MM177 - Fun or Rewarding?

“I’ll do it until it is not fun anymore.” How often have you heard or said that? Is that truly how we want to live our lives? Perhaps we should be substituting the word “fun” for “rewarding”?

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[INTRO]

♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫

*Alex*

Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.

*Professor Paul*

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time again. It's time for Morning Mindset and I am your host Paul Markel and I thank you for joining me once more, and yes, I am sipping on a cup of coffee. It's good coffee because why because life is too short to drink bad coffee and I think that many of you out there probably share that feeling with me.

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Today, I'm going to talk about something that you probably never thought about, or phrase that you may have said and thought that it sounded reasonable or correct or wise or what-have-you. We do this a lot, we do this often in our lives. We regurgitate phrases, we say things that we have heard other people say because.

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Well, we heard other people say it and it seems reasonable or it seems wise or it seems thoughtful or maybe it seems cool to say that or what have you and today's phrase is I'll do that until it's not fun anymore. I was having a conversation with a friend recently, and we were talking about our career paths and all the different things we do and you know, like like myself he does a recorded podcast show, but he also does training and he just coaching and you just a lot of different things and he said use the phrase he goes.

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Well, you know, I'll do this until it's not fun anymore, and I said, you know, I actually had a business partner once somebody who's was working with me on a project and that person said to me when we started. He said he goes. Well, I'll tell you I want to tell you this I'll stick with you and I'll do this with you until it's not fun anymore, and of course at the time, you know I said, okay, you know, we're excited when you're a new you have a new project or new business or new anything. Everybody's full of, you know excited emotion and hope and they're like, oh this is going to be the greatest thing ever. It's going to be wonderful.

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Everything's going to be great. You know, we're all Geniuses. We all have the best product in the world. Well after I don't know year or so maybe a little more. This person approached me and they said you know, I told you that I would do this with you until it wasn't fun anymore. Well, it's not fun anymore, and I'm not going to do it good to go my separate ways where we go our separate ways and and I accepted it and I said, okay, that's fine. I accept your your feelings are reasoning or what have you.

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But the more I thought about it the more I thought that that phrase in and of itself and I'm sure you've probably heard it, you know from someone else or maybe you said it yourself, if you examine it honestly. Let's do this until it's not any fun anymore, or I'll do this job until it's not fun anymore. I'll work on this project until it's not fun anymore. Well, who is all about fun or what group of people or classification of people are all about fun children, right?

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If you want children, you know to read if you want children to study if you when we want children to do something. What do we do? As parents, we turned it into a game because if you turned it into a game, it doesn't seem like it's a job or a chore and the kids like it they'll do it. We do this with songs. We do this, you know School teachers, Elementary School teachers, kindergarten teachers, whatever they turn everything into a game with Rhymes and prizes and rewards and what have you because when you're dealing with a child.

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A child has very very immature emotions. They're very mentally immature because they haven't had time to mature yet, and so what we do is we make things fun or we turn things into games in order to get kids to do it. You can't explain to a six-year-old that it is their Duty and responsibility and it is the mature and right thing to do X.

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Because the six-year-old doesn't have that kind of mentality. They don't understand Duty or you know, a moral obligation. They understand fun. What's fun and was not fun. If it's fun. I'll do it. If it's not fun, I won't do it. But at some point in our lives, we have to under you know, except the fact that you know, what not.

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Everything is fun, and not everything that is perceived. As fun is going to always be that way now. I've in the last 10 years or so I ventured out and I've done television I've done I've been on other people's TV shows as a guest and I've done my own show. I've done radio. I've done live radio.

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I've hosted shows I've done podcast shows have been pre-recorded shows and I've done a lot of things in front of the microphone or camera and to the person to someone who's never done that and I and through that I've gotten to know a lot of directors and producers and you know people who act and so forth and musicians as well, and people who are on the outside looking in.

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You see someone who's on a TV show and you think "Man that is so cool. That would be so cool to do that, to be on a TV show. It really would or a radio show or to be a musician" or whatever, in the movies, and yeah, it can be it can be very exciting. It can be very fulfilling and rewarding and you know fun, you know, you get to participate you get to play with other people in front of a camera you get to do things you get to go places that other people but it's not always that way.

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Sometimes it's really frustrating. Sometimes it's not fun. I know you're like no but man you get to be on TV or you get to do radio or you could do this for that and that's got to be fun. It's got to be great. Yeah, it can be but it is everything at some point in time. No matter what. Well, you know people who sell candy or people who make balloons or you know people who seem to have the most fun job in the world.

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Every job or everything you do eventually becomes a job, and there will be times when you don't really want to do it. You'd really not do it. Or you'd rather not do another take sometimes you just don't want to do another take sometimes you feel like that was good enough. Let's do it, but you do it again.

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Because you know that's what needs to be done. Now. It's not fun, but it's what needs to be done. So when we look at that phrase, I'll do this until it's not fun anymore or I'm willing to do it until it isn't fun anymore. Maybe instead of the word fun. We should be substituting the word rewarding and this is what I talked with my friend about.

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Recently I said yeah, and he said yeah, that's what he said. He goes, you know, he goes I never thought about it quite like that, but he said you're right really I should substitute the word rewarding for the word fun because things can be difficult. Things can be tough. Things can be a bitch, but they could still be rewarding.

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You know physical training lifting weights when you get underneath a barbell and you're trying to squat more weight than you ever have. That's not fun. That really isn't the definition of fun. Most people when they're at the in the hole at the bottom when they get down there. They're not thinking wow.

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This is the most fun I've ever had. But we do it why because when we're finished we see the rewards. So the next time you hear someone say that or the next time you think that "Well I'll do this until it's not fun anymore." Maybe you should substitute the word 'Rewarding' and you could say honestly like I'm going to do this job until it is no longer rewarding.

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I'm going to participate in this activity until it is no longer rewarding and that actually is a better way or a more honest way to look at it and I've had jobs that I started and I was excited and you know, I thought I was going to be able to do good things and then eventually that job was no longer rewarding and so I left so the next time you hear someone say that say hmm. You know fun is for children rewarding is for adults. I'm your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.

[OUTRO]

♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫

*Alex*

Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.