We know the Golden Rule. We went to first grade. But in case you need a refresher, the Golden Rule is, “Treat others the way you would want to be treated.” Now, it’s important to remember, we were very young when we heard this rule for the first time. In most cases, we were presented with this rule on the heels of something like biting our sister or taking a toy from someone else… Something pretty juvenile. For the most part, though, the Golden Rule holds up the same way chocolate milk boxes do - it’s a classic, and it’s a good rule of thumb.
You’ve probably had a conversation with a friend or coworker where they’ve told you they’d really like to take action, but they’re just “too much in their heads.” Or that they’d really like to do something you or someone else has done, but they just don’t know if they could manage it. Many of these conversations stem from the lies that we tell ourselves every day. The biggest four are these: “What if I’m not good enough?” “It didn’t work out last time, there’s no way it will work out now.” “I can control everything if I work hard enough.” “I can’t ask for recognition.”
Have you ever been about to act, but were completely paralyzed by the fear of what comes next?
If you experience the ‘Sunday Night Scaries,’ count down the days to the weekend, or dread the thought of another day at work, maybe you can only see two options to escape your current misery: quit your job or stay and suffer. Or, perhaps you are among the group who see a third option: go all eat, pray, love on the situation and leave the rat race to be a yogi in Thailand.
It comes up everywhere, from first dates to family cookouts to LinkedIn Ads to interviews: the elusive “dream job.” Chances are good that on some sunny afternoon in the first grade you were asked to draw a picture of what that looked like. Or during your senior year of high school, you were probably given a test that was supposed to “tell you” what your “ideal career” might be. Or maybe you never encountered the concept of a dream job until college, when it seemed that everybody knew their definition for this term except you.
Automation works. It's why we've seen such transformations as mechanized farming, manufacturing, travel, retail, and advances in countless other sectors over the past century or two. It's also why there's so much hand-wringing over the potential of more sophisticated robots to replace a slew of other jobs and functions in the years ahead.
When children are young, they're playful, unself-conscious, and uninhibited. That's one reason why they're such fast and voracious learners, constantly seeking out new experiences to engage their minds and imaginations. In that sense, play is productive for kids. As grownups facing bulging inboxes, overflowing calendars, and a whole range of adult responsibilities, playing around isn't something we do much of, to say the least. But research is tapping into the relationships between play, performance, and productivity—and showing us there may be real value to taking a break from our work to, well, go out and play.
