Lead On with Greg & Mark (LOwGaM)
We invite you to join us as we talk about the world of leadership during times of complexity.
Lead On with Greg & Mark (LOwGaM)
S5 E10: Revitalizing Your Spirit with Fun and Connection
Reclaiming joy isn't just a luxury—it's essential. In this episode, we explore the significance of fun as a lifeline to emotional well-being, inspired by insights from Catherine Price’s book "The Power of Fun."
• Exploring the meaningful role fun plays in our lives
• Sharing personal stories of gatherings that emphasize community joy
• Redefining what constitutes fun beyond entertainment
• Discussing the neurological benefits of play
• Encouraging intentional joy as a crucial survival strategy
• Highlighting fun as a unique personal experience
• Emphasizing the importance of fostering a culture of enjoyment in the workplace
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Speaker 3:Now for your hosts Mark Hoffman, Gregory Coons Do you like to have fun? Oh I do, oh I do, and you know that's sort of a ridiculous question for me to ask you, in the sense that you travel with a karaoke machine wherever you go, I sure do. I think the answer is pretty evident in the accoutrement that you travel with. Yeah, I try to bring it. How many karaoke machines have you been through in the last?
Speaker 2:five years, so I've been through.
Speaker 3:This is my third, what happens to them? So they get broken? I know like, like, how, like the speaker breaks or like the housing the housing.
Speaker 2:Uh was for the. I had a mini rock and roller which you carry around. It actually had a strap I could strap it to myself and then I go around and just haunt people or like show up at their doorsteps. Yeah, you know, that was the first one that broke the internal housing of it yeah so the microphone wasn't still wasn't working, but the speaker was yeah, so I gave that to my cousin and then I gave your cousin, hey cousin hey cousin, hey cuz and then, uh, and then the other one is the one I have uh now the same model, yeah that one, the battery, the internal battery, went on it, oh my god.
Speaker 2:And then I got. I had a nice warranty, so I went picked up another one yeah, I.
Speaker 3:Most people don't use the car. Yeah, most people don't use the karaoke. If most people don't have a karaoke machine, I would think that most people who have a karaoke machine probably don't use it. You are the rare exception of the person who has a karaoke machine and uses it so much that you've had to replace it twice.
Speaker 2:That's correct. I wear the batteries right out on those things.
Speaker 3:So that smells of fun, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little bit of fun, you know it's probably.
Speaker 3:It's probably one of those things where people either Attracted to the karaoke machine coming at them or repelled by it.
Speaker 2:It's exactly right, but I mean, I see it as fun on wheels fun on wheels fun on wheels. Fun on wheels.
Speaker 3:Have you brought it to work recently?
Speaker 2:So I did. During the Christmas we had a staff luncheon. Yeah, was there our board president, my assistant, myself. We were walking around and I had this very bright suit on. It was a matching coat and pants. It was white. It had Santas all over it. It was a little much. A little much. Yeah, it was loud.
Speaker 3:Greg Coombs a little much. It was louder than my speaker. It was louder than my speaker.
Speaker 2:So that's fun, though, right. So that's fun though, right, like so that's fun. And I, I do love, uh, I love, gatherings, and we recently had one with the friends which I wanted to tell you about. Yeah, it's a bring your own lobster event, byol, and it's what's so fun about this? Well, let's just go back in the days of the family. That was, we had lobster once a year and it was a big deal, and I know the one the the first year we did this, all mom and dad had were tater tots. So our, our tradition in the Coons family is to have lobster and tater tots. So so isn't that great? So, uh, we now have a gathering where everybody brings their own lobster and then we they can cook it however they want. But my buddy Billy is a he's, he knows how to cook, you know, and he goes.
Speaker 2:Greg, do you have a pair of scissors that I could use? And I went in and I found the old trusty scissors. I think they were my grandfather's. They were rusty and I gave them to him and it was so he could cut the tails so that he could bake them in the oven. So I go over to him and he's making this nice garlic butter. You know garlic or butter to put on top of it and everything else all fancy. I'm like anything I can help you with. And he said, yeah, I need a tetanus shot, so, but we had a blast and it was just. It's just nice that way. You're not. You know, when you're looking at hosting a party, that's a big expense. If everybody can bring their own lobster, it makes it that much better.
Speaker 3:BY so um BYOL so that's a fun fact, I think we need a new segment on the podcast fun facts with greg.
Speaker 2:You got it. You got it. Yeah, with uh dj snook you.
