Why People Rarely Succeed

Now everyday might be a bit of stretch, but I do my best to bring awareness to how I feel, and how the people around me are feeling.

The feeling of having FUN is electrifying and the science behind it is equally interesting. In a nutshell, your body reacts to positive emotions by emitting a burst of dopamine, which is in anticipation of a happy moment. Next Oxytocin is triggered through social bonding, which helps us build relationships. Third is serotonin, which is activated when your in a good mood, and lastly the infamous endorphins are released to enable you to power through!

Recently, I was at a men’s leadership retreat, and a simple question was poised to the group: “what do you do in your life that’s fun?”

At first, the question seemed easy to answer, so the team began to share. One person stated, ‘I love to go on vacations’, another answered ‘I love to ski’, and another said, ‘I love going to the movies.’ All answers seemed great, until the question was asked a slightly different way.

“What do you do in life on a weekly basis that’s packed with fun?”

We all had to take a moment to think about this one – The first to answer said, ‘I love bringing the kids to hockey’, another answered, ‘I read a book’, and another said, ‘I meditate’. As we went around the circle, we began to see that it was more difficult to answer the question when it had a specific time frame of each week!

All the statistics and facts link fun and happiness to good health, productivity, and overall well-being, but many of us don’t take the time to incorporate it into our weekly regime. It’s no wonder why so many people are not in a good state of mind, are not in the best shape of their lives, or furthermore, are simply not happy!

Recently, my wife and I were invited to a dinner party hosted by some of our dear friends. We were approximately 12 adults and 5 children in total. The dinner party was a big success, with plenty of great food as well as great conversation. In between courses, my wife and I went over to where the children were playing to see how they were doing. The kids were having a blast, playing, running around and simply being children. My wife asked the children, “what are you guys doing?” One little girl replied, “Where playing and having fun”. My wife then replied, “never stop playing”. The child stopped and what she said next was the inspiration for this blog, She innocently said, “Why would I ever stop playing? It would be boring, it won’t be any fun!”.

What so many of us forget is that whatever you do in life, it must be accompanied with fun, joy and happiness! I’m not stating that it should all be fun, but life should be filled with more things you love to do than not!

Try this, what if we filled our lives with the things we loved to do, the things that drive our passion, the very things that make us come alive.

What if you took one night a week and dedicate it to bringing fun and joy to your life? What if it was playing your guitar with friends, joining a pick up hockey league, joining a walking club or simply adding that something that lights you up!  Howard Thurman says it best, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Ask yourself:

• How would you feel after doing the thing that lights you up?
• How would you be around your family, friends and co workers?
• Would you be more creative, passionate, productivity, excited, alive?

Remember, when your having fun, you ignite your passion, you increase your productivity, driving happiness, and joy. Your outlook becomes clearer, your heart rate rises, you become more alert and aware, you’d be on the ball and ready to succeed.

“People rarely succeed unless they are having fun in what they are doing.”
– Dale Carnegie

Now go on and have some fun!!!

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