Growing Up Can Still Be Fun… as an Entrepreneur!

 Growing Up Can Still Be Fun… As An Entrepreneur!

This adulting thing can be hard, very hard. That’s true whether you’re raising a family or just yourself. In some cases, we were warned by our parents. For the most part, though, becoming an adult looked amazing, with little to no downside. Growing up can still be fun, and that’s what we’ll be discussing here. Entrepreneurship made the difference for me, and could for you as well.

Many people associate adulthood with stress, responsibility, and routine. Reframing it through the lens of entrepreneurship and fun is powerful, especially for your audience of newer entrepreneurs. Here are some ideas you can share with your readers to show that growing up and becoming an adult can still be fun—especially as an entrepreneur:

You Get to Choose Your Own Adventure

Childhood is full of imagination and play. As an entrepreneur, you’re creating your own “real-life game” where you design your business, your schedule, and your goals. You’re the hero of your own story—just like when you were a kid playing pretend.

What did you love to do as a child? Now ask: how can you incorporate that energy into your work today?”

As a child, you saw your parents doing what you thought was whatever they liked. Little did you know that their efforts were driven by a desire for you to have the best possible life. While that was the case, all you saw were people who got to stay up late and make the rules.

You Can ‘Gamify’ Your Business

Turn goals into quests. Reward yourself with badges (stickers, treats, time off) for completed milestones.

Make learning new skills feel like leveling up in a video game. Growing up gives you choices!

Create a “Boss Battle” challenge for yourself—like launching your first product or getting 100 subscribers.

You Meet Fellow Adventurers

The entrepreneurial journey connects you with like-minded creators, builders, and dreamers—your adult version of a playgroup or team sport. I challenge you to reach out to one new entrepreneur a week just to talk, collaborate, or brainstorm. Growing up is filled with new friendships.

Freedom Feels Like Recess

Entrepreneurs don’t need to wait for permission to go for a walk, take a nap, or work from a hammock.

Building in fun, flexibility, and personal rituals makes “adulting” way more enjoyable.

Schedule a daily recess—15 minutes to dance, color, listen to music, or do anything playful.

Learning Can Become a Joy Again When You’re Growing Up

Instead of boring classes, you choose what to learn based on curiosity and business needs.

YouTube, books, courses, and coaching become your funhouse of knowledge.

Shareable Insight: “Remember how fun it was to learn something new as a kid? Now, you’re learning things that make you money. That’s next-level fun.”

Wouldn’t that be awesome when you were finally able to do it? It’s something you begin to look forward to… growing up.

Creativity Isn’t Optional—It’s a Superpower

Adults often suppress their creativity, but entrepreneurs thrive on it. Whether you’re designing a new offer, creating content, or brainstorming marketing angles—it’s all creative expression.

I encourage you to keep a “Creative Sparks” journal where they write down silly, fun, or outrageous ideas—some of which could turn into real income streams. This is how to grow up creatively!

You Can Break the ‘Grown-Up’ Rules

• No one’s telling you when to wake up, what to wear, or how to do your job.

• Entrepreneurs question norms, break molds, and create new ones.

Fun Prompt: Invite readers to do one “rule-breaking” thing this week that feels fun and freeing (like working from a coffee shop in pajamas).

You Can Mix Work and Play When You Grow Up

• Plan business retreats in inspiring places, make marketing a creative challenge, or run your business from a beach (or at least a backyard).

Inspiration Point: “Play isn’t the opposite of work. It’s the secret ingredient that makes work sustainable and enjoyable.”

Your Inner Child is Still in There—and She’s a Brilliant Entrepreneur

The curiosity, playfulness, and willingness to try things that defined childhood are core traits of successful entrepreneurs. And having a trusted mentor makes a huge difference.

“What did your younger self want to be when they grew up? How can you honor that dream today?”

Your parents and other grown-ups jumped into their cars whenever they wanted and drove anywhere. They could go shopping or to a restaurant. They always had money to buy things. You never had money and certainly weren’t able to drive a car.

That desire for adult-like independence was the reason you couldn’t wait to learn to ride a bicycle. You felt like a grown-up because you had a sense of being able to get up and go and explore. You could jump on your bike and take off! The end of the block, or “just down the road,” felt like it was a million miles away. This was, to you, your first taste of freedom and a reason to grow up.

Fast-forward a few years, and you’re leaving high school. You’ve heard as long as you remember that you can become whatever you want to become. You can’t wait to officially enter adulthood. It’s going to be so sweet!

Then you get out on your own at 18 or 20, or 25 years of age. What are all these responsibilities? There’s so much to do. Where is all the freedom and independence you thought your parents had when you were a kid? Why is life so tough?

Then the truth of the situation hits you. This grown-up thing isn’t very fun, and being a kid definitely was.

Why Do Adults Give Up on Being Playful?

Ask any grown-up if they have enough leisure time, and they’ll look at you like you’re speaking a language from another planet. Of course, they don’t have enough time to do what they want? Why ask such a crazy question?

There’s never enough time for fun and playful activities. Only the independently wealthy can truly enjoy their lives, spending as much time as possible doing what they want rather than what they have to do.

That’s the number one reason grown-ups will give you if you ask why they don’t spend more time on enjoyable activities. They’ll tell you their job, family responsibilities, social commitments, and other “have to do” activities keep them from having any downtime. They have to be serious 24/7. There simply isn’t any time for humor and fun, and play.