Speaker 3:Uh, you shared a book with me the other day that, uh, you're either working your way through or or you finished?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm working my way through it. Now I do a lot of audiobooks, yeah. So what is it called? So this one's called the power of fun. Oh my gosh, what a coincidence. What a coincidence that happens to be our theme for today. I had no idea. So, catherine Price, we want to give a shout out to Catherine Price for putting this together. The subtitle, or the second part of it, is how to Feel Alive Again. So the Power of Fun, how to Feel Alive Again.
Speaker 3:Fun isn't a luxury. It's a lifeline. That's right how to feel alive again.
Speaker 2:Fun isn't a luxury, it's a lifeline. That's right, yeah, so, yeah. So she reveals in this book she's got like five things, huh yeah. The most profound form of self-care, a radical act of reclaiming joy in a world designed to drain your spirit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the big thing right now. Right Like that, everybody's miserable and doom scrolling with social media and that people need to reclaim their lives back from the disaster that is social media, and internet, et cetera.
Speaker 2:Yes, they're. They're saying there's all these, you know, they're coming out with all these studies the anxious generation book, you know social media and addiction to smartphones and everything else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the dopamine hits and then also just the misery that you have because you have this misbelief that the life that people are portraying on social media is actually their real life and therefore you have this misbelief that the life that people are portraying on social media is actually their real life and therefore you have this envy and therefore a jealousy and a depression that results well, it's sometimes, you know you show on social media, you're showing your best self, or or manufactured, manufactured oh, it's totally manufactured, especially influencers, I mean, come on yeah exactly, so she's got five things.
Speaker 2:Greg, do you want to say the first one?
Speaker 3:No, go ahead. You go ahead Redefining fun. Fun is not entertainment, Greg. Did you know that it's not entertainment? It's a state of full engaged aliveness. So I already like where we're going with this. So fun is not a thing that you pursue. Fun is a state of mind, yes, or it's a feeling like sadness or joy. Right yeah, the author. She dismantles this cultural myth that fun is frivolous. A lot of times, oh, I don't have time for fun. So she's obviously countering that. And in the book, this summary says that she's got a belief that fun is. They're calling it a critical psychological nutrient. I like that.
Speaker 3:That you need it to reclaim some balance in your life.
Speaker 2:Like sunshine.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, in other words, I think the point here right, fun is not frivolous. I love that Right. It's a state of mind, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a feeling you want to experience. It's, it's it's a state of mind you want to attain it is it, is I like that.
Speaker 2:Go ahead All right. So our second is the neural, neurological alchemy of play. So your brain craves genuine play and I'm just thinking back to, you know, the early years the preschool years, the elementary years, there was so much that was designed around play, yeah, play, you had recess, all those kinds of things, and obviously we know what happens as you go through the grades. It just goes away, it goes away.
Speaker 3:But isn't that where you learn how to share and take turns? It is and to interact with people you don't know or maybe don't like. Yeah, you're right, it all goes away. It goes away. Probably. What like middle school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, middle school.
Speaker 3:I would say Sixth grade, fifth grade, Sixth grade or so yeah.
Speaker 2:Starts to disappear.
Speaker 3:Yep that's it, but it's so normal in kindergarten, first, second grade, like everybody knows, those kids need a break, yeah, and it's their outlet, yeah, in sports, right, they have or music or anything where they're doing something with other people. They just have such a richer vocabulary and a richer set of experiences in terms of interacting with other people.
Speaker 2:Interaction also, I would say, especially with sports. You know how to handle loss, you know not being number one, not being the winner. Every time Sitting on the bench, yeah, putting your time in.
Speaker 3:Or missing the shot, or striking out and realizing that the world doesn't end Right right.
Speaker 3:Three is intentional. Joy is a survival strategy, or it can be right. So fun requires deliberate choice. Back to this concept of intentionality that we've been talking about throughout our podcast career. The summary says that in a world that commodifies every moment, choosing joy becomes a revolutionary act. I really like that, right, but our workday is not set up around joy and fun. Oftentimes, right, and sometimes, when it is the people that are asked to participate, they say it's sort of like forced or artificial. Oh, I just came to work to do my job, I don't want to go to some team building or whatever thing. Right, you've already lost. If that's the attitude, right. If it's not just there, or if it feels forced, um, I think that, um, I, I. It has to be intentional. I like that, but it also has to be organic and authentic, right? You can't just say, all right, we're going to have fun, go, right. Don't? You feel like the culture has to have a place where people feel safe to have fun?
