How can more play time will lead you to achieve more.

Let's face it, our day is a constant repeat. Work is becoming an essential, time consuming component of our lives and where the list stuff we have to get done, can’t stop but increase.

It's not only the quantity of information we get, and its constant flow, but moreover the variety that has been expanding through the course of the past years as well. The agenda is full with a series of face to face meetings, and online ones, chat with colleagues, while at the very same time texts and unanswered phone calls flows endlessly. Call it work, I call it a rat race. All devices we use with our fingertips are tools supposed to get us productive, but bottom line — if not controlled well- a great source of distraction, which does not impact positively our productivity.

Everyone realizes that, but most thinks there is no other recipe than working more and longer hours. Productivity is not a direct correlation with the amount the hours we spend working on the computer.  Let me share with you some of the tips I have been experiencing that gave me back some productivity gains, and some well-being at the same time — a cherry on the cake I was not necessarily expecting.



PLAY VERSUS WORK –– bring more play in your daily work. It is simply a shift in mindset. Stress can be contagious, and if you start your day with a long list of expectations it is not going to help you, neither your productivity. Meanwhile, you can shift your focus and see every task you take a playful set of actions. Take every challenge, in your daily work routine, with the enthusiasm you have when you play. If your day is only a long list of heavy tasks to accomplish, set an environment that leads you to think as a play-er more than a do-er.



REST MORE AND GET MORE THINGS DONE –– According to Alex Soojung-Kim Pang a consultant in Silicon Valley and a visiting scholar at Stanford University, resting is an active component we should consider seriously. He writes about technology and its cultural impact. With his latest book,  Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, is an empirical argument in favor of more limited working hours and greater understanding of the benefits of active rest as a means of raising creativity and productivity.



RECONNECT WITH YOUR CREATIVITY –– creativity is an essential component of our lives, but to tell the truth many of us, put it way down on the to-do list. It would be foolish, to use some time — valued like gold -to do scrapbooking, cooking or writing a novel. It is crucial to nurture and stimulate our creativity by allowing our agendas to open up with creativity sessions, in its various forms. Creativity is the big hidden force you need, to challenge what exists. It is the hidden treasure that sparks innovation. So if your business could be metaphorically represented by a car. The productivity are the wheels while the creativity is the engine. In fact, when you engage in your daily life more creativity, you immediately translate it in the workplace, by finding new ways in problem-solving schemes. Engaging actively in hobbies and sports — we can’t say more about the benefits of sports for our bodies, but it is positively restoring our capabilities to think, and be productive. Lunch break runs, can literally help you to achieve more. While you “loose” actual time, you will actually gain more time in being more present and focused when you get back to work. As you get more agile with your body on this lunch break or for an after-work session, your mind and brain will effectively become more agile. Same for hobbies, it could be seen at a distraction, meanwhile it fill up your tank of “play”. It helps the brain to restore as you enjoy doing your hobby.



Bottom  line, productivity is what we seek, and the play part is often perceived as a distraction. In this article I encourage you to think “play” at the same time as you seek to “get things done”. The play part with the forms that works for you, would actually transform as catalyser bringing more insights to spark your productivity. Getting more things done, needs to be approached to have it sustainable in the long run, so finding strategies to get the productivity without compromising the well-being is a worth investment to try out, seek, and of course implement as a daily practice.