I say it is absolutely okay to have fun at work, in fact, why not play outrageously

“Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat” Theodore Roosevelt 1899.

Ok so this was just a bit before my time…. all my mistakes are forgiven…given that all I was doing was having a go. Launching an online business after the dot-com crash of 2000, knowing nothing about online marketing and launching 3 weeks after September 11 are only a few reasons why RedBalloon had a few set backs.

Glorious triumphs it might not be – but I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said to me – ‘what a great idea – why didn’t I think of that’…

Honestly, I don’t look at it as work because I have way too much fun on set to actually classify it as work. I know a lot of people who are like, ‘Man, acting’s so much work.’ And I’m like, ‘No, it’s not. I’m having fun.’ And I want to keep doing that. I don’t ever want to give up acting. Billy Unger

It does not have to be expensive – we have plenty of cheap and cheerful ideas… as does Dave Hemsath.

“With 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work, Dave Hemsath and Leslie Yerkes offer a complete resource anyone can use to create a dynamic workplace that encourages and inspires fun-and-games camaraderie among employees. It combines thorough research with practical hands-on suggestions and features hundreds of ideas real companies have used to lighten up the workplace.

When the authors surveyed over 1,500 individuals from organisations worldwide, they received enthusiastic responses that yielded a broad range of ways to spice up the workday. People loved to share how they have fun at work. The suggestions in the book include humorous training films, dress-up and dress-down days, silly job titles, awards for people who go “”above and beyond the call of duty”” when a coworker is on vacation, “ritual dances” at the completion of a project, a fashion show when it’s time to choose a new uniform — even foam dart fights after meetings.”