P14Y

Good day everyone!

So, the theme is Play. 

First thought: “What on earth do I say about play?”

So, of course I Google (No surprise there). But to Google “Play” does not get me to anything I want so I Google “the concept of play”. This is where things become interesting.

According to Psychology today (Peter Gray), the Journal of play et al. play is not a simple as you may think. There are many factors related to it, much has been researched on the subject and volumes have been written about it. (I won’t bore you with all the details) I found an interesting thread in what I read though. Play is only play when we want to do it. This goes hand-in-hand with play is only play when the play itself is the goal and not the end product.

This does make sense if you think about play, be it as child or adult. When you built sandcastles it wasn’t so much the castle but the building of it that was the fun (the play). I recall playing with my Masters of the universe figurines and remember that building villages and roads and so on for them and with them was hours of play – there was no goal at all!

“Let’s get to the point please!” Growls the little voice in my head.

The point of today’s blog is this: It is possible to incorporate these elements into our everyday lives. Consider this; if you could change your perspective to your job from “it’s work” (i.e. I have to do it) to play (I want to do it) and stop working to get to the day’s end and rather do what needs to be done without constantly charging for the finish line, would work days not be a lot more palatable?

“WHATEVER! You can’t do that, productivity would crash if you don’t work with a bottom line or dead line in mind” objects the little voice vehemently.

I am not saying abandon work ethic completely. I’m simply saying change your approach and viewpoint and perhaps your process.

First get your mind around the fact that you work because you HAVE to and in turn you HAVE to do what the boss wants and says. How? Well do you want to or HAVE to live where you live? Do you want to or HAVE to drive a car? Do you want to or HAVE to eat at the restaurant you went to the other day? The answer is WANT! We may want bigger and better but we certainly do not live in a nice warm dwelling because someone forced us to. So we actually work because we want to, because we want to be able to do the things we do.

Now, manage your activities in such a way that (for the most anyway) you do them when you want to as opposed to when your dead line forces you to. It is so much more enjoyable doing an activity without the stress of a looming deadline.

There you go! Give these elements a chance and see if you can turn Work and hassle into something more resembling play.

Have a tremendous evening everyone!