Balancing Act – How Work, Play, and Creativity Affect Your Well-being

‘It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.”

– Napoleon Hill

We design our lives by the choices we make. It is helpful to step back and examine what choices we make that impact our well-being. We have covered food, water, movement, sleep, and socializing. Now, we add three more pieces to our puzzle. It looks like these three areas are not really connected, but they are intertwined and overlap in significant ways that affect our well-being.

This blog is a part of a series on well-being. The series started on May 3. Please review the May blogs. We are creating a comprehensive well-being plan. We are looking at the components needed for well-being as a puzzle with many pieces.

How does your work, play, and creativity affect your well-being? Work provides us with a sense of purpose. Work gives us a reason to get up daily, contribute, and feel useful. Play is defined as an activity done for its own sake; the action is more important than the end goal. It does not need a purpose, yet it is a part of our work and personal lives. Creativity is the ability to generate new ideas, connections, and solutions to problems. Creativity empowers us to transform ideas and concepts into reality. Using our imagination, our hopes, plans, and dreams allow us to invent our future and overcome challenges.

Benefits of Work, Play, and Creativity

Of course, work provides for our financial needs, which is why most people would say they work. We need to work to earn income, allowing us to meet our basic needs, such as food, housing, and clothing. Yes, financial security contributes to our well-being significantly.

However, studies have shown we derive many other benefits from our jobs. Job security is essential for our well-being, but we find meaning and purpose in our work, as well as appreciation and autonomy.

Work allows us to use and develop our skills, knowledge, and abilities, increasing our competence. It challenges us to learn new skills and helps us to adapt and grow. Our workplaces are a source of our social lives, sometimes spending more time with our co-workers than with our families. Our self-esteem is improved through achievement, which validates our abilities and competence.

According to Stuart Brown, MD, in the book Play, play is a profound biological process. Play is how we learn to socialize. Many of our memories are formed around play. We engage in play for enjoyment without any serious purpose. Our relationships are built and maintained through play, parties, flirting, and games. We learn to interact with others, trust them, and create social networks. In our work, play, and creativity are the generation of new ideas and seeing future outcomes.

Play is the base of all arts, which leads us to creativity, which is a part of our ability to communicate. The benefits of creativity are problem-solving and innovation; it is about adaptability. Creativity enables us to take two ideas and make something new. Both creativity and play can help us relax, reducing stress.

Creativity enables us to adapt to change and embrace uncertainty. When we are in new situations, creative thinking can help us navigate. It helps us to deepen connections by sharing ideas and collaborating. Creativity also encourages us to become lifelong learners.

How a Lifelong Learning Mindset Fuels Goal Achievement, by Linda L. Pilcher

Awareness

Knowing all the areas we want to care for in our well-being plan helps us visualize the big picture. Then, we can start fitting what truly matters in our 168 weekly hours.

Work-life balance is essential for our well-being. Just as important is your work environment. Many of our habits are unconsciously triggered by our environment. Examine your habits and behavior at the job. Well-being at work is about commitment, motivation, trust, cooperation, creativity, and interpersonal relationships. Do you enjoy your work? Are your work relationships working? The symptoms of a poor work environment are absenteeism, turnover, conflicts, and decreased productivity. When you get up to go to work, are you excited by the day, or is it drudgery?

By managing our environments to support our goals, we can seek well-being in the workplace. If your workplace is drudgery, can you make any changes to correct this issue? On average, we dedicate approximately 40 hours per week, which accounts for about 24% of our total weekly time. If it is unbearable, it may be time to find another job. If so, start a plan to fill in the gap between where you are now and where you need to be to find a new job. A dream job is a good goal.

Redefine Your Story: Why Start Now Pave the Way to New Beginnings, by Linda L. Picher

Play is vital for people of all ages. Unfortunately, many people lose the gift of play. Let’s bring play and fun back into our lives. Play can make life bearable, giving us a break from the serious parts. Become aware of how play is integrated into your work and life, sports, board games, or computer games. When we look play in our lives, we will soon recognize it and embrace it as play.

