Play has the power to significantly improve everything from personal health to relationships to education to organizations’ ability to innovate. “Play,” Stuart Brown says, “leads to brain plasticity, adaptability, and creativity.” As he succinctly puts it, “Nothing fires up the brain like play.”
Nonessentialist
- Thinks play is trivial
- Thinks play is an unproductive waste of time
Essentialist
- Knows play is essential
- Knows play sparks exploration
Play expands our minds in ways that allow us to explore: to germinate new ideas or see old ideas in a new light. It makes us more inquisitive, more attuned to novelty, more engaged. Play is fundamental to living the way of the Essentialist because it fuels exploration in at least three specific ways.
- Play broadens the range of options available to us.
- Play is an antidote to stress.
- Play has a positive effect on the executive function of the brain.
* Source: Essentialism by Greg McKeown