Mental Moment-Play=Creativity=Improved Performance
Play, creativity and improved performance are finally starting to come together. To a certain degree this is a collision of my former and my present lives. In my former life as a professor in recreation and leisure I taught a class on leisure. Part of leisure is play and creativity. In my present life I talk about how play, creativity (a little less than I used to) and having fun lead to better, more improved elite performance. As I continue to do the work I do not only do I see my two lives drawing closer but I see other people who ‘get it’ helping to make the connections as well.
New York Times
Two weeks ago there was an article in the NYT’s about How Do You Raise a Prodigy. I read the article because I am continually fascinated by how the brain works, new research, etc. Part of what the article was saying is that child prodigies are so creative in athletics, mathematics, chess and music because “young people like romance stories and war stories and good-and-evil stories and old movies because their emotional life mostly is and should be fantasy,” says Ken Noda, a great piano prodigy in his day who gave up public performance and now works at the Metropolitan Opera. “They put that fantasized emotion into their playing, and it is very convincing. I had an amazing capacity for imagining these feelings, and that’s part of what talent is. But it dries up, in everyone. That’s why so many prodigies have midlife crises in their late teens or early 20s. If our imagination is not replenished with experience, the ability to reproduce these feelings in one’s playing gradually diminishes.” (NYT’s)
Besides romance stories, war stories, good-and-evil stories and old movies another way to build a child’s imagination and continue to develop our adult imagination is through play. Play is a lifestyle that needs to be nurtured by parents starting at a young age but which also needs constant attention throughout our lifespan so that it becomes a lifelong skill.
Play for business
In his TED talk, Steve Kiel talks about how we should create a revolution of play. A revolution of enhanced creativity. He basically goes on to say that what we are doing isn’t working and we need play to help us creative a deeper sense of purpose and mastery in what we do, in what we create, in order to advance as companies, as elite performers and as a nation.
Marble Arch is also talking about how powerful play is in the revolution of the business world. What they are talking about is not cutting edge. Collaboration, autonomy, celebration (affirmation) and play are basic. It’s not a secret that these factors promote motivation and a more creative and productive work/life environment but companies have been more or less unwilling because of ego and top-down philosophies. In order for businesses to succeed the top-down mode of operation needs to change, terminology needs to change and it is a necessity to move in the direction of collaboration, autonomy, celebration and play.
At some level companies like Google understand that employee’s are more than just employee’s. They’ve at least made an attempt to understand that a productive work environment includes creative time and space for play.
Play for other elite performers and life
The benefits of play are astounding. Not only does play improve creativity but people who play have less stress, are better equipped to deal with anxiety, learn to interact with other people, are more active, are healthier, etc. Even though children will always find small ways to play it’s too bad that less children are taught and nurtured to play. In fact many kids are deterred from playing. On top of less nurturing at home around play, many schools across the country have had to drop physical education (more ramifications than just creativity), art and music programs. As a society we are losing (we may have already lost it) our ability to play. The problem is this, it not only impacts children but it impacts adults ability to work, have relationships, feel healthy and perform.
Consciously find a way to play this week. See how it impacts your personal and professional life.
Happy middle of the week!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: soulreflectionscoaching.com
