How Hard Are You Working At Play?
Work Hard Play Hard. But Also Play Intentionally.
It’s so easy to just “pass time” after we get done with our tasks for the day. We tend to go to our office, or our job, or whatever it is we have to do for the day and give 100% of ourselves to the work we do. This is a great thing, we should be absolutely committed to pursuing our goals and “going after it” every day. This is not just worth the effort, but the effort itself creates rewards. As they say, nothing like a good day’s work to give you a sense of purpose. So bringing that energy to work is important, no doubt. But don’t forget to to bring that energy to your fun!
What Fun Are You Having?
Is your fun actually fun? Like, joy provoking, new experience, best day/night of my life fun? If your answer is no, why the F not??? Are you planning your fun? Are you being intentional in the activities you’re engaging in? It’s so easy to just go home after work, plop on the couch and throw on a Netflix show and scroll through your social media accounts. Even though you’re not really paying attention to the show, you’ve already hit the bottom of the infinity scroll on Instagram or Tiktok or whatever. So, this isn’t recharging your batteries, you’re just wasting your time and not regaining any life force from these activities.
Try Something New.
They say that “new” things provoke us to pay better and closer attention. As things become less new, we tend to be less and less attentive to whatever it is. Think about it like this… If you went to China to see the Great Wall, every single stone on that wall would pop out at you and you could spend HOURS inspecting every single crease and crack and revel in the history of this amazing landmark. NOW, imagine that you had to walk on the Great Wall every day to and from work. I promise you, after a couple weeks, you’d spend every minute on the Great Wall looking at your phone while you tripped over thousands of years of history. If you’re not careful, your fun will become just that.
Same Old Shit, Just A Different Day.
So practice implementing novelty into your “fun routine”. If you’re going out for drinks with friends, don’t just order the same old vodka soda, try something new. Maybe try a glass of scotch if that’s not usually your thing. Ask the bartender for a recommendation. This may seem trivial, but I always try to do weird shit when I’m out and about because I’m there to have fun, and fun I’m going to have. There’s a reason I have nick names like “banana pancake” and “appletini”. These are directly related to things I decided to enjoy and experience on my many days out with friends where we were doing the same thing, on a different day, but I mixed it up.
Fun Is Born From Play.
Hopefully you’re having more fun than just going to the bar with your friends, and hopefully you’re finding opportunities to play. Play, whether that’s a game with rules and borders, or if it’s just free play and you’re building a sandcastle, drawing or painting, or just running through a damn field barefoot, all of it will bring your inner child to the surface and let you run free with your imagination.
THIS IS GIVING YOU LIFE FORCE.
This is how you recharge your batteries, this is how you build up reserves for those long days of crushing your goals and pursuing your professional dreams. Don’t just sleep through your fun, engage with it, be intentional in it, and find ways to have a great time. (I say this not in a creepy way, only because I have kids now and I’m exposed to it) but if you ever find yourself around a group of kids, friends’ kids or family or you’re just near a public park, watch how kids just don’t give two shits about anything and are just having fun. DO THAT. BE THAT. Get into whatever you’re doing, make it count.
