Do you dread Mondays, and long for Fridays? Well that may be a sign of a work/play imbalance.
For many of us, we are either counting down the minutes until we can stop work every day, every week; or we are dreading the fact we have to go back to work and our playtime is over.
Work has become almost a chore we need to complete in order to be rewarded with a wage. For many, this chore is not something that ignites their imagination and fuels a love for life. It’s a means to an end… and a very unfulfilling end.
When did this idea that work and play are two different things start?
I heard this recently which sparked this article ‘Passionate people play while others work’. What does this mean? Here are my thoughts…
Work is work whether we love it or not. It’s a job. The end result is to be paid for the job we’ve completed. It’s not about having fun and sadly this is all too common. And even if you enjoy what you are doing, I’m sure there are other places you would prefer to be.
Passionate people love what they are doing. They look forward to getting back to their work, completing a task or starting something new. This passion changes their perspective, opens the door to learning, increases the desire to improve and ignites imaginative problem solving.
We’ve heard about athletes when they are ‘in the zone’ and everything flows perfectly for them. I believe we should aim for this with our work too, whatever that work is.
If you love creating spreadsheets, then that’s what you should do. If you love cooking, or gardening, or surgery, or building straight brick walls… then do it.
Try changing the word ‘work’ for ‘play’, and replace the heavy ‘have to’ with ‘get to’ and see how that changes the way you feel about your work.
For example, instead of saying ‘I have to work on that report’ ugh! This statement alone feels heavy and laborious, say ‘I get to play with that report!’ yay!
It’s a state of mind. I feel more relaxed, open, focused, and happy when I’m playing, which in turn makes me more productive. Feeling tense, serious, frustrated and stressed has the opposite effect.
So, should you love your work? At the very least we need to find a way to enjoy our work and find a better work/life balance. After all, we only get one shot at this life. I’ve decided I would much rather do something I love… What about you?
