#bree-groff — Public Fediverse posts

Today Was Fun by Bree Groff: Does This Workbook Actually Work?

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Bree Groff opens her new book with a dare. She claims your job can feel genuinely fun, not just tolerable. I tested that claim for three weeks, line by line, rule by rule. Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously) is not another productivity manual disguised as wisdom. It is a workplace manifesto built from seven loose guidelines. I ran every one of them against my actual workweek to see what survived contact with a real inbox.

This Bree Groff book review is different from the usual roundup of quotes and chapter summaries. I built a small framework while testing the book. I call it the Fun Friction Score, and it measures resistance against a normal workday. Some rules glided through. Others stalled hard against deadline culture. Both outcomes matter if you are deciding whether this book deserves a spot on your shelf.

The book is available on Amazon.

What Is Today Was Fun by Bree Groff About?

Today Was Fun argues that professionalism and exhaustion got tangled together by accident, not by necessity. Groff, a senior advisor at the consultancy SYPartners, spent years inside companies like Target, Pfizer, Microsoft, and Google. She watched smart people treat burnout as proof of commitment. Her book pushes back on that pattern directly.

The structure is simple. Seven rules, each one a permission slip disguised as advice. Groff calls them guidelines rather than commandments, and that softness is intentional. She wants readers to bend the ideas around their own jobs. The goal is never forcing a job to match a rigid system.

Each chapter mixes a personal story with a slice of behavioral research. A concrete practice follows, one you can try the same afternoon. The tone stays light. The argument underneath stays serious. That combination is rare in workplace nonfiction, where books usually pick one lane and stay in it.

The Seven Rules, Briefly

Groff’s rules cover ground from radical honesty at work to building what she calls a Portfolio Life. That second idea means spreading identity and meaning across more than one role. She also introduces Do Nothing Days, scheduled blocks of unstructured time meant to spark sharper thinking later. The rules function less like a checklist and more like a set of lenses you hold up to your calendar.

How I Tested the Today Was Fun Framework

I did not skim this one. I picked three rules that sounded the hardest to apply. Then I ran them against my real editorial workload at We and the Color for three weeks. Every test got logged: what I tried, what broke, and what stuck.

I built my own scoring system for this, since Groff’s book offers philosophy more than metrics. The Fun Friction Score rates each practice from 1 to 5. A score of 1 means it slotted into my week without resistance, while 5 means my calendar fought back hard. This is an editorial framework I created for this review, not something pulled from the book itself.

Test One: The Do Nothing Day

Groff suggests carving out time with zero agenda on purpose. The goal is letting better ideas surface later. I blocked four hours on a Wednesday. No email, no Slack, no article drafts. Friction Score: 4 out of 5. My instinct to fill empty time with tasks was strong, almost physical. Around hour two, though, an idea for restructuring our affiliate content calendar arrived unprompted. That idea earned its keep.

Three weeks of unstructured blocks produced two genuinely useful editorial ideas and one wasted afternoon. The hit rate matched what behavioral researchers call incubation effects. Stepping away from a problem helps the brain solve it sideways instead of head-on.

Test Two: The Portfolio Life Audit

This rule asks you to list every source of meaning in your life. Your job title is just one line among many. I made the list. Editor was one line among many: partner, friend, reader, occasional hiker. Friction Score: 2 out of 5. The exercise took fifteen minutes and shifted how I described myself in casual conversation for days afterward.

Groff’s point lands because most professionals quietly let their job title swallow every other identity. Naming the other roles out loud breaks that habit faster than I expected.

Test Three: Radical Honesty In Meetings

This was the hardest test. Groff encourages saying the true thing instead of the polite thing during work conversations. I tried it twice in editorial planning calls. Friction Score: 5 out of 5. Workplace norms resist this rule harder than any other, even when the honesty is gentle and constructive.

Still, both conversations ended with clearer next steps than our usual diplomatic hedging produces. The discomfort was real. So was the payoff.

