Whenever we meet someone new, either networking, or dating, or small talk in the dentist’s waiting room, there’s two popular questions we ask to quickly sum humans up:
“What do you do for work?” and “What do you do for fun?”
As though they’re always two completely separate things.
“What do you do for work?” is essentially, “What do you make yourself do with your days to make enough money to put food on your family?”
And “What do you do for fun?” is like “What silly things do you do with any leftover time to try and help you recover from work?”
Instead of treating them as polar opposites, and that fun/play/joy could only possibly exist outside of work, try asking what I like to call a combo platter:
“What do you LIKE to do AT work?”
It forces them to think about the positives of what they do for a living. Are there little moments that are the highlights of each day? Is it the people? That they’re making a difference and helping others? The snack drawer? Do they just generally like their job?
In other words, as we’re always saying, look for the joy in work.