Are you
having fun?
Look around you. Who's
having fun? Who's just faking it?  (And who's just grumpy?)
Here's a quick quiz ( click
here) to
see just how good you
are - it's a test to
see if you can spot the
fake smile.
And how much fun are
you having? Is there
room in your life for
a little more fun?
Later this month I'll
be launching the Eight
Irresistible Principles
of Fun as an Internet
movie. It's short,
sweet and very funky.
Stay tuned...
Meantime, in this
Outside the Lines I'll
be looking at the connection
between having fun
and saying "no".
Know anyone who's not
having enough fun?
Please forward Outside
the Lines (in
its entirety please)
to anyone you think
might be interested.
This community grows
with your help.
I'd be delighted
if you should wish
to reprint (for free)
any part of Outside
the Lines in
your newsletters,
websites, and message
boards. Contact me
at Michael@BoxOfCrayons.biz for
further details.
Michael Bungay Stanier
Principal, Box of Crayons
Don't
take my word for it
Could it be true that if it's worth doing,
it's worth having a laugh about?
"Total absence of humour renders
life impossible."
Colette, French author
"Common sense and a sense of humour
are the same thing, moving at different
speeds. A sense of humour is just common
sense, dancing."
Clive James, Australian
cultural reviewer
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"
Walt Disney, American
entrepreneur
"Laughter and tears are both responses
to frustration and exhaustion. I myself
prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning
up to do afterward."
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, humanist
"I like nonsense, it wakes
up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary
ingredient in living, it's a way of looking
at life through the wrong end of a telescope
and that enables you to laugh at life's
realities.""
Dr. Seuss, gambler (he
won a $50 bet that he couldn't write an
entire book using only fifty words. The
result was Green Eggs and Ham).
"If your goal is to create something
new and big, you're going to have to do
something that everybody else will laugh
at - so that becomes the test. If they're
not laughing at it, and you don't get turned
down a few times, it's probably not a great
idea. In other words, if it's something
that makes everybody nod their heads and
say, "Yeah, that makes sense," there
are probably already a dozen people doing
it."
Marc Andreessen, founder
of Netscape
"But the fact that some geniuses
were laughed at does not imply that all
who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed
at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they
laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they
also laughed at Bozo the Clown."
Carl Sagan, founder and
first President of The Planetary Society
The Seventh
Irresistible Principle of Fun
The Principle of Fun that rings most loudly
for me right now is Number Seven: Stop
being busy.
Being busy is so seductive. It's a place
of reassurance and a place of power.
(If I'm this busy, I must be important/useful/secure).
It's a place where we eliminate the space
to ponder.
That has its benefits - it can reduce
our anxiety, because we don't have the
time to ask Paul Gaugin's three big questions:
D'Ou Venons Nous? Que Sommes Nous? Ou
Allons Nous?" ("Where do we
come from? What are we? Where are we
going?").
But it also reduces our space to think
about possibilities, to imagine what
the right thing rather than the required
thing might be. After all, just because
you're going flat out, doesn't mean you're
on the right track.
Busy-ness can also become a habit. Carlo
Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food
movement says:
To be slow means that you govern the
rhythms of your life. You are in control
of deciding how fast you have to go.
Today, you might want to go fast, so
you do. Tomorrow, however, you might
want to go slow, so you can. That is
the difference. It is useless to force
the rhythms of life ... The art of living
is about learning how to give time to
each and every thing ... Ultimately,
'slow' means to take the time to reflect.
It means to take the time to think. With
calm, you arrive everywhere.
To stop being busy is as simple and
as difficult as deciding what will you
say "no" to? Michael Dell of
Dell Computers says, "it's easy
to decide what you're going to do. The
hard thing is figuring out what you're
not going to do."
But it's important. Not just to step
the rushing around. But because the only
way to start doing more Great Work is
to say ''no" to Good Work (What's
the difference? You can read about it
here).
How will you stop being busy?
SOMETHING
TO PRACTICE
If you gave yourself a score out of
ten for "busy-ness" right now,
what would it be?
If you gave yourself a score for doing
Great Work right now, what would it be?
Do you sense a gap?
What's one thing you could do that would
increase the amount of Great Work in
your life?
What's one thing you need to say "no" to,
to allow space for that Great Work to
occur?
