How to reconnect with play for personal and professional development

As children we enjoyed playing every day, on our own and with friends, but sometimes we dismiss its importance as adults. As essential as sleep for our wellbeing, play is something that we can benefit from having as a daily practice.

Scheduled recreational pauses

Do you remember playtime when you were at school - those mid-morning and mid-afternoon bells, signalling a break from the books and an opportunity to relax and have some fun?

We ran and chased each other around the playground until warm beads of salty sweat poured down our seven-year-old brows; we sang silly songs while jumping skip ropes and chanted rhymes that made no sense to anyone but us; we claimed the best manhole covers and potholes to play our marble games, intent on winning and adding new, mesmerising balls of glass to our collection; and we made up games with elaborate rules that would now take much longer than a morning break to imagine.

When it rained, and we had to stay indoors, we played quieter games with cards or did word and number games in bumper puzzle books; we told each other’s futures using paper fortune tellers made with pages torn from our exercise books; we painted brightly coloured pictures to proudly present to our parents at hometime. Playtime was the best part of the day for many of us; a time we could be free and explore the world and the people around us.

Play takes a back seat

Then we grew up. That is, we started secondary school and suddenly ‘playtime’ wasn’t cool. We stopped running and hung up our skipping ropes; we donated our marbles to the charity shop or our younger siblings and cousins, and we no longer squealed or laughed with innocent delight at the nonsense of our songs and rhymes. We also quickly learned that studying was the most important thing now, so we no longer made up games with complex rules but created detailed study plans and filled our diaries with homework tasks and assignment deadlines. This was our new life, a life without much time for play.

We studied through school and maybe college and university. We graduated and began looking for jobs that would signify our efforts. We got these jobs and we learned that adults don’t play because they’re too busy doing important things like building their careers, renting or buying homes, and spending time with family. We learned to do the same, so we didn’t play.

Stepping into the void

Then one day we woke up and felt a bit lost, but we didn’t know why because we had all the things we were supposed to have, and we were doing all the things we were supposed to be doing. We sat quietly and thought about what it was that was missing - the void that we felt in our daily lives. And, as we sat in our silence, we heard a small voice, a voice we recognised. It was us, the seven-year-old us that wanted to play but had been told to put away their toys and childish games. We listened to our younger selves and we understood what we needed to do. We needed to reclaim playtime.

When was the last time you folded a sheet of coloured paper into a crane or a boat or a waterbomb? When did you last buy felt tip pens and make care-free marks on a blank sheet of paper? When did you last build a Lego house or a building block fortress? When was the last time you rolled marbles?

Play is as essential to us as sleep

If you find it difficult to remember, maybe it’s time to schedule some play time in your day. The list above may not appeal to you and that’s ok. What constitutes play is different for each of us. It’s all about doing something for the sake of the joy that you feel from doing it, not because there is a measurable outcome.

There are real benefits to playing as adults which are well documented. In our professional lives, play is linked to faster learning, successful problem-solving, enhanced productivity, and increased job satisfaction. Play with others facilitates inclusion and helps us build relationships with those who are different to us, which is invaluable in the workplace as we seek to find new ways to embrace diversity and create inclusive organisational cultures. Outside of work, playing improves our bonding with others and improves our communication. Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and founder of the National Institute for Play in Carmel Valley, California, says “play is a basic human need as essential to our wellbeing as sleep, so when we’re low on play, our minds and bodies notice.” It’s important for us to develop a daily practice so we don’t suffer with play deprivation.

Build play into your day

To avoid play deprivation, think back to your childhood and recall the things you enjoyed. Ask yourself the following questions:

-?????????What toys did you play with?

-?????????What games did you enjoy?

-?????????What activities did you engage in that put you in a state of flow?

-?????????How can you incorporate any of these into your personal and professional adult life?

Here are 5 ways to build play into your day

1.??????Set your intention - Start by identifying your play goal. For example, you might want to play pool with friends. Next, think more deeply about this and try to link the goal to a feeling. In this example, the feeling attached to the goal might be that you want to feel more present and focused when engaged in a game of pool and enjoy playing purely for the sake of the process rather than the end result.

2.??????Gain clarity on who you need to be to fulfill your intention - Consider what qualities you need to nurture to move you closer to achieving your play goal. For instance, if you want to paint, you could focus on seeing yourself as someone who prioritises creativity.

3.??????Be specific about the actionable steps you need to take - Play means something different to each of us so a one size fits all approach to creating the conditions required for you to engage in more play won’t be effective. Think about what it is you need to do to achieve your play goal and break it down into smaller steps that can generate some small wins for you and help to sustain the momentum.

4.??????Reframe any negative thoughts - If you haven’t given yourself the time and space to play for a while, you might find that you have some resistance to making it part of your daily routine in the first instance. When you catch yourself having a negative thought around play, use a reframing technique to gain a different perspective. For example, if you find yourself saying things like “there’s no point in doing this” or “playing is for kids and people will think I’m wasting my time”, try the following instead, “I recognise the benefits of play” or “play is essential to my wellbeing as an adult, and I enjoy playing as part of my self-care routine”.

5.??????Commit play to your diary and track your progress - It would be easy to tell yourself that you’ll make time for play once all your work is done, but the reality for most of us is that work is never done. We can always just do this or that and still find more to do. To make play a part of your daily practice, you’ll need to schedule it, and if you really want to play more, you’ll have to protect your play time. One way to do this is to be realistic about when you’re likely to have some free time. Maybe you could use your lunch breaks, or some time after dinner? You only need about 20 minutes of play to feel the benefits. It will make all the difference to you in and out of work. Keep a track of your progress for a while so you learn what works best for you until it becomes second nature again.

If you would find a daily play tracker useful, feel free to download one from Lennox Learning and Development here.?