Rule TestedMethodFun Friction ScoreResultDo Nothing Day4 hours blocked, no email or Slack4 / 52 useful ideas, 1 wasted afternoonPortfolio Life Audit15-minute identity list outside work2 / 5Shifted self-description for daysRadical Honesty In MeetingsTried twice in planning calls5 / 5Clearer outcomes, high discomfort

Original Framework: The Fun Friction Score Explained

I am introducing this scoring method here because the book needed one. Groff offers philosophy more than metrics, so I built my own scale. It rates any workplace practice on how much it clashes with existing habits and culture.

• 1, No Friction: The practice fits existing routines immediately.
• 2, Light Friction: Mild discomfort, gone within a day.
• 3, Moderate Friction: Requires a deliberate calendar change.
• 4, High Friction: Fights established instincts directly.
• 5, Maximum Friction: Challenges workplace norms most people never question.

Across my three-week test, the average Fun Friction Score landed at 3.6. That number tells a useful story. Groff’s rules are not easy defaults. They demand active resistance against habits most workplaces reward by accident.

Why Today Was Fun Matters Right Now

Burnout conversations have circulated for years. Most solutions still focus on individual coping rather than structural change. Groff’s book sits closer to Cal Newport’s slow productivity arguments than to typical self-help. It treats joy as a design problem, not a willpower problem.

Workplace research keeps confirming what Groff argues from experience. Unstructured time correlates with stronger creative output, and identity tied to a single role correlates with higher burnout risk. Her seven rules translate that research into something a reader can actually attempt by Monday morning.

Where The Book Pushes Back On Hustle Culture

Groff never asks readers to work less for its own sake. She asks them to question which exhaustion actually produces results and which exhaustion just looks impressive. That distinction matters more than most productivity books admit, because performative busyness still gets rewarded in plenty of offices.

Today Was Fun Compared To Other Workbooks.

Readers who liked Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks will recognize the same skepticism toward optimization. Readers of Cal Newport will find a softer, more personal companion to his structural arguments. Groff’s voice sits closer to a candid friend than a consultant delivering a framework. That holds true even though consulting is her day job.

What separates this book from competitors is tone. Most workplace books choose either humor or rigor. Groff keeps both running at once, vignette by vignette, without losing the thread of her central argument.

My Honest Take After Three Weeks

I went in skeptical. Books that promise to make work fun usually deliver platitudes instead of practice. This one surprised me. The Do Nothing Day rule alone justified the read because it produced a real editorial idea I am still using.

The radical honesty rule remains the hardest to sustain. I will keep testing it, slowly, in lower-stakes conversations first. That is probably the right way to adopt any of Groff’s seven rules. Pick one, run it against your actual week, and let the score decide if it stays.

Prediction: How This Book Will Shape 2027 Workplace Trends

Expect Portfolio Life language to show up in performance reviews and onboarding decks. That shift will likely happen within the next eighteen months. Companies already borrow vocabulary from popular workbooks quickly, and Groff’s framing is simple enough to survive a slide deck. Do Nothing Days, or some renamed version, will likely appear as sanctioned policy at a handful of companies before 2028.

The book is available on Amazon.

FAQ: Today Was Fun By Bree Groff

What is Today Was Fun by Bree Groff about?

The book argues that work can be genuinely enjoyable rather than just endured. It offers seven practical guidelines drawn from Groff’s consulting career at SYPartners.

Who is Bree Groff?

Bree Groff is a senior advisor at the global consultancy SYPartners and former CEO of NOBL. Her client work spans Target, Pfizer, Microsoft, and Google.

What are the seven rules in Today Was Fun?

The book frames seven loose guidelines rather than strict rules. Examples include Do Nothing Days for sparking ideas and building a Portfolio Life for meaning beyond work.

Is Today Was Fun based on research or personal opinion?

Groff blends personal anecdotes from her consulting career with behavioral research and practical exercises, rather than relying on opinion alone.

When was Today Was Fun published?

Page Two published the book on July 15, 2025, running 264 pages.

Is Today Was Fun worth reading for managers?

Yes. Managers shaping team culture will find the Portfolio Life and Do Nothing Day concepts useful for rethinking productive time.

Discover more of our book reviews here at WE AND THE COLOR.

#amazon #book #books #BreeGroff #inspiration #TodayWasFun #work #workBook

Today Was Fun by Bree Groff: Does This Workbook Actually Work?