Speaker 2:It definitely does, and it's fun. Fun can still be productive. It could be productive fun. So bringing a fun element to a staff meeting, I mean, you know, starting your meeting with a Kahoot, yeah.
Speaker 3:We start with dad through. We just start with dad jokes here.
Speaker 2:Dad jokes is a great thing. I mean, you just pass the microphone around. We all do dad jokes right, love it.
Speaker 3:And I know some people roll our eyes or whatever, but most people actually say they go to the meeting you have to touch. I mean honestly, like they can get the updates through email of the fun, and not everybody shares one, but enough people share it that it's just sort of like a ritual that we have.
Speaker 2:it's a fun thing that we do and I use and it wasn't started on purpose, it just started by accident.
Speaker 3:We've been doing it for like 10 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I used yours the other day in a staff meeting their favorite item on a charcuterie board. Good, it was awesome. It was great. I mean, I learned so much about people, what they like as far as cheeses and grapes and all these different kind of things.
Speaker 3:And how long does it take? Right, those pepper shooters? Yeah, right, right, right, yeah and right, but how long does that take? Five minutes.
Speaker 2:Oh geez, it was yeah, four or five minutes.
Speaker 3:I remember somebody when we did that one in particular, someone came up to me and said you know, we have other things that we could be doing about people and then, when you see them in the hallway, you're not going to talk about a project, you're going to be like oh, I tried that fake jam. Thanks for the recommendation. It was awesome, right, yeah, right all right I'm glad you used it yes, yep, so um.
Speaker 2:the next is we are on four, four breaking productivity paralysis. So our culture worships productivity at the expense of human spirit. Think about that. Our culture worships productivity at the expense of human spirit. Yeah, read that last sentence there. Genuine, so genuine play restores creativity, prevents burnout and reconnects you with your most authentic self.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like that, so so what would you consider your play to be? Forget work for a minute, Like when you're not at work. What's your play?
Speaker 2:Well, I just think in general, I think it's a state of mind. No, but like what are you actually doing so if it's outside of work?
Speaker 3:Yeah, outside of work. I mean, I think I have outlets. I mean, what are your outlets? Let's do that.
Speaker 2:Outlets is jogging, running, running, you know that kind of thing. Disc golf. Disc golf is a huge one for me.
Speaker 3:Hiking, other kind of like lake activities kind of thing. I mean, you're on the water a lot right Walking the dogs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know those kinds of things. So, yeah, that's definitely a passion, that's. You know, I'm at my best when I'm with these outlets.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and just so, like the sentence says, the genuine play restores creativity, prevents burnout and reconnects you with your most authentic self. Do you feel like that's true when you're engaged in those things? Oh, definitely. Yeah, so talk about that I mean, like, what are the things that you're doing? Let's say, like, right now the winter, right, it's cold. Yeah, what are you doing for self-care that restores your sense of genuine?
Speaker 2:self through play. So a lot of mine has to do with I need to be on a like, have a just a regular schedule. So I go to the gym and that's you. That's three days a week early in the morning. You mentioned disc golf. We have a great group of guys and it's not always about the actual sport, it's about being with those people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, camaraderie.
Speaker 2:Camaraderie and also I mean we talked about it before with what we lose in the elementary years is you don't always win. No, you don't always win. Sometimes, it's fun, yeah, so the challenge is so great, you know, and sometimes when you get beat it's so nice that when you win you know it's nice to have that trade-off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for me it's been reconnected over the last couple of years with my bass guitar right.
Speaker 3:I've been playing since I was a kid, but yes, you know, when you're a parent, sometimes your hobbies fall wayside and you don't play as much. Yeah, right, you go into parent mode? Yeah, of course, because that's where your time and attention needs to be, and that's this. That's not me throwing myself a pity party. That's just me saying that for a while, my priorities were elsewhere, and as my kids have gotten older, I've rediscovered my love of playing music, and so that has definitely to use these words restored my sense of creativity, helped me to prevent burnout and reconnected me with my most authentic self. I definitely think that's true with me and my bass 100%.
Speaker 2:And I've seen it too. For those of you, mark is very humble, but he is a very gifted bass player oh, you're very kind. And he is the bass player of the first and only p-a-i-u band. The procedural safeguards oh yeah, founding member founding member yes, very proud.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so he had fun, don't we?
Speaker 2:you really do, and I tell you just to smile on your face when you're playing I just love it. I could just you know.
