Work and Play

Don’t mix work and pleasure.  That is what I have heard most of my life.  You have your work life and you have you “life” life.  

While I think the intention of this is well meant, the result is terrible.  

Name a super successful person who didn’t mix their pleasure with their mission or work.  When I think of Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Tony Robbins, or any other mega successful person they figured out how to integrate their personal life and their work life.  That is the only way that it happens.  You have to mix the two together.  In fact, you should plan and act purposefully to do so.   

In my book, ‘Living Every Minute,’ I talk about the ways that I do this, from having a pool table in my office at work to having a work space in my home that is identical to what I have at work.  I can literally enjoy my work more when I am at home and I can enjoy my friends more when I am at work.  Why settle for “or” when you can have “and.”  

In the ideal life, I cannot tell if I am working or playing.

I am always doing both.  I am right now writing this blog sitting in my home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming looking out at the mountains. I will go for a hike later.  Am I working?  Am I playing?  I don’t know, I think I am doing both. 

What can you do at your place of work?  Sometimes it may be something small like having a picture of your favorite football team in your cubicle. Maybe try something bigger like organizing a playoff pool with the team members in your office.   

Create a world space at home, or as I call it a “launching pad,” where you can get important work done.  This is a place for you to accomplish work that fulfills your purpose.  This may be work from your job/career or it may be you working on your side hustle or a charitable cause.  Create a space where you can work and play at the same time.   

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.” 

– Laurence Parsall Jacks  

This should be the goal.  Always doing both.  Having fun while you work.  Pursuing your passion and your leisure.  

In short, Living Every Minute. 

Dr Tim