Can work be fun?

Kenny said that work is not supposed to be fun. If it’s fun, then it’s not work. So if you are a Game’s beta tester, you are not actually playing for fun; you are playing for work.

Tang said if you turn fun into work, then it will no longer be fun. If you like dancing and dance everyday, you might find it as a chore eventually. If you like travel and be a Tour Guide, it might take the fun out.

Perhaps it’s true that if you do the same thing 5 times a week repeated over the years, it’ll become boring eventually.

1. If the thing is boring in the first place, then there is no hope!
2. If the thing is fun in the first place, then it might become boring eventually
3. If things do become boring eventually, we might be thinking of a change

If everyday is a weekend, then weekend might not be that exciting after all. If everyday is Christmas or Chinese New Year, then people might not be that anxious or feeling particular happy about it.

Most of us are trying to find a job which is fun, but the downfall is that it is hardly possible for a job to be fun all the time or for a long time. We are constantly looking for new things to challenge us, thus it go against the nature of a building block: we didn’t continue to specialize or be the master of one particular thing.

Let’s say I like dancing, cha-cha dancing to be more precise. After a while I got bored with cha-cha, and then I try other Latin dance like Jive, Rumba and Samba (go through the Bronze, Silver, Gold level and etc). After 1 year, I got bored with Latin and venture off with Ballroom dancing like Waltz, Quickstep and Tango. After another year I feel like trying Rock & Roll, Jazz, Paso, Hip Hop, Flamingo and etc. After 5 years or so, I might be bored with dancing and venture into Yoga, Skating, Hiking, Cycling, Piano and etc.

The Big Question
We have a finite number of time in life, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. Should we specialize in something and excel at it (even enduring boredom, or lack of interest), or should be diversified and enriched ourselves, persuing other interests as well?

In terms of career or main income stream, we indeed need to concentrate and work of something for a long period in order to be successful. It might take me 3 years to build up a computer shop to be profitable, and then I got bored with the work and close it down to start a PR company. Why not keep the Computer Business, and start the PR company? It depends on the resources I had in hand: time, money and man power. It’s worst if I got bored with the computer shop before I made it. So for the name of Survival, we indeed have to make sacrifices: even though it means work and no fun :|

In terms of personal hobby and skill development, I do agree variety and diversification is better. I think someone who knows Latin, Ballroom, Jazz, Hip-Hop and all kind of dances is a “better” person than the Master of Cha-Cha and knows only Latin. Each dance has different kind of skill, techniques, styles, emotions, music which affect us in different ways as a person. We will learn more and be more fulfilled, and they complement each other. Like Programming, some people just want to be Master of Java, or just want to do Web Development. It might look good on the resume with “10 years experience in Java Business Development” in some cases, but I think “Knowledgeable in C/C++, C#, VB6/VB,NET, PHP, Ruby with experience in Business Application, Web, Game and Mobile Development” looks more impressive and diversified in most cases. Though an employer might not need that many skill-set, but he might be impressed with you; or think that you are lying ala Jack of all Trade, haha. But, we only have so much time; we still have to choose wisely how to utilize our limited time.