Your Personal Productivity Platform - 8. Playful

This is the eighth and final post in the series on personal productivity platform.

But this productivity conversation is serious, right?

Certainly.

Yet bringing a light touch, a playful, affirmative, even happy touch, to serious matters can have a positive impact. There are several different threads worth weaving together.

The business literature over the past few years has recognized the importance of hiring for attitude, as well as skills/talent. Attitude, one’s approach or framework for making sense of things, precedes and influences how one engages with work and people. It influences the tone of limbic resonance that can be established between people, the quality of the felt emotional sense of connection. Because emotions are contagious, one’s attitude can affect customer experience. Bringing a light, playful but respectful, touch to professional and personal development can reduce stress and enable learning.

Related to attitude is the research of Martin Seligman[1], Barbara Fredrickson[2], and their colleagues on the field of positive psychology, the study of what makes life most worth living. It examines positive subjective experiences (e.g., joy, inspiration) as well as positive individual states/traits (e.g., gratitude, resilience, compassion). We stick around those things we find satisfying and rewarding; we are attracted to them. They also contribute to successful interactions. Whether it is about using a 3:1 ratio of positive to constructive feedback with others, acting autonomously, developing our expertise[3] and/or consciously declaring the games we play, our intentional, light touch[4] can accelerate progress.

The same playful edge can be brought to our perspective about where we focus – the journey, the destination, or both. Maintaining an affirmative, child-like, humorous edge while in process can enable us to keep our balance and focus, reframe any challenges as opportunities, and be resilient while on our wobbly journey. As a result, we will tend to persist and get the job done (and even have fun along the way). That playful edge may enable us to be curious and creative, invite wonder, think differently, have new conversations, and contemplate broader possibilities.

I had a client, Natalie, who was challenged to upgrade and modulate her emotional responses at work. She tended to overreact, and coworkers felt pushed away, disconnected, and demotivated. Despite the seriousness of the developmental work and no understanding of how to make changes, she brought a curiosity and playfulness to the task at hand. Her good humor kept her focused and intentional. She made gentle fun of herself, even told stories about her harrowing learning journey towards effective engagement. Every bit of progress was recognized and celebrated; reversals were reframed and used to encourage progress at the next step. What I found most inspiring was the authorship Natalie brought to the framing of her development process and progress – intentionally dramatic for effect, a bit of cheerleader’s enthusiasm, a willingness to name and claim lessons learned, and sincere requests to challenge her on what to practice next.

From the above description, can you get a sense of what playful provides? The energy, joy, willingness to experiment, light touch and full engagement but without attachment? Is that in your repertoire? Is it something you choose to bring to challenging situations? Can you let go of any judgments about such an attitude? Here, as before, I’d love to hear your comments and perspectives.

I think this factor is a fine one to complete the series, and to launch (or continue) the design of your productive platform. As my colleague Joe Slatter, has offered, “Here comes the adventure.”

[1] See, for example, his 2011 book on Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life.

[2] See her 2011 book, Positivity: Groundbreaking Research to Release Your Inner Optimist and Thrive.

[3] This is the research on self-determination theory. See, for example, the 2018 book by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness.

[4] See Anthony DeBenedet’s 2018 book, Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World.

#selfleadership #designyourlife #playfullearning