You can download the Action
Acceleration Sheet for free at
www.GetUnstuckAndGetGoing.com - use
it as your worksheet, and move from
stuck to action.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? HERE ARE
SOME USEFUL RESOURCES
David Allen, Getting
Things Done.
This is the best resource on time management
that I know. Although the title is about
getting things done, at its heart is
the insight that you need to stop doing
stuff to start getting things done. (His
blog led me to the Carlo Petrini quote
above). [buy: Canada US UK]
Bill Jensen, The
Simplicity Survival Handbook. This comes a very close second
to Allen's book. The subtitle says it
all: "32 ways to Do Less and Accomplish
More.". It's full of practical processes. [buy: Canada US UK]
www.BoreMe.com. A collection of the
very best of the web. The bits and pieces
on this site reduce me to hysterical
laughter faster and more consistently
than anything else.
The Eight Irresistible
Principles of Fun. A funky compact card set designed
to sit on your desk, which will provoke
you to have more fun, get unstuck and
get going on stuff that matters. Each
of the eight principles contains insights,
a quotation and a call to action. Just
the thing to get you going - with a smile
on your face. http://www.getunstuckandgetgoing.com/store.php
Comments? Feedback?
Michael@BoxOfCrayons.biz
Running the
bulls? That's so 2005.
(and how to win a $30 Amazon gift voucher)
I got a wonderful email from Robert Bruce
from East Ilsley, Berkshire in the UK this
month. This is what he wrote:
Now look what I went and did as a
result of Get
Unstuck & Get Going!
I have never before dared to try to
organise or pull an event of any kind
off! Am I petrified - you bet but it's
exhilarating!
And no wonder! Here's what he's planning...
Here's what Robert had to say about
his idea:
It came in a flash when I saw a photo
of the Pamplona Bull Run.  All that
blood'n'guts & adrenalin
rush seemed too good a formula to
not copy for East Ilsley, which was
famous for centuries as the 2nd largest
sheep market in the UK.
The last time East Ilsley had any sheep
in the centre of the village was back
in 1934 at the last Sheep Fair (market).
Once I had the concept, this then became
a good reason for celebration of our
history. I am also starting a campaign
to prevent the sale to property developers
of the meadow where the sheep pens and
auctions were held. There is a plaque
set in a rock to commemorate the historical
importance of Pen Meadow but I guess
the quest for profit will bulldoze it
away if I cannot help preserve the village
legacy.
So there's no surprise that Robert's
the winner of this month's prize for
funkiest use of Get
Unstuck & Get
Going! Robert, your Amazon book voucher
is heading your way!
(You can sign the petition to save the
meadow here and
view some beautiful black and white glass
plate photos of East Ilsley from the
early 20th Century here.
Just try
and shut me up!
The Wow Factor: Creating Your
Own Coaching Products for Greater Visibility,
Impact and Profit, International Coach
Federation conference, November 9-12,
San Jose. On Thursday afternoon I'll
be facilitating a hotshot panel of experts
who have a great deal of experience in
creating real, honest-to-goodness products.
If you're a coach looking to generate
passive income, then this is for you.
OD Network Conference, Minneapolis November
14 - 16. I'll be an exhibitor at this
great conference featuring, amongst others,
Peter Block. Pop by and say hello if
you're in the area.
Get Unstuck & Get Going fr^e teleforum.
Monday November 21, 2pm. A regular forum
I host for this community, to support
you in getting unstuck. Register by sending
an email to admin@BoxOfCrayons.biz.
Coachville Cafe. Wednesday November
30, 11am. I'll be talking with Kim George,
the VP of Connectivity for Coachville
about getting unstuck, writing books
and a bunch more. You can sign up here.
As you might be able to guess, I love
to speak or run workshops for groups!
Please get in touch if you think I might
be able to serve you or your organization
as a professional keynote speaker.
Michael Bungay Stanier helps people, teams and organizations to get unstuck and
get going on the stuff that matters. You can find out more at www.boxofcrayons.biz or
you can contact him directly at Michael@BoxOfCrayons.biz or
+1 (416) 532-1322.
To subscr.be to Outside the Lines click
here. If you have any trouble
accessing this link send a blank email
to subs@BoxofCrayons.biz.
Outside the Lines is distributed
on the 2nd Thursday of every month. Your
contact information is never traded, never
rented, never sold.
©Box of Crayons 2004-2005. Box
of Crayons is a registered trading name
of Maida CC Inc.
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