Anyone of a certain age will remember the ending of the Disney movie "Mary Poppins" where the father of the household, George Banks - a rather gruff figure who is the paragon of a British Banker in the early t20th Century - has been disgraced and his career cashiered, suddenly realizes the joy that he has missed for so many years. At the end of the movie find him, bowler hat with a hole in it, flying a kite joyfully with his children (cue "Let's Go Fly a Kite" here), having restored joy not just to himself, but to his household.
A fictional story, writes McKeown, but based in an idea that play can restore a great many things - joy, camaraderie, delight - to our lives.
One never has to teach a child to play; they seem to figure it out on their own. Their imaginations take over, spinning tales and activities in their mind. It becomes as spontaneous and free form - and it is not just us as humans: young animals love to play as well. Go to any shelter or barnyard or zoo and one will find young animals - and older ones - engaging in activities that make no sense except that they are...well, playful.
But something happens to us humans over time as we grow up: "We are introduced to the idea that play is trivial, that it is a waste of time. Play is unnecessary. Play is childish. Unfortunately, many of these negative messages come from the very place where imaginative play should most encouraged." Schools, posits McKeown, are a large contributor. Based on the work of Sir Ken Robinson, a researcher of creativity, he notes "We have sold ourselves into a fast-food model of education and it's impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies...Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement. And it's the one thing I believe we are systematically jeopardizing in the way we educate our children and ourselves."
Nor, McKeown notes, is the workplace any better: companies tend not only to not foster the concept of play and creativity, but actively undermine it. Not surprising, he suggests, based on the fact that modern corporations are a product of the Industrial Revolution which focused on efficiency in the mass production of goods and used the military of its day as a model for organizational purposes.
"Play", as McKeown defines it, is "...anything we do simply for the joy of doing it rather as a means to an end." Play matters, he suggests, as studies show adults who engage in some form of play see results in anything ranging from "personal health to relationships to education to organization's ability to innovate." Play, he states is critical to firing up the brain.
So how do Essentialists handle this? How does play provide inputs to the pursuit of the vital few in the midst of the trivial many? In three ways, suggests McKeown.
1) The first way is that it broadens the range of options to us. By playing - doing something for the sheer joy of doing it - many things can happen. We see possibilities we might not have otherwise seen, we broaden our perspectives, we make connections, we learn new things. Albert Einstein valued play: "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing knowledge."
2) The second way is that play acts as a antidote to stress. One way is fairly obvious: we move our mind to something we enjoy. The second is that the more stressed we become, the more the creative and innovative functions of our brain shut down and our thinking narrows (apparently during stress, the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala, gets stimulated while the cognitive part of the brain, the hippocampus, is suppressed).
3) The third way is that play has a positive effect on the executive functions of the brain - planning, prioritizing, scheduling, anticipating, delegating, and analyzing. Play stimulated both the careful logical reasoning side and the carefree exploration sides of the brain. As result, quoting psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell, key breakthroughs in thinking come through in times of play:
"Columbus was at play when it dawned on him the world was round. Newton was at play in his mind when he saw the apple tree and suddenly conceived of the force of gravity. Watson and Crick were playing with possible shapes of the DNA molecule when they stumbled upon the double helix. Shakespeare played with iambic pentameter his whole life. Mozart barely lived a waking moment when he was not at play. Einstein's thought experiments are brilliant examples of the mind invited to play."
How does the Essentialist do this? Mostly it is on their own initiative: companies (on the whole) do not encourage play or the concept of play as important; if anything, they tend to emphasize The Non-essentialist's view that play is trivial. Which is a bit odd in that companies often deeply desire the creativity and innovation that moves the world (and profit) forward.
How do we start this process for ourselves? McKeown suggests we start in our own past to mine our own memories: What did you do as a child that excited you? How can you re-create that?
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Application
I have to admit that of the four items to explore, this one was the most counterintuitive and odd to me.
Do I agree with his premises, that play is valuable and that it is pushed away by institutions and well-meaning people as we grow up? I do. My mind goes back to the quote I posted earlier this week "One day, you and your friends went out to play for the last time". It happens, almost imperceptibly at first, until we find ourselves mired in a job and a home and a life that seems too often to do everything it can to remove those opportunities. "Play" becomes something we do for two hours on the weekends or thirty minutes on a evening and often has ulterior motives: the workout that is only ever in a gym, the sport that masquerades as a social event, the reading that only takes place because it is required.
Do schools also insure this? It is obviously long since I have been in school so I do not know if I can fully address that. But business? Business is the play killer: Serious stuff we are about here, no fun allowed. This can be as wide ranging as the modern open business office where no-one has space and thus no ability to display personality or fun to the groups and meetings which are only, ever slow descents into the madness of the endless discussion.
In other words, if we are going to be about play and the benefits it offers, it is up to the individual. No-one and no institution will encourage this for you.
Oddly enough, I think this is one place that I may actually be doing okay.
I tend to be whimsical at work. I hum to myself as I walk along. I happily present bad Dad jokes. My rule of thumb is "If your phone ringer is on and loud, I will dance. Even in a meeting." I have known to skip in the hall.
I try activities at home that are mostly useless in the modern world, or at least not at all profitable but bring joy to me. I collect random historical facts about specific times and periodically present them for no good reason. I continue to try to make "International Speak Like A Pirate Day" an actual thing at work.
I undoubtedly cause my managers some grief (although not of the Human Resources kind). I am reasonable sure there are those that consider me a somewhat unserious person. But I have to admit that I am usually pretty happy and can bring a smile to almost anyone I meet.
I may not be able to play as much as I used to, but I try to gamify the corporate work experience and life outside of work. Am I more creative? Hard to say. But I do tend to be on the happy side more often than not.
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