer who has written a couple of sensationally timely books.
Firstly How to Break Up With Your Phone
Secondly, and today’s discussion focusses on this, The Power of Fun
I was put on to it by Elle Hunt’s Power of Fun article in The Guardian
Memorise it: fun is playful connected flow
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is This is Eat Sleep Work Repeat, a podcast about workplace culture, psychology and life. |
| 0:11.0 | Hi, I'm Bruce Caysley. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Ellen Scott. |
| 0:14.0 | And I'm Matt Cook. |
| 0:15.0 | There was a moment in the interview that we did in this week's show where right at the start |
| 0:21.0 | where I realized actually I hadn't questioned some of the values and the decisions that I was bringing. |
| 0:27.5 | I said something to today's guest, Catherine Price, about the importance of fun and I suddenly realized I don't think that that was |
| 0:37.1 | universally accepted and universally agreed. |
| 0:39.6 | Catherine Price is a writer she writes about about health, and she's written a couple of |
| 0:46.1 | fabulous books. Firstly, she had a huge international success with a book, How to Break Up |
| 0:51.7 | with your phone, which, as she will say, started from a perspective |
| 0:55.6 | of her trying to understand the relationship she had with her own phone and how she could make |
| 1:00.8 | it less toxic. And she's also written a book that we ended up dedicating the entirety of the |
| 1:07.0 | discussion today too. Sometimes you never know where these interviews and |
| 1:11.5 | discussions are going to go and and I didn't know if we'd run out of space. |
| 1:15.2 | In fact, we filled so much time with a discussion about her book, The Power of Fun. |
| 1:20.8 | And for me, it was just a brilliant and kind of life-affirming discussion about |
| 1:28.0 | something that we sometimes leave for chance and we don't necessarily set about creating fun as a pursuit in our lives. |
| 1:38.0 | We'll be back to talk after the interview but right now let's jump in to the discussion with Catherine Price who amongst us the |
| 1:43.4 | interview, but right now let's jump in to the discussion with Catherine Price |
| 1:44.5 | who amongst other things wrote the power of fun. |
| 1:49.8 | Catherine, thank you so much for joining us. |
... |
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