Creativity is the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new. It is also a significant component of work and play. It crosses all the lines of our well-being. Children seem to find it naturally, and then many people grow out of it and conform to adult norms; finding your play will help you flourish. Creativity involves a balance between deliberate thought, spontaneous play, and imagination. Although it is often attributed to a natural ability, creativity can be learned and improved. We all can create; some are still waiting to tap into that internal resource. Awareness is vital to knowing when you are being creative. It can be home décor, painting a picture, or problem-solving. I am an experimental person; my creativity comes from how I live my life through writing, art, dance, and teaching.  

How to Start?

Our attitude and perspective determine our work experience. If work is a dirty word, how can you change your view? Cultivating a better attitude can impact your productivity and relationships at work.

Avoid gossip and focus on positive conversations. Stop complaining; don’t be a part of the problem; find a solution. Using positive words and smiling can have an impact on those around you. Our work relationships have power over how we feel on any given day. Set intentional goals.

• Add movement to your day; use the stars; being sedentary affects your mood
• Take regular breaks
• Chat with a colleague rather than sending an email
• Hold stand-up walking meetings; the movement has been proven to help people think better
• Go outside for lunch
• Eat well; pack your lunch instead of grabbing something
• Incorporate natural elements within your workspace, plants, and items that you love
• There are many informal leaders in the workplace. Become a role model of well-being. Start a health club at lunch. Share well-being with co-workers
• Express gratitude for a colleague’s efforts

You can make your work environment better for yourself and your co-workers. Well-being will not just happen to you, become aware of your surroundings and set goals.

Play can be incorporated into your workday, but there are many things you can do to integrate play into your daily life. Play is what you find fun, and its definitions are as plentiful as the number of humans. For me, playing is dancing, doing art projects, writing, singing, socializing, and growing plants.

All activities with no specific purpose other than what we enjoy doing can be considered play.

• Try new things, get out of your comfort zone
• Get on a bike
• Go swimming
• Read a book, find your joy
• Play games with others, whether a card game, computer simulation, or on a team
• Join in activities
• Have a party

Creativity can be achieved throughout your work or home life. Be open to new ideas and activities.

• Brainstorm a solution to a problem at work
• Allow yourself unscheduled creativity, daydreaming, and contemplating your big dreams.
• Try exploring different activities
• Look around at the people in your social network; what creative activities are they involved in
• Read a book. Food for thought helps prompt creativity
• Take a class on creativity. There are many free online classes

10 Creative Online Courses You Can Take for Free Online, by Michelle Santiago Cortes

Reframing: Creativity for Innovation, by Udemy

Free Online Creativity Courses, by Alison

Conclusion

Work, play, and creativity converge on many levels. Play can make work more productive and enjoyable. It helps build connections and generate new ideas. Work, play, and creativity can bring pleasure to our lives; look for joy. Our attitude and perspective have a lot of power. All three directly benefit our physical, emotional, and mental health.

As we overcome work-related obstacles, we build resilience and self-confidence, which positively affects our overall well-being. While work is essential to our financial security, it is also important to maintain a healthy balance between work and our personal lives.

Play enhances our problem-solving skills and is a critical skill in the workplace. Thinking outside the box is where new ideas are born, new products, new processes, and new medicines. Play is not just about recreation; it is a mindset that allows you to engage in life more fully. Creativity is not limited to artists; it is an innate part of human existence. It connects us to others through activities and engagement. Our society is built on the creativity of humankind; we build cities, medical devices, and cars, and create music and art.

Our goal is to become aware of what contributes to well-being. It is not just one area of our life, but all areas as they converge to make us who we are. A harmonious balance between work, play, and creativity contributes significantly to our well-being.

When it all clicks, you can find purpose, health, and happiness. Isn’t this what we all want?

Let’s get to work, start playing, and find our creativity!

Take Responsibility – No Excuses.

Recommended Reading

Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in any Workspace, by Ester M. Sternberg, MD

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, by Stuart Brown, and Christopher Vaughan

Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire, Bruce Nussbaum

Citations

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