Harvey, Jason - Achieve Anything In Just One Year - Be Inspired Daily to Live Your Dreams and Accomplish Your Goals

Why do this? Because that’s what it’s all about. Your connection to others is the name of the game. Do you want success? Then strengthen your relationships and notice the value of the people around you. If you don’t, it’s like being offered a treasure chest full of precious jewels and not even bothering to look at them.

People are not annoyances. They are fascinating and wonderful and unique and fallible—just like you. Don’t pass up the chance to experience the treasures that surround you every day. Stop and spend time with others. Add your own treasure to the chest, and become an integral part of the world in which you live.

DAY

131

“Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.”

— Louisa May Alcott

Playtime is just as important as the hours you put into work. Isn’t that great? You really must schedule time to play. Many people do not realize the importance of downtime until it’s too late and they are completely burned out on work. Does that sound familiar? Do you assume that you will be a success if you keep your nose in your work and your focus only on the endless tasks ahead of you?

The truth is you will be much more productive—and happier—if you reserve time to play a little each day. When your mind has a chance to relax and follow its own whims, there is no telling what brainstorms will emerge. You just might be handed some great ideas to consider when you return to work.

Louisa May Alcott brings up another very important point in this quote. Understand the worth of time. Schedule wisely. Time is a very precious commodity, and it should not be wasted. Playtime is not a misuse of your minutes, but the time you spend in indecision, fear, or remorse is a complete waste.

Your assignment today is to look at how you spend your time. Go over your calendar from last week and point out spots where you could have used your time more wisely. What are some things you can do to exclude wasteful time and add productive minutes for work and play?

DAY

132

“Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father.”

— Roger von Oech

In order to reach your full potential in life, you must draw on your fun side as well as your pragmatic side. Don’t get too serious about achieving success. It will block your true talents. You are not a machine. You’re a multi-faceted person, and one of the most beautiful aspects of your personality probably (hopefully) includes a little playfulness.

Think back to an assignment you did on Day 67. You started to construct a list of people you admire. Now is a great time to add to that list. Write down three or four additional people who you would like to emulate. Take some time to list all of the appealing aspects of their personalities. Are they fun people to be around? Are they inspiring? Are they smart? Do they have endless energy to accomplish the impossible? Do they seem at ease or comfortable in their own skin? Do others feel good when they are around them?

Highly successful people are rarely one-dimensional. They have a great combo of drive and frivolity in their lives, and it comes through not only in their ideas and innovations, but also in their ability to turn their dreams into reality. Successful people also share a knack of striking a great balance between necessity and play. They are almost annoyingly relaxed, and that might be because they’re happy. They enjoy life every day. They didn’t wait for the big payoff before they had a little fun. They realized early on that play is an important ingredient to success.

Practice your own success today by striking a balance between necessity and play

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DAY

133

“For the main characteristic of play—whether of child or adult—is not its content but its mode. Play is an approach to action, not a form of activity.”

— Jerome Bruner

Here is a great secret: play is an approach to action. That is one of the reasons why it is so important to success. The pressures of real life can paralyze you with fear, but play almost never causes that reaction. When you play, you couldn’t care less about the outcome. It’s not real life. It doesn’t count. You can screw up as much as you want and experiment with all sorts of ideas, because you’re just messing around.

The content of your play is not all that important, either. It’s not a project you plan to turn in to your boss; it’s not a test; it’s not even something you will hold onto past the present moment. The immediacy of play is very liberating to your mind and body. You have the sense that you will not be held accountable for whatever happens, so you are willing to take a few more risks.

Play is an event that takes place almost exclusively in the present. Have you ever planned out every detail of how you will play? No. That makes no sense. Part of the idea of play is that it’s unpredictable. You’re just goofing around. The results are anyone’s guess.

Your assignment today is to play. You can do anything you want. Go to a playground and swing on the swings; sit down and draw or color; play a sport with some friends; take in a movie; or get out a board game and invite a few people over. Just go with whatever you feel like doing. After your playtime is over, think about how play is an approach to action and consider ways that play can help you when you get stuck in real life.

DAY

134

“Playing reduces stress, improves life, and increases creativity. Who doesn’t want that?”

— Stevanne Auerbach

What about the guilt factor? You can’t really take time out to play, can you? You’ve got lots of important adult things to do. What kind of guilt would you feel if you stopped working and sat on a swing for a half hour? That would be ridiculous and a waste of thirty minutes.

Stop those nasty little voices in your head that are admonishing you for taking time to play. It is not a waste of time. In fact, the opposite is true. Play is essential. Look at the evidence Stevanne Auerbach gives in the quote above.

Play has many advantages:

It reduces stress.

It improves the quality of life.

It increases creativity.

Seriously, who wouldn’t want that? Those are all important ingredients for a healthy, happy, and successful life. Do you feel guilty about play because it’s enjoyable? Well, here’s a news flash: you don’t have to suffer mightily in order to win success. Enjoy the ride! Not all of your tasks along the way will be difficult. If you are following your passion in life, most of the journey will be pleasurable. Get out there and play!

DAY

135

“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good.”

— Lucia Capocchione

Let’s launch into your project first this time. You have probably already discovered that it’s a good idea to keep colored pencils, crayons, or markers handy while reading this book. It’s time to bring them out again. Your task today is to draw a picture of how you feel when you play. It doesn’t have to be an actual picture of you, if you don’t want. It can be a series of symbols or colors or scenes. Whatever you feel represents how you feel inside when you play.