What does a painted pottery lizard have to do with career success?
More than you might think.
Creating time for play is one of the first things I encourage all my clients to do. Because to slightly adapt the old saying, all work and no play makes Jill a dull girl. Dull here not meaning boring, dull meaning the opposite of sharp.
Children play because it helps them to build neural connections, build social connections, learn new skills and explore and find joy in their world. Why is it that as adults we think we don’t need to do those things any more?
Redefining success
We see taking time to play as wasting time. This ties into the view that we too often have of needing to be productive. What if, instead of being productive, we could aim to be something else? Instead of needing to be always working at making something happen, we could allow ourselves the space to explore creativity? To explore joy? To explore the ways we learn and new skills that we can still grow?
Allowing space for play in this way is allowing time for you. So many of us spend all of our time doing the work we feel we need to do to support other people (whether that is our paid work or our household/ family work etc). Just working for others and allowing nothing for ourself can easily lead to over-giving, to sacrifice and to resentment. We end up hating the work we used to love because it has become the only thing we do. When we create space for more through play, we also find more in our work.
Play is a foundational habit
As a One of many Certified Coach play is one of the 3 foundational habits that I share with all of my clients. These foundational habits…
When you allow play to have its proper role in your life you are working towards achieving balance. I do not call myself a career coach. Certainly, many of the women I work with are looking to the next step in their career, and this may be the aspect of life we focus on, it isn’t everything.
Finding balance
I believe that to step forward powerfully within your career we need to look more widely at what is going on in your life as a whole. You may want to take the next career step, but find that life is just too hectic. You may want to step up, and apply for a promotion, or a new role, or take on more responsibility, but can’t see how to find a balance. Perhaps you feel like you ought to step up, but you’ve lost the passion. When we feel like we are always working to someone else’s priorities and goals it is easy to lose balance. Play helps us to do things for us, because they feel good, not because somebody else tells us to!
What you do is not who you are. What you do is supported by who you are. And so I focus on helping you to uncover the powerful brilliant you that you are and then unleash that you on what you do. Play is one way that you discover who you are, what you enjoy, how you learn, and how to bring balance back into your life.
If you would like to find out how I can support you to ignite that powerful authentic you then let’s talk. Book a free discovery call and we will see how we can work together to best meet your needs.
Your challenge: let’s play
Oh the irony, having just told you that play is something you do not because someone else tells us to. And I truly believe that is true, but sometimes, when we are trying to rebalance our lives, we need someone to give us permission! If you only do this because I tell you to this week, I hope that in the future you will do it for you!
So, in the next week, I encourage you to explore how you could play.
“But what do I do with that hour??”
The answer is, whatever you would like to! Find something that feels playful, light or fun. If you’ve really struggled to allow time for yourself, this could mean gifting yourself an hour to curl up in your favourite chair with a big mug of hot chocolate and a good book, or taking an hour to run a delicious hot bath and get out all the posh smellies from the Christmas before last.
If finding time for yourself feels easier, then challenge yourself a bit more. My playdates over the years have involved having fun at the children’s play trail at our local country park, a ballroom dance class, flamenco class, painting, drawing, trying out jiu jitsu (there’s a hilarious story about that one for another day….) and doing the pier zip wire here in Bournemouth.
It could be painting pottery. It could be a walk in the woods on your own, taking the paths you don’t usually take, exploring the world a little. You could explore the crafts, baking, or other hobbies you used to love but had let slide.
Have fun!
It can be as big or as small a thing as you want but make it FUN. And when you commit to doing this regularly you will start to see the creativity that flows from it, the ease you find in facing new challenges, and the fun that you start to find in even more places in life.
Find something that feels good and commit to just one hour of play this week, and then again next week, and again…
What will you do to play this week? If you aren’t already a member, then join my Facebook group and tell us what you’re planning to do to get playful this week.
To find out more about this and the other foundational habits I encourage clients to form, make sure you are signed up to my newsletter.