Then there’s the fact that adults constantly worry. They believe growing up is too serious to be fun.

Kids don’t. A child just does what he does for the sake of doing it. He’s not too concerned about consequences. He chases a butterfly or goes out of his way to splash in a rain puddle just because. It’s fun. So he does it. It’s the adults in our lives who teach us how to worry about every little thing.

The Top 10 Fears That Hold Adults Back

What is it that adults worry about most of the time? According to Inc. Magazine, in a blog post titled “The Top 10 Fears That Hold People Back in Life, According to a Psychotherapist”, here’s what your adult mind is stressing over most of the time. (They are listed in no particular order.)

1. Change (Good or Bad)
2. Being Lonely
3. Failing
4. Being Rejected
5. Uncertainty
6. The Results Are Going to Be Bad
7. Being Hurt
8. Judgment
9. Feelings of Inadequacy
10. A Loss of Freedom

As an adult, you need to understand that change is inevitable. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes bad, but it is guaranteed to happen. Many changes are out of your control. Instead of worrying and fretting over change coming into your life and wreaking havoc, accept that it will appear and stop stressing about it.

If you worry about being lonely, guess what’s going to happen? We often create self-fulfilling prophecies. This means that concerning yourself with loneliness can lead to that reality. The fear of loneliness can also keep you in less than healthy relationships rather than going it alone.

Look, everyone hates failing. Sometimes we adults would rather simply not try because we’re scared of what will happen if we fail. This mindset will always fill you with stress and anxiety, which means less fun and happiness in your life.

Adults are constantly worried about being rejected in relationships and on the job. They don’t attempt new things or reach out to connect with others because they’re uncertain about what’s going to happen. The result could be bad.

Adults fear getting their feelings hurt, especially by loved ones. If they reach out to others for a little fun or just less seriousness, what if they’re judged poorly? They might feel inadequate to those around them.

Finally, adults are often fearful of a loss of freedom. Be careful that this doesn’t lead you into a bad situation. Someone who embraces freedom may avoid getting a steady job, which can lead to financial issues. Growing up means more freedom!

If these and other grown-up worries are constantly rolling around in your head, force yourself to take a break. Call your friends for a night out on the town. Take a walk, cycle with your BFF, or watch a funny movie.

Play, laugh, and smile like a child again. Enjoying the present moment without expectations can help remove yourself from these bothersome adult worries that can cause physical and mental stress.

You Probably Have More Free Time Than You Think You Do

By the way, the common excuse that adults don’t have much free time for playing around and goofing off might not be correct. Consider this.

• NBC News reported in September of 2021 that the “… sweet spot for free time is about 3 or 3.5 hours per day.”
• Life satisfaction was at its highest when people “had in the neighborhood of 2.5 hours of free time a day.”

[American Psychology Association – Having Too Little or Too Much Time Is Linked to Lower Subjective Well-Being – Sharif, Mogilner, Hershfield]

Adults will tell you they don’t have anywhere near that amount of free time. They might agree that they would have a much better life if they could enjoy their hobbies or other playful activities for a few hours each day. As it turns out, most adult Americans have more free time than they think they do (or will admit to having).

As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), research from doctors Roland Sturm, Ph.D., and Deborah A Cohen, MD, reveals that you might have more leisure time than you realize. Here’s one big takeaway from that study.

• “Americans averaged more than 5 hours of free time per day; no subgroup reported having less than 4.5 hours of free time per day.”

[Sturm R, Cohen, DA – Free Time and Physical Activity among Americans 15 Years or Older: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the American Time Use Survey]

Notice that no subset of the data had less than 4.5 hours of free time each day. This means people in their late teen years and twenties, thirties and forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, and older all had a minimum of 4.5 hours of leisure time.

Take an honest look at your life. How many 10 or 15 or 20-minute blocks of free time do you have? You don’t have to have fun in large doses. You can fill those small sections of your day with playtime and laughter rather than worry and stress.

We know that engaging in fun and enjoyable activities just for the sake of the activity itself, not for a specific result or achievement, is a great stress reliever. It can also put your life in perspective and help you learn not to take life too seriously all of the time.

You Probably Have a Good Bit of Time Each Day to Stop and Smell the Roses

Prioritize play in your life. You never know when your number will be called, so why not have some fun? You know how good you feel when you laugh and smile. Schedule time for those activities that put a smile on your face. Hang out with that friend that makes you laugh. Growing up means you make the fun happen!

Go out of your way to schedule more play and less seriousness. You can live a happier, healthier, and longer life. You can also find a lot more appreciation of your life, yourself, and the people in it.

Here’s to you smiling and laughing more and stressing out less.

Perhaps you would benefit from a course I have co-created with Janice Dugas. The Entrepreneur’s Trifecta… Focus, Creativity, and Confidence is new and promises to make a difference for your life and business! Take a look at https://ConnieLoves.me/EntrepreneursTrifecta

I’m bestselling USA Today and Wall Street Journal author Connie Ragen Green. My goal is to help at least a thousand people to reach six-figures and beyond with an online business for time freedom and passive income and to simplify your life. Come along with me, if you will and let us discover how we may further connect to achieve all of your dreams and goals. This is also why I want you to think about living in the moment and cultivating a wealth mindset and an abundance paradigm as you are growing a profitable online business. Perhaps my “Monthly Mentoring Program” is right for you.