3 Ways to Find Enjoyment Today
A coaching client said, “I want a learning plan for myself that’s fun. I don’t need another job.” All learning plans should be fun. The world is wacked when enjoyment feels like a newborn goat learning to walk. Normal people resist discomfort.
Resistance makes learning unlikely.
Enjoyment turns battle to play.
The problem of grit:
Success depends on endurance. Average people succeed as long as they keep going when the path is steep. Can you find weird enjoyment in grit? If you don’t, you’re doomed.
Grit requires energy. Enjoyment is energy.
“I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” 1924 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 400m and missionary to China, Eric Liddell.
3 ways to find enjoyment:
#1. Enjoyment and purpose:
You can’t persist long when two things are true. The activity is painful and optional. Starving people dig for potatoes even if they hate potatoes.
Purpose is discovered in usefulness.
Purpose is found in connection with something outside yourself. How might you best serve? What pressing need do you most frequently notice? How might you meet that pressing need?
Self-serving purpose creates fear. Other-serving purpose fuels energy.
#2. Enjoyment and difficulty:
Training without a goal is like eating fire ants.
Doing hard things isn’t painful when they serve a goal. Training for the Olympics is hard, but a goal makes training satisfy.
#3. Enjoyment and responsibility:
“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears … to an unfinished work will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the why for his existence and will be able to bear almost any how.” Victor Frankl
The defiant joy of leadership is an unfinished work. (Not an unfinished to-do list.)
How can you let yourself enjoy today?
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Hey Dan! Great article.
Can you elaborate on the statement that “self-serving purpose creates fear”? In the moments where we choose to serve ourselves, why would that lead to a greater experience of fear?
Thanks!
Will
I thought perhaps it meant something like. If I am writing a book to make lots of money – I will probably not do it because I fear it will be awful, I will waste my time, and I will fail. If I write a book because I have information that will help or entertain others and I am focused on serving them, it will bring joy!
Thank you!
I believe the focus is on self-serving. If it just serves self, it most likely won’t be fun. It’s when our goal is to serve others that hard work become play.
I love Victor Frankl – Man’s Search For Meaning is an amazing read. Thank you for sharing.