The Importance of Play in the Work Environment

We humans take ourselves too seriously at times. While walking around, be aware of how many people are smiling and laughing in a normal business day. Are you one of them?  I believe the Millennial generation does this more than the other generations and I say good for them.  Do you notice when you get in an elevator that everyone is really quiet - you can hear a pin drop at times. People are deep in thought or just being quiet to get where they are going. And, they typically are not smiling.

It's really important to goof off once in awhile and laugh at ourselves.  The definition of "play" is time spent without purpose.  Far too often in our American culture we feel that we have to have our nose to the grindstone, be productive, having our day planned out, working, cleaning, taking kids to practice, having a structured day, every day.  It's really important that we make time to just have fun without achieving a goal.  This is vital to our health and our human development.  Creativity and innovation stem from play. Check out the environments of Google and Zappos. People have freedom to be creative and enjoy their working environment.  More and more companies are creating these type of work environments especially in the technology fields.

Please don't save play just for a scheduled vacation. Incorporate fun into your life regularly through taking time to develop a hobby, being outdoors enjoying nature, being with your family and loved ones - maybe grabbing a cupcake after lunch or a yogurt or going to a great movie, having people over for dinner, etc. There are so many ideas you can explore.

Some suggestions around integrating play into your life are: 1.  Create a list or a couple of activities you could do for hours on end and forget about time - reading, playing a game, running, etc. that you really enjoy and maybe have forgotten about. 2. Schedule some unstructured time on your calendar and commit to play without feeling guilty. 3. Include others - family, friends, kids, a coworker.

Your mind and body will thank you for this believe me.