Laurie Gets a Fun-tervention (Part Two: Beach Party)
Dr. Laurie Santos, with Catherine Price (author of The Power of Fun), embarks on a "fun-tervention" to rediscover joy. They explore how embracing new, challenging hobbies and conducting a "Fun Audit" can cultivate playful, connected flow, boosting cognitive function and overall well-being.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Introduction to the Fun-tervention and its Core Elements
Catherine Price's Rowing Story: Fun in Absurdity
The Challenge: Trying a New Hobby and Overcoming Self-Judgment
Tom Vanderbilt's Journey as a Professional Beginner
Understanding the End-of-History Illusion
Cognitive and Personal Benefits of Lifelong Learning
Learning to Embrace Failure and Practice Self-Compassion
Laurie's Surfing Attempt: Embracing the Beginner Mindset
The Fun Audit: Discovering Personal Fun Factors
Identifying Anti-Fun Factors to Optimize Leisure Time
Recreating Peak Fun Moments in Daily Life
Conclusion: The Broad Benefits of Prioritizing Fun
8 Key Concepts
Playful, Connected Flow
This is the universal definition of fun, according to Catherine Price. It requires a combination of playfulness, connection with others or the activity, and being fully present (in flow), all of which are disrupted by distraction or self-judgment.
Delights
These are funny, beautiful, or delightful things that are constantly present in the world but often go unnoticed. Training the brain to focus on these small delights is a way to improve presence and combat distraction, which is crucial for experiencing fun.
End-of-History Illusion
This is a cognitive bias where people believe their personality, preferences, and core values are largely fixed in the present and won't change much in the future. However, looking back, people usually admit they've changed significantly over the past decade, demonstrating that we are constantly evolving.
Professional Beginner
A concept championed by Tom Vanderbilt, it involves intentionally picking up new, challenging skills throughout life. This approach helps combat the end-of-history illusion, fosters mindfulness, brings novelty, and expands one's sense of identity.
Self-Expansion
This refers to the process of expanding one's sense of identity by taking up new skills or activities. It shifts one's self-perception from 'I'm trying to do X' to 'I am an X,' which can also positively impact relationships by engaging in novel activities with others.
Self-Compassion
This is the act of recognizing one's humanity and speaking to oneself compassionately, rather than with harsh self-criticism, especially when facing failure or difficulty. It's a key strategy for overcoming mental obstacles and embracing the learning process as a beginner.
Fun Factors
These are the specific characteristics of people, settings, or activities that consistently lead an individual to experience true fun. Identifying personal fun factors through a 'Fun Audit' helps in proactively seeking out and creating more fun experiences in daily life.
Anti-Fun Factors
These are characteristics that, when present in an experience, are likely to prevent an individual from having fun. Recognizing personal anti-fun factors helps in making informed choices about leisure time, avoiding activities that might be fun for others but not for oneself.
7 Questions Answered
Fun is defined as a state of playful, connected flow, which means it requires playfulness, connection (with others or the activity), and being fully present, all of which are hindered by distraction.
Adults often struggle to have fun because they feel distracted, are self-conscious and critical of themselves when trying new things, and tend to prioritize productivity over goofing around, leading them to forget what they enjoy.
Self-judgment, characterized by negative self-talk, prevents individuals from letting go and being playful, makes it harder to feel connected, and reduces flow by clogging the brain with distracting thoughts, thus making it impossible to be present and have fun.
Learning new skills as an adult helps combat the 'end-of-history illusion,' makes one feel more present and mindful, brings the excitement of novelty, boosts cognitive abilities, and expands one's sense of personal identity and relationships.
Research shows that older adults who learn new skills, such as photography or quilting, perform significantly better on tests of memory and processing speed compared to those who only socialize, suggesting that challenging the brain with novelty helps prevent cognitive decline.
To overcome the fear of failure, one should embrace the idea that failure is a key part of learning, as seen in babies learning to walk, and practice self-compassion by recognizing one's humanity and using positive self-talk instead of being self-critical.
To find more everyday fun, conduct a 'Fun Audit' by journaling about past 'so fun' moments to identify personal 'fun factors' (characteristics of people, settings, activities that bring fun) and 'anti-fun factors' (things that prevent fun), then proactively seek out activities aligned with your fun factors.
27 Actionable Insights
1. Increase Playfulness, Connection, Flow
Actively seek ways to increase playfulness, connection, and flow in your life, as these three elements are the universal components that define true fun.
2. Conduct a Personal Fun Audit
Get a notebook and journal about past moments when you experienced true fun, detailing who was there, the setting, and what you were doing. This process helps you identify your unique personal ‘fun factors’ and understand what genuinely brings you joy.
3. Identify Your Personal Fun Factors
After auditing your fun history, identify the specific characteristics of people, settings, or activities that consistently contribute to your fun. Understanding these ‘fun factors’ allows you to proactively seek out and integrate them into your daily life.
4. Identify Your Personal Anti-Fun Factors
Analyze and identify ‘anti-fun factors’ – characteristics that, when present in an experience, prevent you from having fun. Recognizing these helps you avoid activities that won’t bring you joy, even if others enjoy them.
5. Optimize Leisure Time with Fun Factors
Use your understanding of both fun and anti-fun factors to make wiser choices about how you spend your limited leisure time. This strategy helps maximize genuine enjoyment and avoid wasting time on activities that don’t truly resonate with you.
6. Proactively Incorporate Fun Factors
Actively integrate your identified fun factors into your daily life by seeking out activities that align with them. For example, if music, friends, physical activity, and spontaneity are your factors, look for ways to combine these elements regularly.
7. Re-evaluate “Fun” Activities
Be mindful of activities you currently label as ‘fun’ but that don’t genuinely feel good or provide true fun. Re-evaluate these activities and consider replacing them with ones that align better with your identified fun factors.
8. Become a Professional Beginner
Challenge the ’end-of-history illusion’ by recognizing that you can still change and grow significantly, even as an adult. Actively decide to become a ‘professional beginner’ by picking up new skills to expand your identity and capabilities.
9. Try a New, Challenging Hobby
Try out a new hobby, ideally one you anticipate being reasonably bad at, to experience moments of absurd unpleasantness and reduce self-consciousness. This approach opens the door to genuine fun and personal growth.
10. Embrace Doing Things Badly
Adopt the philosophy that ‘anything worth doing is worth doing badly,’ especially when learning new skills. Focus on activities that challenge you by being on the edge of impossible, as this is where optimal learning and fun can occur.
11. Embrace Failure as Learning
Embrace failure as a key and natural part of the learning process, similar to how infants learn to walk. Recognize that frequent failure is necessary for acquiring new skills and should not deter you.
12. Practice Self-Compassion, Positive Talk
Practice self-compassion and positive self-talk, especially when facing failure, by recognizing your humanity and speaking to yourself kindly rather than critically. This helps overcome mental obstacles and fosters resilience.
13. Overcome Self-Judgment for Fun
Actively combat self-consciousness and negative self-talk, as these impede playfulness, connection, and flow, which are essential for fun. By reducing self-judgment, you can be more present and experience flow.
14. Don’t Prejudge New Abilities
Avoid prejudging your ability at a new activity; instead, try it first, as you might discover unexpected aptitude or enjoyment. This counters negative self-talk before you even begin.
15. Find Joy in Doing Things Badly
Engage in activities even if you anticipate being bad at them, as the process itself can still be very fun and bring joy. The primary goal isn’t always mastery, but the experience and enjoyment.
16. Prioritize Fun Over Perfection
Shift your mindset to prioritize having fun over achieving perfection or being the ‘best’ at an activity. This allows you to focus on the enjoyment of the process rather than solely on the outcome.
17. Focus on Process, Not Product
Shift your focus from the ‘product’ (achieving a specific outcome) to the ‘process’ (the experience itself) in activities. This allows for greater enjoyment and presence, even if you’re not achieving mastery.
18. Embrace Absurdity in Unpleasantness
Embrace the absurdity of objectively unpleasant situations in life, as this can transform them into pretty fun experiences. This mindset shift allows for finding joy and giddiness even in difficult or embarrassing moments.
19. Actively Seek Daily Delights
Train your brain to focus better by actively looking for ‘delights’ – funny, beautiful, or delightful things in your everyday environment that you might otherwise overlook. This practice helps improve focus and presence.
20. Seek Novelty for Focus and Delight
Seek out novelty by learning new skills and topics, as the freshness makes it easier to focus and brings a sense of excitement and delight. This ‘falling in love’ feeling enhances engagement and makes your brain feel ‘on fire’.
21. Learn New Skills for Cognitive Health
Learn new skills, especially collectively in a class setting, to potentially prevent cognitive decline and improve memory and processing speed as you age. This is significantly more beneficial than merely socializing.
22. Expand Identity Through New Skills
Engage in new skills until you feel comfortable shifting from thinking of them as actions (‘I’m trying to X’) to aspects of your identity (‘I am an X’). This process expands your sense of self and who you are.
23. Do Novel Activities with Partner
Participate in novel, challenging activities together with your partner to experience boosts in relationship satisfaction. The shared experience of being a beginner can be contagious and enhance connection.
24. Learn Skills Actively, Not Passively
Instead of passively consuming media about a skill, actively spend time learning that skill yourself. Dedicate a few hours to instruction rather than watching a show about it to gain actual proficiency.
25. Take Short, Fun Breaks
Take short, fun breaks during your day, even for seemingly silly activities like a spontaneous sing-along. These moments of true fun can make you feel more productive and alive for days.
26. More Fun Increases Productivity
Prioritize incorporating more fun into your life, not just for enjoyment, but also because scientific evidence suggests it can lead to increased productivity.
27. Fun Fosters Self-Compassion
Make more time for fun activities, as this can foster greater self-compassion, which is a valuable mental health benefit that everyone needs.
5 Key Quotes
There's a lot of moments in life where if you can embrace the absurdity of the objectively unpleasant situation, it's actually pretty fun.
Catherine Price
I think people often think they are the finished person they are going to be at any moment.
Laurie Santos (referencing Dan Gilbert)
Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.
Tom Vanderbilt (quoting G.K. Chesterton)
The best surfer out there is the one that's having the most fun.
Little Compton Surf Shop (website quote)
You're just plunging into this new world with, you know, new lingo, new equipment, you're moving your body in new ways, you're thinking in new ways, and I feel like your brain is sort of on fire.
Tom Vanderbilt
1 Protocols
The Fun Audit
Catherine Price- Get a notebook and journal about past times in which you experienced true fun, listing out 'so fun moments' you treasure.
- Analyze these moments in detail: Who was there? What was the setting? What were you doing?
- Identify your 'fun factors' by looking for common characteristics of those people, settings, or activities that are responsible for the fun.
- Identify your 'anti-fun factors' by thinking about characteristics that, if present, prevent you from having fun.
- Use this understanding to make different choices about how to spend your leisure time, proactively seeking out activities with your fun factors and avoiding those with your anti-fun factors.