Do you have a ‘Fun Plan’ for 2011?

Most of us take time to plan. Whether we work for ourselves or for other people, there is some planning involved.

Planning goals for the year, revising business plans, writing up to-do lists for the week. Plans come in all varieties.

While this is well and good, it’s also important to make sure you factor in some time for having fun.

All too often we get caught up in chasing our goals and getting stuck into work challenges – we totally forget to plan any time off or time to have fun.

In essence, this is probably a bit of an odd statement, considering most fun things happen through random bursts of spontaneity. Fun can’t always be planned after all.

Yet it certainly helps to be free from work and commitments to allow fun and spontaneity to take place.

Here are a few simple tips for planning and having more fun in your life this year.

Plan to have a holiday

No doubt this one is the most obvious. Plan to take some time off with family/friends.

Take as much time off as time and money will allow.

One or two weeks may be all you have due to leave restrictions. Make sure you take that time, no matter how short.  If you can afford a month off (and can get that much leave), by all means, take it.

If your holiday is months away, find ways to make the waiting fun. 

Do research and preparation, if you enjoy that sort of thing. Relax in the sun at home, with a colorful picture book featuring your upcoming destination.

Just make sure you have something to look forward to.

Content to get you inspired to take a holiday – 

• 12 Thought-Provoking Travel Quotes
• How to Save for Your Dream Vacation
• 8 Glorious Reasons You Should Travel by Yourself
• 10 Tips for Traveling to New York Alone
• 12 Ways Travel Can Change Your Life

Plan short weekends away

If you are restricted by time or money pressures, think of taking more short breaks over the weekends.

Some fabulous last minute hotel prices can be sourced over the Internet.

Take the weekends off

Everybody occasionally needs to work on the weekends. Fair enough. Last year I worked quite a few weekends. Lots of them actually.

Don’t get me wrong I was working from home, so I had the luxury of making sure I had sufficient downtime as well.  I would write for several hours and then take a break.

What I did lack last year, however, was time with friends.

Make sure you make the effort to take some weekends off and spend that time with the people you love.

Do something different

Sometimes we can simply get stuck in a rut. 

Do something out of the ordinary or different to what you normally do.   

Explore a part of the city that you are not familiar with, try some exotic food that you have never had before. Think in simple terms, but make it different.

Remember what it is like to be a kid

You entertainment doesn’t always have to be so grown up.

If blowing bubbles puts a smile on your face then, by all means, do it. Go to a theme park and go on all the rides.

It’s not about just sitting and watching the kids have all the fun. Get in there and have fun with them!

Related post – How to Lighten Up – 25 Tips for More Fun, Play, and Relaxation

Don’t over plan your time

Sometimes we can spend our whole weekend running from one obligation to another because we have overplanned our time.

Sunday night, we find ourselves exhausted and wondering where our weekend went.

Make sure you have some time out to relax and enjoy yourself.

Watch out for overplanning and cut back when you need to.

Focus is good but don’t develop tunnel vision.

A couple of months ago I read an excellent blog post over at Live Bold and Bloom titled Are you over caring for your desires?

It amazed me how much I resonated with this article.

I had definitely been over caring for my desires to the point that I was overlooking some very important parts of my life, in particular, some of the important people in it.

For many lucky people, their work may actually be a great sense of fun for them.

Whilst this is an ideal situation to be in, it still doesn’t hurt to have fun outside of your work environment.

Loving your work is great. Being a workaholic totally consumed by work with nothing else in your life is not fun.

Make work as fun as possible

This will be easier in some workplaces than in others.

Share a lighthearted discussion with the people you work or associate with. Go out for coffees or have morning teas where everyone can chat together about non-work related events.

Related post – How to Be Happy at Work

Remember who is important to you

If you are married with children or have children, spend as much quality time with them as you can.

While your job or business may be important, don’t neglect the people in your life.

Neglecting people can happen easily and unfortunately, we can be completely oblivious to the fact we are even doing it.

Pay attention to who is important.

Take time to celebrate (even the small but important things)

Often we are so busy ticking off our to-do lists and working towards our goals, we can completely forget to stop and celebrate what we do achieve along the way.

Take the time out to celebrate. 

The type of celebration will depend on the individual, it may be something small and personal or something more elaborate when you achieve a major milestone.

Whether you are working or relaxing make sure you have lots of fun along the way. Have fun!

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P.S. You probably noticed this post was originally written back in 2011, but hey that’s okay because thankfully having fun doesn’t have an expiry date!