Speaker 3:So you could just see that that passion is there I love playing, but then I also love being around people who love to play.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:So the other people in that band are so talented. Just being around them watching them do their craft yeah, that makes me so happy.
Speaker 1:You hear me giggling probably because I'm just like oh my God, that's what he's doing over there.
Speaker 3:That's what he's doing. Like, when you play with other people, it ups your game. I'm sure when you play disc golf or when you're with people who are better than you, you get better.
Speaker 2:And that's what happened with Steve and I. We were the best when we brought this out. It was like four Thanksgivings ago. That morning we hosted like a tournament. Nobody knew how to play. And then what happened is they all got better than us.
Speaker 3:Right, but doesn't that make you better?
Speaker 2:right too. Yes, because now you've got to keep up it does it. You got to keep up it does. Yeah, it does. It's great, it's a great thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what I was saying. Like, sometimes, when you lose you mentioned winning and losing yeah, you get better than if you had won.
Speaker 2:So it's I compare it to we've talked about it before like when music crescendo.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you sometimes, when those when you it that much sweeter. Yeah, I agree, it's that kind of comparison.
Speaker 3:And it's also fun to be around people who are good at what they do. Yeah, right, and it's good to be around people who have fun doing what they do, right, it's no fun to be around a bunch of wet noodles, right, right, it's fun to be around people who are fun, right. That's why people like being around you because you got that karaoke machine watching other people have fun and that is their fun, right, watching other people. You know what I mean. They don't want to be the center of attention, but they want to watch somebody else do it, right.
Speaker 2:And that's fine. Agreed, right, agreed, and that's yeah, that's fine. And I wouldn't expect I would never put somebody in a situation where they're uncomfortable like that too.
Speaker 2:So, but yeah, but I, you really, um, you really, when you're looking at fun and you bring fun to work, it's so important If you're standing up in front of a group of leaders, group of staff members, just to be able to I think you said it before it's almost like let them have ownership over that a little bit. Yeah, Make sure it's. It's almost has to be like a safe. You gotta have some security that it's okay to have fun, that it's okay to laugh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, fun that it's okay to laugh. Yeah, and that's the fifth one that fun is personal, right, like. So, like, playing bass is what I do for fun. Disc golf, hiking, going to the gym that's what you do for fun, right? Um, you, playing the bass probably isn't fun, right, me playing disc golf, I'm probably not going to have fun.
Speaker 1:That's the point you I think the point is you got to find what works for you.
Speaker 3:Yes, you can't force your fun on somebody else and you.
Speaker 3:You shouldn't expect their fun to be forced on you. Right, exactly so. You got to find your outlet. You got to go with it. Yeah, all right. So this is Price's Power of Fun. Thanks for sharing it. I think it. I think it. This gives people license to not think of fun as a bad word, or think of fun as like a wasted opportunity for productivity, or where that fun takes away efficiency. Or that we go to work to work right, yeah, you do go to work, to work. But if you don't have some connection that gives you a break from the burnout, or if you don't feel like you're connected to people on something that's not just a project, then you're probably not as efficient. Actually, I think these opportunities that we're talking about actually create synergy and opportunities for efficiency, because you're connecting with people on different planes, beyond just the nine to five day job.
Speaker 2:Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, what do you say? We wrap this one up, dude, all right.
Speaker 2:That's oh.
Speaker 3:And, by the way, if you've been listening you notice that we ended our our episode one episode ago a little differently.
Speaker 2:Outros, different, different outros. So it sounds like greg's reading the outros now, because he is. I am all right. So, greg, what do you say? We wrap this one up, go ahead. That's it for low gam. Remember, leadership is like pizza everybody wants it, but not everybody knows how to make it yeah, I don't like that one.
Speaker 3:you like that one, you like that one, I do.
Speaker 2:I love pizza, but I'm not going to make it All right.
Speaker 3:Pizza, crispy crust or deli crust. I like crispy, Crispy me too.
Speaker 2:Thin and crispy. Yeah, thin and crispy. I live near the Old Forge Capital, that's true. Old Forge Pizza, old Forge Pizza.
Speaker 3:That's true. Old Forge Pizza, yeah, old Forge Pizza, that's what they say is the best. Oh, the best, all right.
Speaker 2:New.
Speaker 3:Haven or Old Forge, that's what they say Old. Forge.
Speaker 2:You like the better, because we had pizza in New Haven?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did you like.
Speaker 2:Old Forge better. It's close to home. All right, dude.
