How Play Impacts Performance
At the 2010 TED 2010 conference, Derek Sivers the founder of CD Baby, showed a video with one person dancing by himself. A minute later a second person joins. Then a third, and a fourth, and the “tipping point” occurs leading to a full-scale dance festival scene.
Normal and weird
Normal is a word to describe common characteristics of the masses. Normal people go through the majority of the day on autopilot. They drive to work the same way with the same type of thoughts. Then they go on and off autopilot intermittently as they do their job. Then they go back home, run a few errands, relax, maybe have a cocktail and start the day all over again. If we accept the masses as normal, abnormal in this instance is finding creative ways to go about our daily activities in the the world we live in. Making even mundane activities fun and uniquely unique.
Repetition or doing things out of necessity does not mandate nor force the outcome to be boring. I understand it proves to be a great fight not to go in efficient mode and tune out during cycles of habitual activities like say driving to work. There is an ongoing myth told by the way people live on Mondays that work is not fun, that is why work is work, as they say.
Here’s the truth. Work can suck sometimes. Life will always involve opportunity costs. In order to build a great living, you can’t be in Hawaii all the time. Nothing is pleasurable or rewarding Monday thru Friday. The key is in creating an environment where work can be enjoyable while finding creative ways to produce results in exchange for financial gain (and help others do the same). You will make more money and live a life where work, fun, games, happiness can all be played on the same channel. If one can tap into the their creativity to to make work playful, surely outside of work it will be easier to find healthy fun.
Let’s start with thoughts on play in the work environment:
Go back to elementary to find insight on how to match play and work
Concluding PayPal was no longer the business he wanted to focus on, Elon Musk reconnected with his childhood fantasies of rocket ships and space travel. His dreams as a kid is the power source for SpaceX. Our observation is that great leaders will reconnect with their adolescent version to see what really makes them tick. The inner child will always gravitate to what your heart, mind and soul view as playful time. When we make that tie we will find uplifting results. We are connecting to our inner self when we converse with our adolescence.
Did you like to draw or write fiction in elementary? Did you enjoy presenting your oral book report in front of class? Were you analyzing how the teacher taught the classes you were in? How did you like to play then? Legos or outdoors? Doodling perhaps? Children are uninhibited and spontaneous. We can push our imagination deeper when we get back in the car with our inner child.
Is there a better way?
Great results will be performed on a more consistent basis when one is getting their prescribed daily dosage of play. A common neuroscience definition of attention is any mechanism that selects trains of thought. Sensory stimuli assists us to go from thought to action. Our natural ways of play will bring out our high level of attention which then will result in action.
A study of human choices was put on by Volkswagen by transforming one subway stairs in Sweden into “piano stairs.” Each step would play a note (think Tom Hanks in the movie Big). 66% more people than normal chose the stairs over the escalator. Common sense would tell us, given a choice between an escalator or stairs, the majority would chose the path of least resistance, the escalator.
This is a great reminder that some of our greatest accomplishments were the undertaking of having fun. So when looking for results, ask yourself, “Is there a better way?” A better way in the sense that it makes it more fun for you and others involved on the same project or venture.
All of the iterations and product testing for businesses comes comes down to one key indicator. Will people use it? In other words, a sustainable model can be delivered if it's fun to use. More often than not the better way is the more fun way. Problems solved by disrupting companies help people live more efficiently and help them have more fun. Being powered by electric Tesla vs going to get gas. Staying with a local host using Airbnb vs. staying in a stale hotel by yourself. Sending emoticons to express how you feel vs. using words. Taking an Uber to meet locals and having a conversation vs. driving by yourself and then finding parking.
Play the right way to find your dream team
One of the defining benefits of play is that we will attract others to the same. Legacies are built by great teams. It’s never a one person show. We may immediately consider Steve Jobs in our thoughts when we think Apple or Michael Jordan when we hear basketball, but they all share the same tune. Powerhouse teams behind the scenes is what brought out the best in their end product.
Find your dance partner(s) in life by initiating the dance party. All it takes for it to be a party is finding one dance partner in life and taking it from there. People that gravitate to your positive energy and playful spirit are people who can be your dream builders. Play is not always a specific activity; it can also be a state of being. Developing a playful spirit can help loosen up stuffy energy in stressful situations & break the ice with new people. All making you a better leader and teammate.
