Peter Lind, who heads up the research and development team for Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, Vermont, also brings a playful spirit to his work. During factory tours, his laboratory is in full view. Rather than pretend he's working diligently every minute, Lind acknowledges tourists' presence by holding up a sign that says, "We're professionals. Don't try this at home."
What else would you expect from a former chef and actor who responded to a help wanted ad that listed "playing with your food" as a prerequisite for the job?
Bob Basso, the president of Light Management Associates, a motivational speaker in Hawaii and coauthor with Judi Klosek of This Job Should Be Fun! (1991, Holbrook, MA: Adams), believes that productive play is the key to success. This is especially true now, he says, when so many of us are expected to work harder, longer hours for the same money. Rather than let your performance slip because you're discouraged about diminishing incentives, you can enjoy your work and make it its own reward.
Herman Cain, the CEO of the Godfather Pizza chain, describes fun as the key to self motivation. "Fun helps remove the barriers that allow people to motivate themselves," he says. Career consultants, however, often have trouble convincing the dissatisfied professionals they counsel to lighten up. Says Lawternatives' President Cheryl Heisler: "A lot of people can't get past the idea that you can have a 'real job' and still have fun working," says Heisler. "Unless they're bored out of their skulls, they think it isn't real work." Howard Campbell agrees. As an independent outplacement consultant in Oak Park, Illinois, Campbell fights an uphill battle to convince clients that their first objective should be "finding somebody to pay you to do what you're good at and enjoy." Their second objective, says Campbell, is to "find an environment where you feel comfortable to be yourself." His views are usually greeted with skepticism. "Yeah. Right. I should be so lucky," they tell him. But luck has little to do with it. Self knowledge, a positive attitude and determination are the core requirements, not luck. Campbell knows of what he speaks. For 20 years, he worked at traditional corporate jobs for which he was ill suited, including 11 years as a human resources manager with Packer Inter national, a high tech medical firm in Bellwood, Illinois. Yet he describes himself as "the world's worst administrator." Because he wasn't much interested in the paperwork end of his job, doing it competently required a lot of energy. "If you don't enjoy your work, how can you expect to be good at it?" asks Campbell. Heisler agrees. Like Campbell, she spends a fair amount of time convincing clients that it's OK to get paid for having fun. In her experience, people usually succeed much faster when they enjoy their work because it comes more naturally to them. The key, says Heisler, is to know what makes work fun for you. In other words, define the terms of your enjoyment. "Fun is unique to the individual," she says "Finding your niche is critical." For her, nothing is more pleasing than when she receives an unexpected call from a television or radio producer to book her on a show, or when a reporter asks for advice for an article. While others eschew the limelight, she embraces it. Vocation ally, it's an emotional high that gets her adrenaline pumping.
Every profession has its playthings. By choosing subject matter that delights you, your day will automatically go easier. Physicists play with mathematical formulas. Architects love form and space. Writers love to play with words and ideas. Like Peter Lind, Karen Messina Hirsch loves to play with food. As the president and founder of Food Performance in Wheaton, Illinois, Messina Hirsch makes food the center of her professional life. It's a focus that had its roots in early childhood. Growing up in a small Italian community in New Jersey, she has fond memories of working side by side with her mom in the kitchen. Apparently, she also had early signs of talent. As an eighth grader, she won a local contest for her innovative German chocolate cake. By high school, she already knew she wanted to work in a test kitchen. College brought food service, dietetics and business administration degrees along with early kudos for her culinary skills. She managed a bakery at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, then moved on to the test kitchens at General Mills in Minneapolis, never once doubting that food was the career for her. She's since gone out on her own as an independent consultant. Recently, she returned to school to pursue a culinary arts degree at Kendall College in Evanston, Illinois. Since she's already 25 years into a successful food career, others question her need for that education so late in the game. Yet she has an endless curiosity for her subject matter and a tireless energy for learning the skills. While no job is perfect, Messina Hirsch often labors with joy. Her career has seen many variations, but food is always at the center of the enterprise. Still on her horizon: She may write a cookbook or host a cooking show. She admits to admiring Martin Yan of the popular TV program Yan Can Cook for his incredible cutting methods. "He's like a virtuoso pianist," she says. "He probably spends hours just practicing his knife techniques." While her family and friends sometimes think she's a little too dedicated, her time spent drumming up and testing new recipes is not only work, it's also play. You can call it a busman's holiday, but she's thrilled to spend her days off in the kitchen puttering with new dishes. To her, it's all grist for the mill-experience she can apply later in her work with corporate clients. This is a woman who knows that work can and should be a celebration of talents, not an exercise in tedium. As 19th century British writer John Ruskin said; "Labor without joy is base." Surrounding yourself with activities you love increases your potential for satisfaction. But it isn't always easy to find ways to integrate your interests and skills into your everyday work life. It takes energy, effort and a willingness to take chances. Heisler cites the example of a general practice attorney. The lawyer's first passion is for horses, but she wasn't sure whether and how to convert her passion into a livelihood. So she started slowly, working as a part time riding instructor on weekends to see if she was on the right track. She was. Today, her life as an attorney is far more tolerable because she knows it's almost over. Day by day, she's working toward the time when she'll be able to buy a horse farm in northern Wisconsin. Sound like fun? Admittedly, hobbies make high risk career choices. At the same time, they practically guarantee you a spot on the enjoyment roster. The real question is. Messina Hirsch thinks fun-as a by product of work-becomes more important as you age. At 47, she's aware that time is precious and wants to make sure she enjoys every minute she can. That's why she's always looking for new ways to expand her knowledge, develop her skills and enjoy herself. New York career counselor Judy Rosemarin has come to a similar conclusion. At 25, Rosemarin was determined to make people take her seriously. When she was 35, she was still in tent on pursuing that goal. By the time she was 45, though, she recognized that she was trying too hard and decided to lighten up. "Once I realized that I was taking myself too seriously, I relaxed and let go," says Rosemarin. "And guess what? That's when people started to take me seriously." Perhaps you need to stop working so hard to gain respectability and take your own happiness more seriously. Or, as some would say: Lighten up and live a little.
If you're on the lookout for new adventures in living, there are role models trailblazing new paths all around you. Perhaps you remember the Reebok commercial where two real life brothers put their sneakers to the bungee jumping test (only to discover that the Reebok less brother failed the jump)? Those two infamous bungee jumping brothers once were average Americans with traditional corporate jobs. Peter Kockleman was an engineer (whose boyhood hero was Evel Knievel). His younger sibling, John, was a computer consultant. In 1987, they saw their first bungee jump on That's Incredible. They decided to try it themselves by jumping off a 140 foot bridge at Don Pedro Reservoir near Yosemite. The thrill got them hooked. Soon, John quit his job and convinced Peter to do likewise. "Come on, screw security," John said. "Screw stability and upward mobility. That's not what you're on earth for-to sit there and be calm, to sit there and die slowly." The Kocklemans went on to become the kings of bungee jumping by founding Bungee Adventures, a California firm that arranges others' leaps of faith. Talk about jump starting your life all over again.
