Every Day Is Special: April 3 – Don't Go to Work Unless It's Fun Day

April 3 – Don't Go to Work Unless It's Fun Day

Posted on April 3, 2018

There is a book called Don't Go to Work Unless It's Fun, and author Frank Sanitate may have started the holiday as a way of publicizing his 1994 book.

I am not sure what points Sanitate makes in this book; if you are motivated to check it out, I cannot think of a better day to do so!!

But here is what I thought of, when I saw this holiday name:

A lot of jobs are really difficult, or exhausting, or dirty, or even boring - but also really important. So I do not want to urge people in difficult, exhausting, dirty, or boring jobs to quit or even to skip work today...

BUT, in any job, people can find a way to make the job at least somewhat fun. This might be a great day for bosses to try to brainstorm ways to do just that! And I would urge people who work in supposedly non-fun jobs to also brainstorm ways to make those jobs better and even, at moments, fun.

Of course, as important as some jobs are for all of society (like, we kind of need someone to collect trash!), jobs tend to be very important to the job holders, because doing those jobs is how they get money! So don't take today off just because it's Don't Go to Work Unless It's Fun Day, unless you know your boss is fine with that!

I often think how important it is for people to try to find work worth doing (to them), work they are good at (or can become good at), work they find fun. Young people should be exposed to eleven-ty thousand different sorts of subjects and activities and jobs and opportunities, and they should be encouraged to explore whatever makes their heart sing - because happiness with careers and work is an important part of happiness with life!

But I also think that, at least in modern "Western" society, the word "work" often gets a bad sort of rap, especially as it contrasts with the word "play." Here are some great quotes to make you think about the work / play dichotomy: