|
Some of the greatest contributions of our time came from
playfulness. Albert Einstein, Buckminster Fuller, Pablo Picasso
and many more well known scientists, engineers and artists attribute
their contributions to a playful state of mind, where they were
open to seeing new possibilities and following hunches. This
raises the question of how one can be playful and creative while
laboring away at work. Well, I have a better question: How can
you have work that doesn't feel like work when you're doing it?
Is it possible to be playing, spirited, inventive and enthusiastic,
all while in the midst of everyday work-life?
When we think of the great engineers and inventors burning
the midnight oil, we usually view them as obsessed scientists,
somehow very different from the rest of us. Looking in from the
outside, they appear to be workaholics, wacky-minded professors--people
who look like Einstein with raised white hair, wearing
the same clothes everyday. What we don't realize is that many
of these people do not see themselves as "working"
or as geniuses. They were simply doing what came natural to them.
Take a look at yourself for example, how often to you recognize
when you are being brilliant? Most people do not see themselves
as having any special gifts or talents. It's like asking the
squirrel why she climbs trees like a spectacular acrobat--she
takes it for granted! Like the eyeball cannot see itself, we
usually can't see our natural strengths; they make up our personal
lens into reality. A major step toward finding work that taps
our genius is to begin noticing when we are being like the squirrel,
versus a cat caught up tree.
The extraordinary scientists and engineers have revealed a
secret to career fulfillment. During a research interview, Einstein
described how mathematicians form their mental processes, "The
words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not
seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought. . . the desire
to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional
basis of this rather vague play . . .from a psychological viewpoint,
this combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive
thought." Rather than setting out to be geniuses, the scientists
we call "gifted" were tapping their creative minds
by doing something every 7-year-old knows instinctively--being
playful.
Let's do an experiment. Right now, take a moment to think
about how much fun you are having in your career. In just a few
seconds of inquiry, most people can tell if they are doing work
that intrigues them and that opens the floodgates to their deep reservoir
of potential. When you are in a playful state, absorbed in what
you do, notice how the juices flow, the sense of wonder dances
about, the want for adventure is satisfied. Pull up your database
of memories and pick a time when you felt this way. What were
you doing? Who were you being? Does it look anything like the
career you are in now? If not, then try the following self-test.
Ask yourself, would I be doing this work even if I were independently
wealthy? From another angle, imagine that your employer wouldn't hire
and compensate you unless you were doing what you love the most!
In this moment of self-reflection, take the opportunity to push
the pause button on the mental recording running your "adult"
state of mind and listen to a different voice: the kid in you
that wants to explore the wonders of life and be fully alive.
In a survey conducted by Nicholas Lore of Rockport
Institute, an internationally recognized career-coaching network,
only 10% of the work force said they have careers that occur as passionate
play and that they look forward to going to work. The rest of the career
satisfaction scale breaks out as follows: 20% enjoy their work
most of the time, "it's pretty good"; 30% are neutral
and prefer to complain rather than improve their situation; 30%
are negative, clock watchers, going to work only because they
are forced to by circumstances; and 10% are in career hell, characterized
by resentment, deep suffering and feelings of being trapped.
What percentage do you fall into? If you are one of the 7 of
10 people in a job that feels like a "grind," it's important
to examine how you may have ended up here. A big part of our
dislike for anything that looks and smells like work stems in
part from our history as American immigrants from a time and
place where life was harsh, work was literally drudgery, with
little choice in life direction. Not until recent history, in
the last 50 years, have the mass of Americans had the means to
make choices toward creating a fulfilling lifestyle. This is
quite a phenomenon. Never before in the history of the human
race has the mass majority of a society had so much wealth and
personal opportunity. Most of the rest of the world is still
far behind America. Just in the last 10 years have countries
like Russia, China, Africa, and the Middle East come to see the importance of
individuality, diversity, and freedom of expression.
Even though the whole world is now moving in this direction,
most Americans are still building careers based on a Great Depression
blueprint for happiness and success. These old habits die hard.
Since playfulness is considered to be childish, silly and only
for kids, most "grown ups" set out to be "responsible"
and "realistic." For most, being responsible means
toiling away, paying the bills, doing something that is not much
fun. To get beyond this concept of work as toil, look at whether
your values are leftovers from your grandparents who lived in
times when this was a true reality and necessity. Our values
play a major role in shaping our life choices. The wisdom of
previous generations, to "get a job that will guard you
from the danger of instability" is by economic necessity,
not useful anymore. Even if you wanted to set up your life this
way, it's getting harder to find. For some this seems like a
crisis. I'm not surprised however to see more people are welcoming
and seeking a new way of living their lives.
Beyond the philanthropic notion of making a difference in
spare time. Beyond working flextime and four-day weeks. Beyond
trying to balance work life with personal life. There is a place
that people like Einstein showed us how to get to. A place where
our unique talents, passions, and sense of contribution all come
together in the midst of daily work. This kind of career path
is built on a new set of assumptions: work can be exciting, natural,
meaningful, and highly rewarding. Under these new rules there
is no such thing as work, only play. In this way, what I am calling
"play" is our natural proclivity for intrigue, to be
engrossed and full of questions--to live adventurously through
your work. This kind of career uses you as you are and draws
you toward what really matters to you. Nothing extra added.
To have this kind of career requires a leap of common sense
outside the box of "work" as you know it. It's pretty
simple to do this, just ask any ol' dog. Imagine how unhappy
President Bill Clinton's chocolate Lab "Buddy" would
be if he were working in the White House as a politician. No
matter how hard he tried, his extraordinary nose for smelling
and natural ability to fetch would not be very useful in politics.
Fortunately, most dogs know exactly what their genius is and
go through life pretty joyfully in their work. Have you ever
noticed how much people love dogs? Maybe it's because dogs have
careers that look playful and express themselves exactly as they
are. Imagine what the world would be like of dogs decided to
work for a living in careers that did not fit them. I've never
met a dog that was trying to be an engineer, a squirrel, or a
president. I have, however, met a lot of people who work like
dogs at something they don't enjoy, resigned to boredom, complaining
that they don't get enough bones to bury.
The most successful, fulfilled people found ways to express
themselves on a career path that allowed them to play with, and
be fascinated by, the world around them. In the words of Charlie
Parker, the man who revolutionized Jazz music, "Music is
your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't
live it, it won't come out of your horn." To have a playful
career, find a way to do what comes naturally, that really matters
to you, and puts you in that place where you get lost in your
work. If you set you life up this way, your enthusiasm and talent
will distinguish you from your peers, which often opens a pathway
to success in the truest sense. To get things going, remember
what it's like to be a kid. Don't let common sense limit you--invent
a career that's frees your imagination and playfulness!
|
