Using Fun to Get Things Done with Kris Mitchell, MBA, ADHD Coach

Change is a constant in life.

Recent research reviews that overcoming default behavior or choices requires some ‘secret sauce’ to connect the pre-frontal cortex with the subthalamic nucleus to get humans to make a choice other than the default.

In Sweden in 2009, Volkswagen commissioned their own studies to show humans would change their behavior faster if they made less desired activities ‘fun’. With the intention of motivating humans to make healthier, and more environmentally friendly choices, they set out to change the ordinary to the extraordinary, and measure the results.

Enlisting the help of a marketing agency, Volkswagon’s most famous example of fun theory turned a staircase in a subway station, located right next to an escalator, into a working piano (think Tom Hanks in the classic movie BIG). Each step was a different note. Typically, travelers will more often wait in the queue to enter the less active, and less healthy choice, a ride up the escalator. Who would rather take the effort to climb a staircase? By turning steps into a musical keyboard, Volkswagon recorded that 66% of travelers modified their choice from the easy ride of the escalator to the active work of climbing the stairs, because they could make music while doing it. The change was fun, and it immediately and dramatically motivated people to make the healthier choice.

How can fun theory be applied to aid in changing behavior with those with ADHD? The impulsive and yet often hyperfocus of favored activities seen with ADHD brains can make changing activities even harder. Adjusting the unfavored activity to one that is viewed as ‘fun’ changes the paradigm and perhaps provides that ‘secret sauce’ researchers were looking for between the prefrontal cortex and the subthalamic nucleus.

This webinar will review examples of applying Fun Theory to every day life and walk through an easy step by step guide on how all of us can use more fun to get things done!

Learning Objectives:

Have a working knowledge of fun theory.
Understand how fun theory can be used in everyday life.
Walk away with a simple 3 step tool to apply fun theory in your life.