Would you like to be more creative, less stressed, grow brain cells and be sexier? If you answered yes, then read on...
What is play?
Play offers a sense of engagement and pleasure, takes the player out of a sense of time, and the experience of doing it is more important than the outcome.
In other words, play is purposeful on its own. What I particularly like about this definition by a long-term-play-enthusiast-professor PhD Stewart Brown is that playing gives us a different experience of the sense of time. A different sense of time? That’s almost like magic!
Why should we play more?
Deep in the jungles of Congo lives a rare egalitarian and empathetic society! The Bonobo monkeys. Dr Isabel Behncke spent time learning about this peaceful community and saw that what they do differently is - they play every day! Observing the Bonobos Isabel found that:
1. Play helps us be more resilient
'Play is our adaptive wildcard', Isabel says. What does that mean? In times of uncertainty, especially like the ones during Corona or the ones we keep experiencing now, play is a proven approach to take on the crisis. It helps us adapt faster in the face of difficulties.
2. Play connects us
A second thing that Isabel found is that play is about connecting and encouraging tolerance. It gives us a diversity of interactions and helps us learn to create rules and trust.
3. It’s a game of curiosity & increased creativity
Finally, play is all about diversity of behaviours and connections and as such it empowers creativity. It's a game of exploration and it helps us connect new and old ideas. This was also a dominant finding from our Pilot testers, who shared how playing games at Playground served them as an inspiration and even a seed for their next projects.
Side effects of playing
If learning from Bonobos didn't impress you, here are some other interesting side-effects of playing:
Playing makes us smarter – it stimulates the growth of brain cells & increases memory
It reduces stress and contributes to overall wellbeing
Increases the sense of belonging
It helps us to learn how to deal with life and is therapeutic
How about some extra cognitive growth and flexibility?
Personally...
Play offers me a world of possibilities and it is a very helpful mindset that transforms tasks I don't like into exciting challenges. It provides a different angle on how to approach a problem and serves as a reminder to not take life too seriously. What about you?
P.S. Do you want to play and connect more? At Playground I mix connecting games and accountability buddies to help people with procrastination in a more relaxed way. If you want to learn about gamified anti-procrastination program go here. I also gamify events such as networking or onboarding for busy people who care about their people. Learn more about that here.