Making the world a better place always seemed like very serious business to me. It’s serious because, in thinking about how to make the world a better place, I have to confront and think about some of the most awful problems in the world – the stuff that makes me feel sad, angry and scared. It’s serious because it inevitably involves intervening in some way, and with that comes the responsibility of wielding my power appropriately and sensitively. It’s serious because when I intervene, my actions can have a big impact on other people’s lives, and even if my intentions are good, it’s possible to still harm other people, and I want to be sure that I’m helping and not harming. And it’s always seemed serious because it’s important to me. And surely if something’s important to you, it should be taken seriously?
We’ve all been taught to take important stuff seriously. Think of your experiences in learning with your parents, at school and at university… after the age of about 7 years, how much of the time did those learning experiences involve play? Were you ever encouraged to laugh and play at school or university? I certainly wasn’t. And my experience of corporate life and working in social development organizations was much the same. I always felt that, if I wanted to get stuff done, get people on board and be taken seriously, I had to be serious.
But here’s something to consider…
Which would you be more likely to do: throw your rubbish on the ground or put it in this bin?
Which would you be more likely to do: take the escalator or these stairs?
These videos are from www.thefuntheory.com
Why you should be taking play seriously if you want better results
- Play makes you stand out in a crowded market. Dan Pink, in his visionary book, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future,”[aff] explains how, if you want to be successful in an abundant world where there’s so much information, you’ll need to find a way to stand out and capture people’s attention. Play captures attention in much the same way that compelling stories do. And because of its entertainment value, play is fun to pass on, so it’s often the basis of successful viral marketing campaigns – the stuff that people love to pass on.
- Play activates your right-brain-directed thinking. When we’re using right-brain-directed thinking, we’re more able to see the big picture and the relationships between all the parts in a system, we’re more present and tuned into our sensory perception, we’re more aware of nonverbal communication and relationship dynamics, we’re more capable of appreciating paradoxes and interpreting metaphors, we’re more capable of appreciating complex problems with “grey” areas, and we’re more capable of merging ideas from different fields to invent creative solutions.
- Play un-censors your imagination. When we’re being serious, we look for problems and mistakes and we’re much more judgmental and critical of ourselves and others. We also give ourselves and others less space to take risks and make mistakes, and this censors our imagination because then we prefer to stick with safe solutions, rather than experimenting with new, innovative ideas that haven’t been proven yet.
- Play relaxes you, clears stress and improves the quality of your thinking. When we’re stressed, biochemical changes in our bodies cause changes in the way we think. We focus much more on threatening information, feel a greater sense of urgency to act, and we can take in less information when we’re stressed, so we tend to be more negative and impulsive when we’re stressed – not a great place to make important decisions from!
- Play is a powerful motivator. Play feels good, and we like to feel good, so we do more of what makes us feel good. As you can see in the videos above, play is a powerful way to motivate behavioral change by making new behavior enjoyable and compelling.
- Play is a relationship-lubricant. When we’re playing, we relax and let our guard down and then we’re much more open-hearted and open-minded with each other. Laughing together facilitates bonding together, and quality relationships are ultimately the basis for all successful leadership, marketing, project-management and teamwork. Improving your relationships will not only improve your results, but it’ll make the process of working with other people to get your results much more pleasurable.
How could you introduce more play into your life? And how could you make it more fun for people to buy into your vision and follow you?
Want to thrive by bringing more play into your life? Look out for the Bottom-line on Dan Pink’s “A Whole New Mind”
I’ll be releasing the Bottom-line on “A Whole New Mind” on 1 November. In this Bottom-line, you’ll learn more about the reasons why you’ll need to develop your right-brain-directed thinking and use your whole mind if you want to thrive in the world of work today, and you’ll find out how to develop your ability to think playfully, as well as 5 other right-brain-directed aptitudes that’ll help you improve your results in life and work.
Click here to join the Bottom-line Bookclub and get the Bottom-line on the highest-leverage personal development ideas and change tools… for just £9 per month.
You can’t play too much. It’s a shame as adults we don’t use the the world play so much as an intransitive verb. In China all my adult students will say “I’m going to go out and play”.
Gordie Rogers´s last blog ..How To Put Your WordPress Blog On Autopilot And Spend Most Of Your Time At The Beach.
Of course fun is important, and its fun.
Among the many things I do I train social workers to work with children and they need to learn to play (the social workers and the children) and they need to play to learn…..
I’m not sure i buy the right brain left brain thing though, its a good metaphor sometimes but sometimes its a limiting belief and not really accurate in terms of neurophysiology…..
Someone said to me ‘take the work seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously’ I like that.
I’m doing something new, no adds no spam, just a new fun way to do coaching…. http://pebblepad.wlv.ac.uk/blog.aspx?blogoid=1614075
Have fun.
I am a great believer in play and think it is something we can do regardless of what age we are! I frequently play with paint, dance, and song or just by goofing around. My son of 21 and my 19-year old daughter roll their eyes in amusement but it helps free energy and sparks ideas. Often when playing I get a sense of perspective on a troublesome situation or realize what is to be done to move on a creative project. So splish splosh everyone and gleefully enjoy being playful!
Great post. You’ve raised some really good points here!
