Hello Everyone,
Summertime is here, which (similar to a weekend) is an amazing time for fun because we are primed to give ourselves permission to make the most out of our summers. One common theme that has emerged as I examine people who are clearly having a lot of fun, is fun people make sure to deliberately and explicitly schedule fun activities onto their calendar. Not an earthshattering tactic, but one that is commonly absent from those that have indicated they wish they were having more fun. Something magical happens when we put an event into Outlook or our daily planner, even when that event is as simple as “Have fun with my kids from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm on Saturday.” For some reason when something exists in our schedule, we actually do it. We prioritize around the event because it is in our calendar … the event seemingly takes on immutable qualities. If you are not doing this already, please try this simple tactic and let me know if it works for you.
PRO TIP: Most of us have more fun when our friends are involved, so if you are reading this, why not use it as a prompt to reach out to a friend or family member to schedule some summer fun? Create the event in your online calendar and invite them in so it’s on their schedule, too. I promise you they’ll be grateful you reached out and made it happen.
Lastly, I am currently in Portland for my 2nd World Domination Summit, a great conference for anyone looking to connect with fun-loving travelers, entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and all-around remarkable people. I finished the rough draft of this newsletter during the day and headed off to the evening keynote given by the magician Nate Staniforth. Nate closed his talk with this magic trick to drill home the point that wonder is all around us waiting to be found, all we have to do is go find it and, better yet, share it with others.
Dr. Dike Drummond is an expert on employee burnout who has extensive experience helping physicians. He is the Founder and CEO of The Happy MD. The interview with Dike Drummond interview about ways to avoid burnout can be found here.
Angela Kyle is the founder of PlayBuild, a nonprofit that provides under-served youth with innovative physical spaces to play. The interview with Angela Kyle bout the importance of creating environments that foster play can be found here.
A slide down The Leap of Faith (an attraction at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas that is deemed the scariest waterslide in the world) was this quarter’s life experience.
Leap of Faith | Atlantis, Bahamas
This quarter produced opportunities to provide contributions to a number of Live Life Love alumni. I donated to Noah Kagan‘s Sumo Ride as well as to Delivering Arclight, a project that is fighting preventable blindness and deafness (raising money using Bryan Pate‘s ElliptiGO bikes). I supported Jeff Atkinson‘s son in this year’s Tour de Pier. Last but not least, I supported my dad‘s effort (as well as a couple of others) to raise funds for the American Heart Association.
Monday was the three-year anniversary of my brother Brian’s passing. It was that life event that pivoted my focus to the science of fun. If it weren’t for prioritizing and scheduling fun, I would never have had this memory to hang on to.
A validation that this topic is important is that as of this month our group is now over 200,000 strong. I am grateful to play my part in helping people make memories and have more fun.
Wishing you all the fun you can handle this summer.
Yours in fun,
Mike Rucker, Ph.D.
P.S. Don’t forget to reach out to a friend and schedule time together. You will be glad you did!
