Template To Build Your Own Fun Practice
Join me in making fun the goal for June!
Reading Time: 4 minutes
"Do anything, but let it produce joy." - Walt Whitman
Last week I described my intention to create a “fun practice.”
One challenge I had in getting started was that I really don’t like planning things. So I turned to ChatGPT to help. What good is AI if it can’t help free up time for more fun amirite?!
With a few tweaks to my prompt, I soon had a detailed, personalized, and localized plan for my fun practice, every day for the month of June!
I wanted suggestions that were affordable, baby-friendly, and rooted in activities that I personally find fun (things like going to live events, exploring NYC, being in nature, and talking to strangers).
Here’s what Day 1 and 2 looked like for me:
I believe these are the key components of a successful fun practice:
consciously setting an intention to “have fun” before beginning (e.g. “My only goal this hour is to enjoy myself.” or “I am going to let go of my perfectionism so I can enjoy learning how to draw.”)
leveraging the power of affirmations to remind yourself that fun is in your control (e.g. “I can make fun wherever I go” or “I’m open to wherever this fun practice takes me.”)
incorporating elements that are proven to enhance “happiness” like being in nature, spending time with others, moving your body, and mindfulness (e.g. instead of just drawing, try drawing outside or with a friend)
leaving room for spontaneity, whether that’s letting AI plan your day, or being open to where a conversation with a stranger takes you
As I’ve outlined before, I think fun is unique and personal to every person, so I created a customizable template for you to put into ChatGPT so you too can create your own plan for a fun practice!
I hope you’ll join me in developing your own fun practice, no matter how small, as a way of inviting more joy into your life. If you have any feedback or ideas to improve this prompt, I’d love to hear it! Would also love to hear about any activities you tried that brought you joy as a result of this exercise!
CHATGPT MEGA PROMPT TO CREATE A PERSONALIZED FUN PRACTICE
Note: you should replace the text in this template that is [italicized]
About You:
You are a [description of self & relevant identities e.g. freelancing mom based in Brooklyn who loves trying new things]. You want to create a daily "fun practice" to bring more joy to your life. The goal is to have something “fun” to do every day.
What is a “Fun Practice”?
Just like a “gratitude practice” helps us cultivate the feeling of gratitude as a way to enhance our lives, a “fun practice” is a way to intentionally invite more fun into our lives.
What is “Fun” Though?
It’s important to define what fun is and isn’t since there are many misconceptions.
Fun is:
a mindset that can be cultivated
available to everyone
our natural, authentic state
critical to our learning and development
effective at ending conflict and divisions
possible even in extremely difficult circumstances
worth pursuing even if it leads to nothing else
respectful of all living things, including yourself
sometimes a very serious endeavour
a destination in itself (not a path to take you to happiness)
about embracing an experience for what it is
seeing the inherent value in everything and everyone
personal and unique to every human
Fun isn’t
something reserved for the weekends or the wealthy
a feeling or experience that is achieved after accomplishing a goal
an expensive vacation or hobby or Broadway musical
pressure to find your “passion” or “purpose”
a hack to become more successful
the same as being happy, making jokes, or “looking on the bright side”
a way of denying the many awful things happening in the world
just for children or retirees or artists or clowns
one size fits all
authentic fun if it creates suffering
meant to avoid or replace other human emotions like sadness, disappointment, or fear, all of which are healthy
What Do You Personally Find Fun?
You find the following to be fun:
hobbies: [list things you like to do, can be as simple as walking or listening to music]
activities: [examples of new things you like to do or try e.g. visiting new coffee shops or bookstores]
learning: [examples of topics you like to learn about e.g. robotics, culture, psychology, nature | modalities that you like to learn e.g. listening to podcasts, going to museums]
[other: anything else you can think of like helping others, working on lessons plans, writing a newsletter etc]
What Do You Not Find Fun?
You would prefer that your fun practice not include:
[list activities you aren’t interested in trying or maybe ones you already do often]
Defining Your Fun Practice
Your daily “fun practice” will have the following criteria:
one “activity” per [frequency], [without repeating any activities]
each activity should take no longer than [x hours/day or week], including transit time to and from [home address] if the activity requires travel.
each activity should cost less than [$]
[x%] of activities should [preferred location: e.g. take place outdoors]
[y%] of activities should [other preferences: e.g. take place with others]
[z%] of activities should [other preferences: e.g. be baby-friendly]
if the activity involves going to a destination, the preference should be for one that [has few tourists, neighbourhood, convenient to walk to from neighbourhood, takes less than xx minutes to get to etc]
[any other parameters you can think of e.g. ideally, the day’s plan will be able to combine multiple things that would make something “fun” e.g. a ferry ride + a new coffee shop before going to a playground where I can strike up a random conversation]
Assumptions
You can make the following assumptions:
you will always have a smartphone with you
you will always be leaving from/returning to your home address
any activities that are live events (ie only on specific dates) should be recommended only for the dates that those events will be happening
[other]
Your Task
Can you generate a 30 day plan [for the month of June, 2023] for your fun practice, using the following format:
DAY #: DATE
Plan: description of recommended activity, in detail, using the criteria described above (for example…)
Mode of Transportation & Anticipated Travel Time: (for example…)
Materials Needed: list of any materials needed to complete the day’s activity (for example…)
Additional Resources: suggested readings or listenings that can make the activity multi-sensory and more engaging or enjoyable (for example…)
Intention: one sentence to connect the day’s activity to the ultimate goal of your definition of fun (for example…)
TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS MEGA PROMPT
You don’t need to use ChatGPT if you, unlike me, actually enjoy planning. In that case, you can simply use your brain and use my template as inspiration
If you do use ChatGPT and are haven’t already signed up for the $20/month plan, consider splurging to test it out for one month! If you upgrade, be sure to select “ChatGPT 4” before entering this prompt.
Be sure to provide feedback after the first response is generated. If you realize the activities are over-indexing on something you don’t want to do, you can simply update the prompt, or provide additional context (I had to specify that I didn’t want to go to Staten Island, for example 😝)
This is great! Would love to see how you are thinking about approaching play-based preschool curriculum that is inspired by variety of evidence-based methods - and extending it to elementary school grades.