Why Play Is an Important Part of Your Success

Most people think of play as just a nicety, yet according to Dr Stuart Brown’s recent book called Play, the benefits can make remarkable improvements to our lives.

“As we get older, we are made to feel guilty for playing,” he argues. But here’s the sad reality: “Life without play is a grinding, mechanical existence organized around doing the thing s necessary for survival.” Ever felt that way about your life? Those days where you say: ‘Is this all there is?’

The benefits to play are surprisingly many: it helps our happiness; it is at the core of our creativity and frees up our mind to come up with innovative solutions to our problems; it helps us socialize more successfully, it re-energizes us and gives us a sense of excitement and adventure.

There are health benefits too. The more we play, learn and explore, the less prone we are to dementia, heart disease and other afflictions. We find more pleasure in the world and our behavior becomes less fixed. We are more emotionally resilient and less likely to snap.

More play makes us more optimistic which also makes us more creative. All of this shows up in how we communicate with others. Feeling more upbeat helps attract business and makes others want to spend more time with us – and it keeps neediness out of our voice. It lowers violence in our society and increases the level of communication.

While play appears purposeless for humans and animals, the fact that animals (even ants!) take the time to play means it serves a real purpose for survival and helps all of us prepare for an evolving planet. Visualization is another form of play that takes our minds to places we’ve never been and can help us see a picture of the future we want.

The opposite of play, however, is not work: it’s depression – “a dulled soul”. Play and work are mutually supportive. We need the liveliness and purpose of both. We need to feel competent. Brown argues that play at work is essential and that we should “see work as a game full of players.”

If you want to find the path in life that fuels your spirit, make play a key part of it. Here are a few wonderful suggestions:

1. Take some time to figure out what excited you as a child and re-experience the feelings. Re-connect.

2. Expose yourself to opportunities to play

3. Give yourself permission to be playful and to be a beginner (it’s okay to look silly)

4. Fun is your North Star, but you don’t always have to follow it

Work can put us in a state of ‘flow’ too. Some things we consider play have many qualities of work. Sometimes we have to stick at something that is hard work for a long time before great satisfaction appears.

5. Be active. Vitality and emotional confidence come from being in motion.

6. Free yourself of fear. Find a safe haven where you can enjoy your play: “the ability to play is there in all of us and is transformative when it is rediscovered.”

7. Nourish your mode of play and be with people who nourish it, too.

I hope you find these suggestions useful. Please forward it onto others that you think might also appreciate the ideas.