How to make Mundane Tasks Enjoyable
Everyone has parts, or all, of their job that they hate. It’s either boring, repetitive, mundane, or all three.
There is a solution to this very common problem.
Treat work like a game.
It’s stupid but effective. Everyone enjoys playing games, so by treating work like a game it becomes very difficult to not like your job.
Make it a Competition
Create a competition between your coworkers for jobs that you don’t like to do. Have a race to see who can finish the task quicker.
You can even put some money on it to encourage the competition even more. A single dollar will do the trick. We are trying to make work fun not gamble.
Not only does it make work more tolerable but you finish the task at hand quicker.
Golf Course
I learned this trick working my first job at a golf course. I had a multitude of everyday tasks that got repetitive very quickly.
This included cleaning golf clubs, cleaning golf carts, picking up golf balls. Not the most exciting job in the world, but it was some easy cash for my friend and I while we were in high school.
Whenever we had a lot of golf clubs to clean we would race and see how fast we could clean the clubs. Whoever cleaned the most bags won.
We also did this for seeing who can pick up the most golf balls on the range. Or who can clean the most golf carts.
For cleaning members’ golf clubs they would typically give us a tip for it. Since my friend and I would split the tips at the end of the night whoever cleaned the most clubs would get the extra dollar if the tips totaled an odd number. More importantly, we would get bragging rights.
Treat Work like a Game
At the time, I didn’t realize how life-changing of a lesson that was. It can be used for everyday tasks that you have as well like going grocery shopping or cleaning. Set a timer and see if you can finish the task before the timer goes off. It is by far best used for work as many dislike at least one aspect of their job.
I use this “treat work like a game” tactic in every job I work now. It works well with the server job I am currently working.
Every server will know the feeling at the end of the night of having to roll silverware for the next day. Get your coworkers together and each put in a dollar and whoever rolls the most silverware wins the pot. Not only can you win a few dollars but it makes super tedious tasks fun and exciting. Plus you will be surprised how quickly you will finish the task.
So next time you and your coworkers have to finish a mundane task make it a bit more interesting and make a game out of it.