Making Good Things Even Better

One thing I love in this life is to make a good thing even better.

I’ve written before about my belief that a thermos of tea can turn an ordinary trip into an adventure. Add a snack, add a book, add music, add time outdoors, add a friend: instant improvement to anything.

I love to use words to up the delight quotient, too.

I’ve noticed that simply remarking to myself, “This is fun!” in the middle of a pleasurable activity makes it even more pleasurable.

It’s very simple; just remarking on the feeling, putting it into words, draws my attention to it even more fully and I feel a little extra surge of enjoyment.

But what about the not-so-fun activities?

What about, for instance, tax preparation? What about cleaning out the litter box or making the hard call or writing the hard thing?

In that case, I like to do two things:

First – Add any of the aforementioned enjoyment enhancers, and if none of them quite work with this not-fun activity (tea and litter box cleaning, for example), add the promise of a reward.

Then – Do the thing and say, “This is actually kind of fun!”

And inevitably, it is.

Just being alive doing things is fun.

It’s also frequently funny. There’s always something to laugh at or enjoy. Sometimes it takes a little while to find that thread of enjoyment or laughter, but the hunt is worth it.

So there it is: two easy ways to up the enjoyment quotient:

This is fun!

Hey – this is actually kind of fun!