The missing piece that can help you play

During the work week, it can be all too easy to slip into a daily routine with hard work and evening relaxing, probably with some great TV. I’m all for different ways of relaxing, but this routine leaves out an important dimension of life : instrinsically motivated active activities, aka play.

These are the things that you want to do, that also require getting up off the couch. This does not mean:

• Something that you think you should be doing.
• Something that anyone told you do.
• Something that is working towards any specific result.
• Something where you are absorbing someone else’s content.

Rather, these are the things that just naturally seem fun and easy to you. Doodling, exploring, writing a song, or perhaps inventing a new game.

I came across this framework in the Podcast The Recess Life with Louise Ho and I think it provides a key insight into how we can break free of the extrinsic motivation-active, and intrinsic motivation-passive quadrants.

Essentially, we need to carve out time that is purely self-directed, no cell phones or content algorithms allowed.

What active thing do you think you would do if you removed all constraints or exterior motivators ?