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PASSIONATE PLAY

Some of the greatest contributions of our time came from playfulness. Albert Einstein, Buckminster Fuller, Pablo Picasso and many more well known scientists, engineers and artists attribute their contributions to a playful state of mind, where they were open to seeing new possibilities and following hunches. This raises the question of how one can be playful and creative while laboring away at work. Well, I have a better question: How can you have work that doesn't feel like work when you're doing it? Is it possible to be playing, spirited, inventive and enthusiastic, all while in the midst of everyday work-life?

When we think of the great engineers and inventors burning the midnight oil, we usually view them as obsessed scientists, somehow very different from the rest of us. Looking in from the outside, they appear to be workaholics, wacky-minded professors--people who look like Einstein with raised white hair, wearing the same clothes everyday. What we don't realize is that many of these people do not see themselves as "working" or as geniuses. They were simply doing what came natural to them. Take a look at yourself for example, how often to you recognize when you are being brilliant? Most people do not see themselves as having any special gifts or talents. It's like asking the squirrel why she climbs trees like a spectacular acrobat--she takes it for granted! Like the eyeball cannot see itself, we usually can't see our natural strengths; they make up our personal lens into reality. A major step toward finding work that taps our genius is to begin noticing when we are being like the squirrel, versus a cat caught up tree.

A Scientific Secret

The extraordinary scientists and engineers have revealed a secret to career fulfillment. During a research interview, Einstein described how mathematicians form their mental processes, "The words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought. . . the desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of this rather vague play . . .from a psychological viewpoint, this combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought." Rather than setting out to be geniuses, the scientists we call "gifted" were tapping their creative minds by doing something every 7-year-old knows instinctively--being playful.

Let's do an experiment. Right now, take a moment to think about how much fun you are having in your career. In just a few seconds of inquiry, most people can tell if they are doing work that intrigues them and that opens the floodgates to their deep reservoir of potential. When you are in a playful state, absorbed in what you do, notice how the juices flow, the sense of wonder dances about, the want for adventure is satisfied. Pull up your database of memories and pick a time when you felt this way. What were you doing? Who were you being? Does it look anything like the career you are in now? If not, then try the following self-test. Ask yourself, would I be doing this work even if I were independently wealthy? From another angle, imagine that your employer wouldn't hire and compensate you unless you were doing what you love the most! In this moment of self-reflection, take the opportunity to push the pause button on the mental recording running your "adult" state of mind and listen to a different voice: the kid in you that wants to explore the wonders of life and be fully alive.

Beyond the Grapes of Wrath?

In a survey conducted by Nicholas Lore of Rockport Institute, an internationally recognized career-coaching network, only 10% of the work force said they have careers that occur as passionate play and that they look forward to going to work. The rest of the career satisfaction scale breaks out as follows: 20% enjoy their work most of the time, "it's pretty good"; 30% are neutral and prefer to complain rather than improve their situation; 30% are negative, clock watchers, going to work only because they are forced to by circumstances; and 10% are in career hell, characterized by resentment, deep suffering and feelings of being trapped. What percentage do you fall into? If you are one of the 7 of 10 people in a job that feels like a "grind," it's important to examine how you may have ended up here. A big part of our dislike for anything that looks and smells like work stems in part from our history as American immigrants from a time and place where life was harsh, work was literally drudgery, with little choice in life direction. Not until recent history, in the last 50 years, have the mass of Americans had the means to make choices toward creating a fulfilling lifestyle. This is quite a phenomenon. Never before in the history of the human race has the mass majority of a society had so much wealth and personal opportunity. Most of the rest of the world is still far behind America. Just in the last 10 years have countries like Russia, China, Africa, and the Middle East come to see the importance of individuality, diversity, and freedom of expression.

Even though the whole world is now moving in this direction, most Americans are still building careers based on a Great Depression blueprint for happiness and success. These old habits die hard. Since playfulness is considered to be childish, silly and only for kids, most "grown ups" set out to be "responsible" and "realistic." For most, being responsible means toiling away, paying the bills, doing something that is not much fun. To get beyond this concept of work as toil, look at whether your values are leftovers from your grandparents who lived in times when this was a true reality and necessity. Our values play a major role in shaping our life choices. The wisdom of previous generations, to "get a job that will guard you from the danger of instability" is by economic necessity, not useful anymore. Even if you wanted to set up your life this way, it's getting harder to find. For some this seems like a crisis. I'm not surprised however to see more people are welcoming and seeking a new way of living their lives.

A Passionate Career Path - The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Beyond the philanthropic notion of making a difference in spare time. Beyond working flextime and four-day weeks. Beyond trying to balance work life with personal life. There is a place that people like Einstein showed us how to get to. A place where our unique talents, passions, and sense of contribution all come together in the midst of daily work. This kind of career path is built on a new set of assumptions: work can be exciting, natural, meaningful, and highly rewarding. Under these new rules there is no such thing as work, only play. In this way, what I am calling "play" is our natural proclivity for intrigue, to be engrossed and full of questions--to live adventurously through your work. This kind of career uses you as you are and draws you toward what really matters to you. Nothing extra added.

To have this kind of career requires a leap of common sense outside the box of "work" as you know it. It's pretty simple to do this, just ask any ol' dog. Imagine how unhappy President Bill Clinton's chocolate Lab "Buddy" would be if he were working in the White House as a politician. No matter how hard he tried, his extraordinary nose for smelling and natural ability to fetch would not be very useful in politics. Fortunately, most dogs know exactly what their genius is and go through life pretty joyfully in their work. Have you ever noticed how much people love dogs? Maybe it's because dogs have careers that look playful and express themselves exactly as they are. Imagine what the world would be like of dogs decided to work for a living in careers that did not fit them. I've never met a dog that was trying to be an engineer, a squirrel, or a president. I have, however, met a lot of people who work like dogs at something they don't enjoy, resigned to boredom, complaining that they don't get enough bones to bury.

What does your music sound like?

The most successful, fulfilled people found ways to express themselves on a career path that allowed them to play with, and be fascinated by, the world around them. In the words of Charlie Parker, the man who revolutionized Jazz music, "Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." To have a playful career, find a way to do what comes naturally, that really matters to you, and puts you in that place where you get lost in your work. If you set you life up this way, your enthusiasm and talent will distinguish you from your peers, which often opens a pathway to success in the truest sense. To get things going, remember what it's like to be a kid. Don't let common sense limit you--invent a career that's frees your imagination and playfulness

Anthony A. Spadafore founded Pathfinders an established independent affiliate of Rockport Institute which has been a pioneer of world class career choice technology for more than 20 years.

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