Positively Present´s last blog ..how to let go of what you don’t need
I love this. The problem is our culture doesn’t appreciate play. Instead, there’s this ‘formula’ you have to follow. Go to school, get a good job and be a respectable adult (i.e. boring).
I don’t know, maybe some if it is driven by our corporate environments. Individuality is shunned. Most offices don’t even allow you to put personal items in your work space. People think it’s normal to walk around like a robot and not show any emotion.
Fortunately, I think there’s a big pushback on this. People are realizing that life doesn’t have to be so serious. That life should be more about having fun. Playing more.
I’ll have to check out that book. Thanks for sharing!
Nate´s last blog ..Telecommuting Employment – 5 Reasons Why More Employers Should Do It
I resigned my serious job two year ago in order to write fiction. I realised deeply the problem of lack of creative activity. Language needs to be shaken up – I find it good to play with sounds, not even words – do scat if you can’t sing, moo, babble, break the mould.
See my episodic novel _Zebra Crossings, Tales from the Shaman’s Record_ (Jacana, 2008). It’s about healing and fun in the face of serious stuff. Nearly finished the first sequel, _Jalapeno Moon, More tales from the Shaman’s Record_.
@Gordie: “How to put your WordPress Blog on autopilot and spend most of your time at the beach”??? Sounds like play to me
@Andy: I started out as a social worker in child protection and I agree – play is so important for both children and social workers! Probably more so for social workers since most children still remember what play is about but a lot of social workers are burnt out and have forgotten about play.
@Arabella: Splish splosh away! Keep it up!
@Positively Present: Thanks, Dani! Glad you enjoyed it. Play is a big part of being positively present!
Cath
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by cathduncan: why you shouldn’t take making the world a better place too seriously http://bit.ly/1rOtLG...
Great post! Fortunately, there are a LOT of people who think that serious games and serious play are important. We’ve got customers ranging from SAP, Qualcomm, VersionOne, NetApp, Emerson Climate Technologies — and many others — playing both in-person and online games — to solve a variety of complex organizational problems. We’ve used games to identify new product opportunities, prioritize sales pipelines, prioritize project portfolios, understand product usage, determine the relationships and boundaries between products, partners, and companies, and a whole host of other items.
We’re glad to see even more people talking about the importance of serious play.
Hi Cath. I’m so intrigued I think I’m going to join your club. I love books so much I need to find a way to read more than the enormous number I already do. I’ve looked at that book many times and almost bought it but I still have 60 or 70 unread ones on my shelves. I’m trying to get myself under control.
Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..7 Simple Principles for Living the Good Life
@Nate: Dan Pink would agree with you there – he says that in developed countries, where we have such wealth and abundance, we’re now looking for more of the right-brain experiences of meaning, play, connection, beauty, joy and so on. The internet has also been a big driver in this, bringing information to all of us about personal development, health, spirituality and other forms of well-being and providing examples of other people all over the world who are challenging the norms.
@Peter: We loved your Zebras Crossing book! In fact we enjoyed it so much that we bought a copy for a Croatian friend of ours who’s a writer – I knew she’d love it! Looking forward to your next book, and hope to see you around Cape Town soon
@Luke: Wow, you sound like you’ve got an exciting job! I’m going to guess that you’re working in the world of agile software development/ project management…? My husband worked for Thoughtworks for a few years and they made a lot of use of games as a route to assessing developers, solving problems, explaining processes to clients, and so on. Great stuff! Lead the way!
@Stephen: Welcome to the Bottom-line Bookclub! You’re just the sort of person that the club was made for
It’ll be a great way to cover excellent books easily and quickly, and keep you inspired with your blog. I’ll be releasing the Bottom-line on A Whole New Mind on 1 Nov. In the meantime, enjoy one of the other Bottom-lines… I think the Bottom-line on Nick Williams’ The Work We Were Born To Do is my favorite at the moment 
CathD´s last blog ..Why You Shouldn’t Take Making The World a Better Place Too Seriously
@Cath – Funny you should mention ThoughtWorks — they’ve been using my games for years! For example, many TWers use my game “Remember the Future” to help them plan projects. I’m good friends with Martin Fowler, one of the more famous TWers. My second book, “Beyond Software Architecture”, is in Martin’s book series. And though I designed the games originally for software teams, we’re finding a lot of new ways to play. And we’re going to be trying to change the world through our non-profit GamesForDemocracy.org, in which we’ll be using the games to improve democratic processes. And this post and these great comments just mean that more people are going to help us do this!
Luke
Oh – Can I send you a copy of “Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play” for your book club?
@Luke: gamesfordemocracy.org looks like an awesome project! keep me updated on the launch. And I’d LOVE a copy of your book… emailing my address details now
Every time I feel stuck, I discover it’s because I’ve lost my sense of playful curiosity. When people say they’ve lost their mojo, I think they’ve forgotten how to play.
You’ve got mojo galore. Great post.
Ken Robert´s last blog ..Collect Your Thoughts – Things That Go Bump In Your Head
That was awesome. Thanks for the insight and a lot of laughs from the videos.
Casey´s last blog ..Escaping Your Cell
Great article. I mentioned this briefly in one i did recently concerning hierachy and that the place of change happens on the border of seriousness and laughter.
Not all but a lot of the time people want to change the world its because they feel its something they have to do, vs something they choose to do