I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Mandatory Fun Day
Hey Reader,
You know that feeling you get when you find a $20 bill in your jacket pocket?
It’s a great feeling when you come across random extra money. It could be from a gift, money back, or a tax refund.
What most people tend to do when they get unexpected money is splurge. They buy something fun, or extra, and treat themselves.
What’s interesting is that the same thing does not tend to happen when people find extra time.
People who get extra time tend to use it on obligations. At ConvertKit, we wanted to give people a fun extra bonus day to go do whatever they wanted. But we needed to figure out a way to give our team extra time they’d actually use to have fun and not just spend on chores and other obligations.
Introducing: Mandatory Fun Day.
The idea is everyone on the distributed team has a day of fun and then shares their adventures with the team. There are some guidelines:
You are strictly forbidden from spending your offsite time on catching up on work, chores, or other obligations and commitments.
Select an activity or activities that you would not otherwise have time to do that you find:
- Delightful
- Meaningful
- Serene
- Challenging
- Relaxing
- Amusing
- Awe-inspiring
- Satisfying
- Intriguing
Creating a shared experience
Our team loves Mandatory Fun Day. We like to have people come back and post a photo of something they did.
It’s a shared experience for our team, because everyone is going and doing something at the same time even if it’s in completely different locations. There’s a little bit of pressure to come up with something good, because you know you’re going to share it.
But even if you don’t have a team, you can still give yourself a Mandatory Fun Day. Talk about your plans publicly and share a photo of your experience.
Reach out to a few other creators with the idea and see if they want to take Mandatory Fun Day at the same time with you. That way, you all have a sense of community.
For our last Mandatory Fun Day, I took a flying lesson in the morning (I’m working towards getting my private pilot's license), built a playground on the farm in the afternoon, and took my son August skiing in the evening.
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YOUTUBE
Driving across the U.S. without using paved roads
My friend Ron (who lives here in Boise), drove across the country without using paved roads. It was a journey that spanned 28 days and over 5,000 miles.
It's a pretty crazy idea, and he's been releasing a daily vlog of his experience.
PODCAST
Moving money around the world
I'm really enjoying this podcast called Business Breakdowns.
You hear industry veterans break down a business, talk about why it works, why they're fans, and the mechanics of what makes it great.
Something I thought was interesting from this episode about Wise (formerly Transfer Wise) is they have accounts in every country. So rather than move money, they just increase and decrease balances.
CONVERTKIT FEATURE
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Enjoy your Tuesday!
—Nathan
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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