With a dash of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious magic and a farewell complete with a flying umbrella, who could ever forget the classic Mary Poppins? The beloved Disney nanny Mary Poppins, portrayed by Julie Andrews, taught Jane and Michael — along with millions of other young children — life lessons sprinkled with fun and love. Not only are we left with funky words (such as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) and catchy songs, we’re also left with wise quotes, such as the one below.
[quote cite=”Mary Poppins, spoken through Julie Andrew”]In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.[/quote] When we were younger, we were told to dream big. We could be anything we wanted, from the president to an astronaut, never mind our non-existent worries of GPAs. Once we hit high school and began thinking about college, a majority of parents and some teachers started touting the tunes of financial stability. While I can’t help you with choosing and joining a career that you love, I can use Poppins’ quote to remind you to revive the mundane and make it magical.
Turn up the tunes
Music is honestly the best friend in the world. With a multitude of genres to fit moods ranging from heartbroken and desolate to explosively positive and on top of the world, music expresses feelings words can hope to dream of. Turn up the tunes and lift your spirits; make laundry time your escape to Frank Sinatra and homework into Mozart’s reign over your ears and concentration. Not only is music proven to relieve symptoms of depression, music can also improve cognitive performance, according to an article published by USA Today. The benefits don’t stop there. For more benefits, read the full USA Today article here.
Find your own element of fun
Make a mental list of pros and cons. For example, let’s look at cleaning the bathroom. It can be gross, gag-reflex inducing and nauseating. But if you clean it now — and more often — you won’t have to deal with such a nasty mess. The con is dealing with pigsty that is your bathroom, but the pro is not having to live in it anymore. The pro can be anything from actually enjoying your task because it’s satisfying to dreaming of what you’ll get to do after finishing a tedious and exasperating job.
Tailor your jobs to fit your talents
Don’t be someone who says yes to everything. That’s easy to say, not the easiest to do and I know firsthand how hard it is. It wasn’t until recently that I developed the courage to mutter the two letter word. I still have trouble with it sometimes and morph it into just grimace and a shake of my head. Now, this isn’t giving you carte blanche to reply to your teacher’s request to do your homework with, “it’s not what I enjoy, so I’m not going to do it.” That’s just plain stubbornness and it certainly is not going to get you any cooperation points or knowledge that might end up being beneficial in the future. For favors that feel more like no-pay jobs, say no. Be able to make your list of jobs one that you can find joy in.
Take it from everyone’s nanny: make your everyday tasks events that you enjoy, either by introducing alternative forms of entertainment, or by changing your mindset. With such a catchy, rhyming quote, take your tasks head on and be ready to make your own element fun.
art by Alice Yu
What’s one way you make your job one full of joy? Leave a comment below.