Take 5 minutes for fun

Little rituals can help you bond with colleagues

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that a little fun can give you a
big boost during your workday, so create a ritual out

(00:24):
of it in order to make the most of your time.
During my recent Better Workday Challenge, a participant described routine
she has for connecting with a colleague. She called it
five minutes of fun, as in that was its official name.
She explained that we share dumb internet memes or tell

(00:45):
each other stories. How great is that the two of
them have created a five minute mood booster that doesn't
demand advanced planning and doesn't require that the stars be
aligned perfectly. It just takes being aware of content to
share that will make you and your colleague happy. I
love the idea of making this time a thing by

(01:08):
giving it an official name, in this case, five minutes
of Fun. When the experience has a name, you recognize
it as something special that is happening. It seems wise
that the limited duration is built into the name too,
as in five minutes of fun. There's no worry that
you'll send one funny meme to your colleague and then
realize an hour later that you haven't done any work

(01:30):
since that first meme. You and your colleague have an
explicit commitment that you will contain the playful interaction to
five minutes. When you know that the five minutes of
fun is coming, you may also stay on task more
faithfully until then. In fact, the better Workday challenge participant
who came up with five minutes of Fun said she

(01:52):
saved up fun things until the appropriate time, rather than
sharing them whenever she thought of them. If you are
looking for connection, levity, or energy boosts in your workday,
you could consider doing five minutes of fun with a
colleague too. Or you could devise and name another break
that provides whatever sort of change of pace you and

(02:15):
your colleague need. Maybe it's five minutes of fitness and
you power walk up and down the stairs. You could
have the Grateful eight, or you meet up in the
break room for eight minutes to reflect on what you
are grateful for that day. You could do a mindfulness
exercise and call it your mindful minutes. The two of

(02:36):
you could take turns choosing the exercise and sending the
other person the name of the exercise to look up
at an app or a link to a YouTube video
or written prompt to guide it. Even if you each
did the exercise at your own desk and on your
own time, you would still feel a sense of connection.
So as you look ahead to next week, consider whether

(02:58):
you might create some sort of ritual in your day
to add a little levity. See who might be up
for participating with you. Give the ritual a name, and
you will be well on your way to enjoying work more.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

(03:19):
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

(03:44):
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