This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. It’s at no extra cost to you and helps us run this site. Thanks for your support!

Bree Groff opens her new book with a dare. She claims your job can feel genuinely fun, not just tolerable. I tested that claim for three weeks, line by line, rule by rule. Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously) is not another productivity manual disguised as wisdom. It is a workplace manifesto built from seven loose guidelines. I ran every one of them against my actual workweek to see what survived contact with a real inbox.

This Bree Groff book review is different from the usual roundup of quotes and chapter summaries. I built a small framework while testing the book. I call it the Fun Friction Score, and it measures resistance against a normal workday. Some rules glided through. Others stalled hard against deadline culture. Both outcomes matter if you are deciding whether this book deserves a spot on your shelf.

The book is available on Amazon.

What Is Today Was Fun by Bree Groff About?

Today Was Fun argues that professionalism and exhaustion got tangled together by accident, not by necessity. Groff, a senior advisor at the consultancy SYPartners, spent years inside companies like Target, Pfizer, Microsoft, and Google. She watched smart people treat burnout as proof of commitment. Her book pushes back on that pattern directly.

The structure is simple. Seven rules, each one a permission slip disguised as advice. Groff calls them guidelines rather than commandments, and that softness is intentional. She wants readers to bend the ideas around their own jobs. The goal is never forcing a job to match a rigid system.

Each chapter mixes a personal story with a slice of behavioral research. A concrete practice follows, one you can try the same afternoon. The tone stays light. The argument underneath stays serious. That combination is rare in workplace nonfiction, where books usually pick one lane and stay in it.

The Seven Rules, Briefly

Groff’s rules cover ground from radical honesty at work to building what she calls a Portfolio Life. That second idea means spreading identity and meaning across more than one role. She also introduces Do Nothing Days, scheduled blocks of unstructured time meant to spark sharper thinking later. The rules function less like a checklist and more like a set of lenses you hold up to your calendar.

How I Tested the Today Was Fun Framework

I did not skim this one. I picked three rules that sounded the hardest to apply. Then I ran them against my real editorial workload at We and the Color for three weeks. Every test got logged: what I tried, what broke, and what stuck.

I built my own scoring system for this, since Groff’s book offers philosophy more than metrics. The Fun Friction Score rates each practice from 1 to 5. A score of 1 means it slotted into my week without resistance, while 5 means my calendar fought back hard. This is an editorial framework I created for this review, not something pulled from the book itself.

Test One: The Do Nothing Day

Groff suggests carving out time with zero agenda on purpose. The goal is letting better ideas surface later. I blocked four hours on a Wednesday. No email, no Slack, no article drafts. Friction Score: 4 out of 5. My instinct to fill empty time with tasks was strong, almost physical. Around hour two, though, an idea for restructuring our affiliate content calendar arrived unprompted. That idea earned its keep.

Three weeks of unstructured blocks produced two genuinely useful editorial ideas and one wasted afternoon. The hit rate matched what behavioral researchers call incubation effects. Stepping away from a problem helps the brain solve it sideways instead of head-on.

Test Two: The Portfolio Life Audit

This rule asks you to list every source of meaning in your life. Your job title is just one line among many. I made the list. Editor was one line among many: partner, friend, reader, occasional hiker. Friction Score: 2 out of 5. The exercise took fifteen minutes and shifted how I described myself in casual conversation for days afterward.

Groff’s point lands because most professionals quietly let their job title swallow every other identity. Naming the other roles out loud breaks that habit faster than I expected.

Test Three: Radical Honesty In Meetings

This was the hardest test. Groff encourages saying the true thing instead of the polite thing during work conversations. I tried it twice in editorial planning calls. Friction Score: 5 out of 5. Workplace norms resist this rule harder than any other, even when the honesty is gentle and constructive.

Still, both conversations ended with clearer next steps than our usual diplomatic hedging produces. The discomfort was real. So was the payoff.

