Many people I know consider work and play as two different things.

When you work, you do a task that fulfills a certain objective and you follow certain rules to complete it and there is usually a reward if you win and a consequence if you lose. When you play you also have an objective, follow certain rules and complete certain tasks to win. You try to learn to improve your work and you try to learn to improve your game.

When you play there are consequences when you lose. You lose a life or you die it start over or whatever. Whatever it is the consequence is not fatal. When you work, several of the consequence is similar but we take it more seriously. When we play we’re excited. When we work, we’re stressed.

We also got advice that you shouldn’t mix work with play.

When a top notch business consultant was mentoring me he accidentally blurted out that business is really hard at first but once he understood it it felt just like play.

I look at my life and how every down moment I had in my career. I felt like I was just working myself to death.

When I achieved certain levels of success that I am proud of, I was actually just playing.

Trying to remember the feeling, I was just gliding through it. When I’m playing, I realized that my interest was up. At my peak.

Some bosses might not want you to play at work because they’re afraid you’d be a hundred times more effective and surpass them. You know, more creativity and enjoyment could bring in more results. But that’s just me.

Think about it. If you’re just playing, you’d want to get better and win and you’d do it smiling too. When you play it feels like you can go on all day.

Several influential business authorities compare and contrast leadership, coaching, teamwork, performance, preparation and other aspects of business with leaders in sports like Michael Jordan, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods and Manny Pacquao. A well known quote with these people is they play for the love of the game. They hit harder, move faster, have results and fun with it every step of the way. Their smile is so genuine you’d think they’re masochists.

You realize that when you go forward without (paying attention to) fear its because at the master class level work the attitude is actually play.

Here are a few tips from my experience of mixing work and play: Understand that setbacks are temporary so make calculated risks and experiment often. You can play as many times as you want and defeat is what you tell yourself when you decide to quit. If you’re tired and down, stop playing and continue later. Instead of focusing on winning or losing have an attitude of wanting to see the story unfold. Enjoy new skills and possibly some items. Take note of bosses you defeat. Pickup another game as soon as you’re done with that one.

How’s your experience when you put work instead of play?


Thank you for reading.

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