Live a Life of Play

“A little nonsense now and then,

is cherished by the wisest men.”

• Roald Dahl

Why so serious?

Children are almost universally playful. It’s hard-wired into us as humans.

Then over the years, for many of us, the burdens of life and adulting can suck the play right out of us.

Or maybe it’s just feeling compelled to emulate all the other serious adults - who are typically telling us to be more serious.

So…we become serious. We become adults.

You may be adult, but don’t forget, that’s just a physically larger version of your five year old self. There’s no reason to get rid of your playfulness just because you got bigger.

There are a lot of benefits to retaining and cultivating your playfulness!

Today I’ll share my thoughts on the importance of play.

The Benefits of Play

The problem you’re facing does not care if you frown about it or laugh about it. It’s impervious to your feelings.

But YOU, and the people around you, will definitely feel differently depending on whether you’re laughing or frowning.

In my story to start today’s newsletter, the vomit on the floor needed to be taken care of whether I’m angry or crying laughing. The mess didn’t care about my attitude, but I know the feeling in the room was better because I was laughing.

Feeling follows action. The act of laughing creates a feeling of ease. Frowning creates the feeling of stress. We’ve got enough stress in our lives; there’s no need to create even more.

If the problem you’re facing isn’t influenced either way, you might as well pick the thing that makes everyone feel better! Choose laughter and play.

Feeling better isn’t the only benefit of play. It’s hugely beneficial for innovation and problem solving.

In stress, our brains are less effective. Our field of view narrows and we’re in reptile brain mode. We aren’t leveraging our higher functions. We aren’t as capable of learning and growth.

Play reverses that stress and widens your aperture. You’re able to see creative solutions to problems.

“Second, play is an antidote to stress, and this is key because stress, in addition to being an enemy of productivity, can actually shut down the creative, inquisitive, exploratory parts of our brain.”

— Greg McKeown in “Essentialism”

Playful Teams are Safe Teams

Laughter is a good gauge for the health of a team and organization.

It’s really hard to laugh when there’s fear. It’s really hard to laugh when everyone around you is stressed and not having fun.

The absence of laughter indicates there’s a lot of fear and stress, which are not conducive to performance.

Laughter itself can be an act that contributes to safety. If, as a leader, you can laugh at your own foibles and any problems in the business, you indicate that it’s safe for others to do so as well.

Laughter will bring the temperature down. You need this lower temperature to unlock the broadest problem solving capacity in your team.

“Embrace Fun: This obvious one is still worth mentioning, because laughter is not just laughter; it’s the most fundamental sign of safety and connection.”

— Daniel Coyle in “The Culture Code”

Rewiring for Play

Think of playfulness as a skill.

You may have a given level of playfulness in your life right now, but it can be changed if you want.

You do this through metacognition and rewiring your thinking.

As an adult, a lot of your responses to stimuli are automatic. You’ve spent a life navigating the world, and you’ve turned many things into automatic responses to conserve energy.

If you want to respond to stressful and challenging situations with laughter and play, even if that’s not your response today, it is possible to change.

If it feels like there’s no option to react other than how you react, that’s your clue (any time you see no options, you’ve got a limiting belief holding you back).

It might be helpful to remember that other people react differently. That shows that a human is capable of reacting in a different way, and if a human can do it, you can do it.

How do you rewire? It starts with self-awareness. You just have to notice that you’re reacting in an un-playful way, then choose to react differently.

When you switch tracks like this enough times, eventually your reactions become naturally playful and it requires less conscious effort.

How do you play?

You’re ready to play. Now what?

One of the best ways to kick start play is to remember what play was like for you as a kid. What did you do to have fun? How did you spend your time?

Did you draw? Did you build things? Did you run around your neighborhood? Ride bikes? Dress up? Dance?

Whatever childhood play was, bring it back! How can you do a little bit of that in your nights and weekends?

Work isn’t off limits for play, by the way. How can you bring play into your work?

Did you like to draw? Draw more in your work! Put emojis in your Slack messages.

Did you dance? Do a little dance to start a meeting. If that’s nerve-racking, do a shimmy on the way to the meeting.

Have fun. Experiment!

“Don’t feel guilty about taking time off from your usual adult duties to play. It is contributing to your work. Consider the time as an investment in your innovation and overall happiness.”

— John Fitch et. al. in “Time Off”

Call to Action

Go play! 🤣

I’m taking my own advice this week. I’m already a little bit of a goofball, but taking time off work and being intentional about play has made it a little easier. I’ve been doing puzzles, playing air hockey, drawing, cooking, playing board games, and doing weird little dances around the kitchen - plus my normal level of joke-making.

What do you do for fun? What looks like play to you? I’d love to hear all about it. Email me at kevin@catalyst.group18.co and let me know.

Kevin