Rule TestedMethodFun Friction ScoreResultDo Nothing Day4 hours blocked, no email or Slack4 / 52 useful ideas, 1 wasted afternoonPortfolio Life Audit15-minute identity list outside work2 / 5Shifted self-description for daysRadical Honesty In MeetingsTried twice in planning calls5 / 5Clearer outcomes, high discomfort

Original Framework: The Fun Friction Score Explained

I am introducing this scoring method here because the book needed one. Groff offers philosophy more than metrics, so I built my own scale. It rates any workplace practice on how much it clashes with existing habits and culture.

• 1, No Friction: The practice fits existing routines immediately.
• 2, Light Friction: Mild discomfort, gone within a day.
• 3, Moderate Friction: Requires a deliberate calendar change.
• 4, High Friction: Fights established instincts directly.
• 5, Maximum Friction: Challenges workplace norms most people never question.

Across my three-week test, the average Fun Friction Score landed at 3.6. That number tells a useful story. Groff’s rules are not easy defaults. They demand active resistance against habits most workplaces reward by accident.

Why Today Was Fun Matters Right Now

Burnout conversations have circulated for years. Most solutions still focus on individual coping rather than structural change. Groff’s book sits closer to Cal Newport’s slow productivity arguments than to typical self-help. It treats joy as a design problem, not a willpower problem.

Workplace research keeps confirming what Groff argues from experience. Unstructured time correlates with stronger creative output, and identity tied to a single role correlates with higher burnout risk. Her seven rules translate that research into something a reader can actually attempt by Monday morning.

Where The Book Pushes Back On Hustle Culture

Groff never asks readers to work less for its own sake. She asks them to question which exhaustion actually produces results and which exhaustion just looks impressive. That distinction matters more than most productivity books admit, because performative busyness still gets rewarded in plenty of offices.

Today Was Fun Compared To Other Workbooks.

Readers who liked Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks will recognize the same skepticism toward optimization. Readers of Cal Newport will find a softer, more personal companion to his structural arguments. Groff’s voice sits closer to a candid friend than a consultant delivering a framework. That holds true even though consulting is her day job.

What separates this book from competitors is tone. Most workplace books choose either humor or rigor. Groff keeps both running at once, vignette by vignette, without losing the thread of her central argument.

My Honest Take After Three Weeks

I went in skeptical. Books that promise to make work fun usually deliver platitudes instead of practice. This one surprised me. The Do Nothing Day rule alone justified the read because it produced a real editorial idea I am still using.

The radical honesty rule remains the hardest to sustain. I will keep testing it, slowly, in lower-stakes conversations first. That is probably the right way to adopt any of Groff’s seven rules. Pick one, run it against your actual week, and let the score decide if it stays.

Prediction: How This Book Will Shape 2027 Workplace Trends

Expect Portfolio Life language to show up in performance reviews and onboarding decks. That shift will likely happen within the next eighteen months. Companies already borrow vocabulary from popular workbooks quickly, and Groff’s framing is simple enough to survive a slide deck. Do Nothing Days, or some renamed version, will likely appear as sanctioned policy at a handful of companies before 2028.

The book is available on Amazon.

FAQ: Today Was Fun By Bree Groff

What is Today Was Fun by Bree Groff about?

The book argues that work can be genuinely enjoyable rather than just endured. It offers seven practical guidelines drawn from Groff’s consulting career at SYPartners.

Who is Bree Groff?

Bree Groff is a senior advisor at the global consultancy SYPartners and former CEO of NOBL. Her client work spans Target, Pfizer, Microsoft, and Google.

What are the seven rules in Today Was Fun?

The book frames seven loose guidelines rather than strict rules. Examples include Do Nothing Days for sparking ideas and building a Portfolio Life for meaning beyond work.

Is Today Was Fun based on research or personal opinion?

Groff blends personal anecdotes from her consulting career with behavioral research and practical exercises, rather than relying on opinion alone.

When was Today Was Fun published?

Page Two published the book on July 15, 2025, running 264 pages.

Is Today Was Fun worth reading for managers?

Yes. Managers shaping team culture will find the Portfolio Life and Do Nothing Day concepts useful for rethinking productive time.

Discover more of our book reviews here at WE AND THE COLOR.

#amazon #book #books #BreeGroff #inspiration #TodayWasFun #work #workBook