If you could use a bit of joy today, or simply need a pick-me-up, I encourage you to call 707-998-8410. You will be greeted by an art project from Asherah Weiss and Jessica Martin. These two have recruited wonderful students from West Side Elementary in a bit of fun. I won’t ruin the surprise, but if you take a few minutes to call the number, I’m guessing you’ll enjoy the experience.
I turn the big five 0 this quarter. Behavioral scientist Dr. Katy Milkman and her colleagues uncovered that these seemingly meaningful milestones often have a “fresh start effect” and can be used as an effective tool to motivate us towards aspirational behavior. Accordingly, I’m going to heed the call and use this coming temporal landmark by committing to support fifty initiatives or changemakers who are using fun as the engine to make their impact. The Peptoc Hotline (mentioned above) is initiative number one. If you have an idea of what might be a good candidate for number two, please hit reply and let me know—it’s the perfect time to unite and support each other in making the world a better place.
Max Friedman is a changemaker helping people make the world better. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Givebutter, an innovative software platform that empowers anyone to set up a fundraising campaign for free. Our interview about making fundraising more fun can be viewed here.
Jeff Harry is the person behind Rediscover Your Play—combining play and positive psychology to help teams build psychological safety, as well as individuals develop a play-oriented approach to solving big challenges. Our interview about how play can heal the workplace can be viewed here.
Life experience this quarter came by way of meeting the artist K. Flay at The Underground in Charlotte, NC. It was the first live indoor music venue I’ve been to since the pandemic—a truly enjoyable show that had me waxing nostalgic for the Bay Area music scene. The fun did not stop with the concert. The experience got me reminiscing about good times with old friends, as well as excited by the prospect of seeing a lot more live music again now that it is safer to do so.
For this quarter, contribution came in the form of supporting the fundraising efforts of PlayBuild, TpT ClassFund, #StandWithUkraine (through Givebutter), and, of course, Peptoc Hotline (which, if you haven’t already … I encourage you to give a try: 707-998-8410).
I’ll close this quarter with two quick things:
- For all those that have already preordered The Fun Habit, thank you so much! As promised, there is some fun stuff coming your way soon. For anyone who would like to preorder who hasn’t yet, you can get the book on Amazon by clicking here.
- In researching The Fun Habit, I discovered that you don’t need to wait for the big-something-0 or New Year’s Day to benefit from Milkman’s fresh start effect. You can use any meaningful event or milestone as an effective launchpad for making a positive change or creating a positive impact.
With that in mind: What do have coming up this year that might just be the catalyst for your next big thing?
Yours in fun,
Mike Rucker, Ph.D.
P.S. This past quarter, I had the pleasure of being featured in Fast Company twice. Here are links to the two articles: 3 Ways to Use Tech to Find Happiness and 3 Reasons Not to Bring Your Authentic Self to Work.
