11 ways to make November playful

As we close out the end of the year,??and exhaustion starts to kick in,??maintaining a playful mindset can seem a little more challenging.??To help out, I've written 11 playful ideas to help you get through November. Here are 5 of them (just to save the endless scrolling), and if you want to indulge in the whole 11 offerings --- READ MY BLOG

Want more???Luckily – I?also?have a newsletter!???Join for more monthly suggestions and keep in touch for the upcoming '12 ideas for a playful Christmas Season'.?

1. Garage Sale Trail

This month across Australia it’s the annual Garage sale trail.??November 12-13 and November 19-20, Australians across the country will hold household sales to thrift their wares.??And it’s needed.??We have a fast fashion problem.??Every year, Aussies purchase 56 items of clothing and send 23kgs per person to landfill.??

So getting involved is not only fun, but you are also doing a massive fist-pump to the planet and your organisation can get playful with this concept by holding its own fun.??Try these things:

• Hold a silent online auction selling contributions from employees and give all the money to your company charity for feel-good endorphins
• Use the opportunity to increase your sales techniques – ask each team member to bring a useless household item and do their very best to sell ‘ice to Eskimo's'

2. National Mason Jar Day

November 30th?is National Mason Jar Day (yes… Mason Jars).???It’s an international day to celebrate the utility of the humble glass jar and how it has been responsible for pickling our wonders since 1858.??Of course it needs a day of celebration!??

So can you think of anything more playful than a day to pay homage to a glass jar? Try these brilliant ideas and I challenge you to go all out on this special day!

• ?Ask all staff to bring ‘something’ to work in a mason jar (it doesn’t have to be jam or pickles.. it could be M&M’s or celery sticks) and then have a ‘meeting feast’ to create harmony over food
• If you are WFH, get to know each other a little better by holding a ‘guess how many mason jars’ day – ask each team member to count the number of mason jars in their pantry and then try to guess the amount of each team member (this will weed out the jam makers)?

3. National Novel Writing Month

?November is also National Novel Writing Month,??where a challenge is set to write 50,000 words on a novel in the month of November.??Now,??I’m not suggesting you do this (although I thoroughly applaud you if you do – let me know how it goes!) BUT storytelling is a highly valued workplace must-have and here is a great opportunity to scrub up those creative skills by becoming playful with words.

• Work together to write a story about your product or service.??It could be a fairytale or a mystery???It’s up to you.. but start with one team member.??If you are working from home, have someone write a paragraph and then pass the story on via email.??Copy and paste and keep going.??If you are back in the office, try it by hand..for more information – watch this video.
• Up your communication techniques by each staff member who comes to a meeting bringing with them one word. It is then your mission to create a story out of those words.

4. Use your common sense day.

November 4th?is Use Your Common Sense Day.??Ha!??Awesome. This is a great time to create awareness around our everyday activities and take notice of some of the things we do every day that affect who we are, how we work and how we function as a society.?

It’s a fabulous playful opportunity to notice our habits and see if there is anything we can do differently – or is it just ‘common sense’.?

• Awareness is the key here.??As you go about your day, log the things that are just ‘common sense’. Keep a common sense diary and share with your team the surprising things that you become aware of. (I always put my coffee on the right-hand side of the desk…etc..)
• Use the day to pull apart a process or customer journey that you’ve been meaning to add some awareness to.?Work through it and continually ask at each step ‘does this make common sense?’ – you may find a playful way to improve how you do things

5. Describe yourself as a slogan

This is a wonderfully playful way to check in with the well-being of your staff without asking ‘How are you?’

Tread softly with this one. For introverts and those who don’t consider themselves creative (MYTH.LIE. WE are ALL creative……..), this may feel confronting and being pushed too far into a playful state takes the play away and loses the psychological safety.??SO –

• For a confident group.. ask them to start the meeting by describing their mood for the day in some kind of ad campaign.???They can make up their own if you have a confident bunch
• For a more reserved group. Supply a bunch of slogans and have them insert their own name (Think:??“Trudi. Just Do It”).??Here’s a list to get you started:??

Don't forget - if you want the other suggestions, you'll find them here. And go forth and play! Finding a playful mindset will not only create deeper learning and faster processing, it will decrease that work anxiety and show you how to do things a little differently. Enjoy.