When the psychoanalyst Carl Jung was challenging the philosophy of Sigmund Freud, he needed complete focus. Freud had become the leading voice in psychiatry, and Jung supported him early in his career, because of their shared interest in the subconscious mind. But as Jung grew older, and saw more patients in his Zurich office, he [...]
When I spent a year attending the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, we spent a lot of time working hard on our ability to play. Class of 2001 The program was intense. Dozens of students from all around the world came together in a small town in Northern California, high up in the [...]
I play guitar with my thumbs. Not just my right thumb - it’s normal to use both the thumb and fingers when you are picking the strings - but my left thumb, too. On the frets of a guitar, you use the fingers of your non-dominant hand to hold down some of the six strings, [...]
If you think that play is something you only do separately after work, I’d like to share this quote with you from the French diplomat and historian François-René de Chateaubriand: “A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and [...]
Work-Life Balance is a false dichotomy. The phrase implies these two aspects of your life are equal, but they are not. Work ≠ Life. Life does not balance equally against your work. Work is a part of life, just like play is a part of life. What we really need is not Work-Life Balance; we [...]
While juggling three torches, I found myself carrying on a casual conversation with someone at the street fair. I had to pause my flashy tricks - like the ones where I swipe down quickly to make a loud ‘WUFFF’ of noise, or spin a torch around the outside of my elbow - so I could [...]
People who wear glasses will flash a bright white square in the reflection of their lenses when they navigate to a new tab. If a virtual meeting is boring, it’s easy to multitask, check emails, and scroll through social media. The person leading the meeting was reading her bullet points off of a slide, which [...]
Every time I picked up the phone, I put another paperclip into the jar on my desk. I was playing a simple game with my work, to make it more entertaining (and achievable). The list in front of me had 10 names and phone numbers. Every time I dialled a number, I put a [...]
When I was a kid, I spent many happy hours memorizing the colorful lights and sounds of Simon. One of the early handheld electronic games, Simon was both simple and friendly: it would light up one of four colored buttons and play a note, and in response, you would press the same button. Then [...]
Work without will or wonder is just drudgery. Play is an overlap of work, will, and wonder, and it transforms how we participate in the act of working.Bringing play into your work increases your capacity to do work well. Think of the seven dwarves, toiling in the mines; they knew to whistle while you work. Play makes [...]