As many of you know, I’ve spent over two decades in the fitness industry, and during that time, I’ve literally worked with thousands of people. One thing that I’ve noticed over time. and I talk about it a lot. is you get two men together, they form a bond, they form a trust, they form a friendship and guess what, they turn to 14-year old buys. It’s inevitably going to happen. I’ve never seen it not happen.
Maybe it only happens for moments, and what happens is a trigger will go off and they go, “Oh, I look foolish, so I can’t do this.” But in their essence, they’ll go back to that playtime. So why don’t we do this often more often in a day-to-day life? That’s a great question. Especially as businessmen, entrepreneurs or businesswomen, and entrepreneurs, this is an area that can go away from us, right? We get to our day-to-day lives. We get up early. We work on ourselves, becoming the author of our own story. We go to work. We go on task. We grind it out, right? We grind it out as entrepreneurs harder than anybody then we come home to our families. A lot of times, we’re missing that playtime, right? Not to say you don’t play with your families but how often are you playing in work and in your day-to-day lives.
My guess is if you look back to the last time that you went out and played, not that you went out and just happy hour or something when’d you go out and play. When was the last time you were child-like? Chances are, for most of us, it’s been a long time, and this is sad. I was definitely that entrepreneur, business person that I would grind it out. If I found somebody else was working 15 hours and I was only working 14, well gosh, I’d work 16 hours, and not only 16 hours a day, but I would do that continuously, and I would just burn myself out. I almost forgot how to play.
It was like one of those things … I remember a distinct time coming up to the river crossing and looking around and looking at my now wife, and going, “Oh, my gosh, there’s water everywhere. What are we gonna do?” She’s just like, “You can walk through it. What are you talking about.” It just hit me. I remember it just … An obvious thing to probably you listening, but as soon as I stepped in that water, and I had water shoes on. As soon as I stepped in that water a childlike emotion came through. Stress, and everything, just I didn’t even know existed. It just peeled off of me like a warm wet blanket was on me and I didn’t even know, and it just ripped off. I was just glowing after that.
Since then I have been on a mission to be more childlike. In fact, today I got a text message from my business partner, one of my business partners, and it was a picture of a tetherball court. All that he said was, “Just to let you know you’re challenged.” What he is saying is he happens to be in the town that I’m in right now as he’s traveling, as well, and we’re gonna play a game of tetherball. Now, we have a scheduled meeting, a meeting where we’re gonna do a deep dive into the strategy for our business, but you know what we’re gonna do before, we’re gonna play three games of tetherball, and that three games of tetherball are gonna determine who pays for lunch. What a fun way to go out there and play, a fun way to bond, a fun way to get outside, a fun way just to enjoy the day. Yeah, we’re gonna get serious work done, but I can guarantee you that the endorphins, and everything else that’s going to be released, is gonna open us up to new levels of creativity.
I’m asking you this, “Where in your five to thrive do you need more play? When is the last time you played? I want you to write that down. Now, also what I want you to do is, what can you do right now, at this moment, to play. Maybe it sends a text message to an old friend. Maybe it’s starting a game like Words with Friends. I don’t know what it is for you. Maybe it’s tetherball, and if it is I’d love to meet you on the court. I haven’t played in years but hopefully, this will be fun. Whatever it is for you, write that down. We all can use more play in life. We forget that life is about having a life. On the road to your Author of Your Own Story is a better journey when you’re having fun.
Now, of course, it’s also a better journey when you have other people with you, so that’s my reminder to you right now. Hit share. Hit share and share this with three people right at this moment, right now, in this moment of clarity and expand your network, as well. That’s it for me today. Remember, go out and be the author of your own story, and make sure to play.
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