How often do you play, or have you forgotten how? Have you trained your body and mind to accept a chemical or electronic substitution? You may find it easy to answer these questions. Alternatively, the topic may perplex, frustrate or confuse you.
At Greenroom Strategic we value the importance of play. Real play. Play is that innate human ability to derive joy from physical interaction with our planet and others. Play involves an effort-for-reward equation, where pain is often encountered, but never the objective. Play unlocks something in our brains and bodies that few other activities can rival. It transports you to an alternative reality where competition and toil for station are no longer drivers. Instead, something else takes over, joy.
Joy is the unrivalled human ability to take pleasure in the moment despite circumstances to the contrary. This joy is best shared with others. The adventure, the experience, the feeling of stoke, is amplified when friends are present. Relationships grow deeper when play is at the centre.
Play is not without challenges, generally they are in partnership. The challenge of navigating obstacles enhances the transaction, and the reward requires little investment other than time. And there lies the problem.
A small sacrifice of time can seem impossible in a digital world that seeks to occupy every second of your waking hours. Compounded by susceptibility to over-commitment, play is often the first thing to disappear from our to-do list.
For me, I set time in the schedule to play. I ride mountain bikes on Wednesday evenings, I play music on Thursdays and Sundays, and I try to surf/skate or bike every Saturday. This frequency seems to keep the stoke levels above minimum acceptable. However, how can we encourage others to prioritise play?
Quite simply we need to create time. However, our research and development department, GRS Create., has not yet solved all space-time continuum issues. Therefore, if we cannot create time just yet, we must do something else to keep Minimum Acceptable Stoke or MAS tm .
From 2022 onwards we will give all Greenroom Strategic permanent employees extra play time every year. This time is for you to play more, it is on top of annual leave, and it most definitely will not cost you extra.
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