Other Benefits of play
We inherently understand the benefits of play by how it makes us feel. To state it makes you healthier makes me feel like Captain Obvious. The key is in the cognition and awareness that makes us proactive to get to the point as say ordering salads without our parents voice telling us to “eat your vegetables.” The goal is to make it as much part of our lives as anything else.
Commitment
Making it fun will make core messages stick and more impactful for you and your team. Adding a playful heart to all that we do will have the power to elevate our courage and desire. Truly living with this attitude will make us abnormal and/or weird. Authentic joy and playful spirit can cement our goals in order to live out our passion. Passionate people attract passionate people.
Expertise
One of the most wisest sports cliches is, “practice makes perfect.” Head coach Pete Carroll of the NFL team Seattle Seahawks has taken his team to back-to-back Superbowls and is known around the league to hold practice a bit differently. He adheres to significance of practice while it being an extension of his persona and approach. One differentiating factor is he makes practice fun. He is always preaching the joys of the game. He is unique because he sees fun from the players perspective. He appreciates and understands their culture and style without looking like a parent that is trying too hard to fit it. The players are dancing in practice and games. He blares Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur during key moments in practice. He lets winners in previous team scrimmages pick the music for the following day. There was an Instagram video of him addressing his team following a win standing on top of the lockers above looking down because he was so excited for the win and having fun. (See below.)
When you have high level performers having tons of fun, dancing, playing music, playing games they naturally perform at a higher level. They are more locked in on the same goal. They are more focused. They’re more attentive. They're better listeners. They are better at teamwork and overall just better people to be around. And, really, it could be that simple philosophy put into action that gives his team a competitive advantage.
Pete Carroll addressing the team after their win against in Baltimore on December 13th 2015. (Fun fact: Pete Carroll is the second oldest coach in the NFL.)
Confidence
Let's face it, we intend to enjoy things that we are good at. The more we do something the the better we get. The opposite statement is: the activities we consider we are bad at, we tend to do less often, thus we stay mediocre and/or bad. If you think you are crappy bowler, you will never get better. Science has a reason for this. Lowered confidence actually inhibits your motor skills and thinking ability. It’s like getting inebriated in order to become a poorer performer. Have you seen a bad basketball free throw shooter who is amazing at everything else on the court, but couldn’t hit a free throw when it counted? Well science says it’s like the player takes a shot of Hennessy before getting to the line.
In his book, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, Dr. Stuart Brown emphasizes how engaging with people in something playful heightens productivity and motivation while improving concentration and perseverance. He looks at evidence that play can open up new neural connections in the brain which boost creativity. When we let loose we stop censoring our thoughts. If we utilize the art of play, we get heightened concentration, perseverance, creativity and motivation. This all certainly adds up to more confidence. When you see an amazing performance by an artist or athlete have you ever viewed it as they are performing free spirited or playing freely? What we are capturing with the eye is all the aforementioned traits pieced together for beauty.
If you not a great bowler and next time you end up at the alley go with less-judgement-slash-playful-spirit and you can slowly you pick up the nuances to make you a better bowler. Before you know it you're doing the turkey dance because that's what you landed on the scoreboard.
Perspective
Having a playful spirit everyday will keep us better grounded. We may still need to meet that deadline, but we won’t beat ourselves over it. We will have better company around us. Do something that makes you smile. Be goofy. Each playful moment will become gentle reminders that you are in a perfect place because you are alive.
Health, Health, and more Health
Can the art of play...
Relieve stress? Check.
Release endorphins? Check.
Promote a sense of well-being? Check. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can help reduce physical pain.
Improve brain function? Check. Fun mental activities help memory problems and ward off stress and depression.
Improve relationships? Check.
Keep you feeling young and energetic? Check. (See picture of Pete Carroll.)
In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” If you are reading this you are still alive. Then you are here for greatness. As Tony Robbins said at TED 2006, “Effective leaders have the ability to move themselves and others to action because they understand the invisible forces that shape us.” One of the core tenants of being human is being playful and having fun. It will help us evolve and tap into the precious secrets in life. When we arrange our lives on being creative in play, we will be healthier, live longer, and tilt the odds dramatically into our favor of creating our life purpose. Probably will make a lot more money as well. That secret-or your precious secret that is-will be found when seeing the world just like we did…as a 4-year-old.