"I think it's supposed to be fun." - Scott Perry

Insight and inspiration for flying higher in the difference only you can make from guests who have appeared on Creative on Purpose Live.

This week's wisdom comes with a twist. This insight is from a conversation I had with Sha Sparks on her outstanding podcast, The Power of Investing in People. Tune into the entire conversation here.

[SHA] "So how important do you think it is to add playfulness to company culture? "

[SCOTT] "Oh, wow, that's a great question."

"One of the first things that I did when I finally arrived at my branding, Creative on Purpose... I wanted to have a very clear definition of what those two things mean. So, for me, creativity is the simple human act of making change happen."

"When I think about the clients that I work with, oftentimes they are people who have kind of had their creativity... They're disconnected from their creativity. iI's been stripped from them by institutional schooling and occupation. And what a crying shame. Because we are born creative creatures."

"I think there are three defining characteristics of being human. We are inherently social creatures. We are born to work with and care for each other. We are inherently conscious creatures capable of reason and rational thought, not that we act reasonably and rationally all the time, we certainly don't. And we're creative creatures. We're creatures that solve interesting problems, and we often do that in collaboration as conscious creatures."

"So, when you are a child, and you decide that it's time to start walking, you don't have a conversation with your imposter about whether or not you're worthy of being a walker. You don't take an online course or go to YouTube for videos about how to walk. You see people doing this walking thing, and you think, 'That looks pretty cool. it might be a way to get to the cookie jar!'"

"So you stand up and fall down and stand up and fall down and stand up and stay up and take a step and fall down and on and on and on... But, you know, there's there is a lot of laughter, the occasional bump or bruise, and it's an immersive, joyous experience. And it's playful."

"I mean, if you think about the things that you learn to do first in life, in terms of talking, walking, reading, writing, riding a bike, these are impossible things, and you do them with very little instruction. You know?"

"Hopefully, you grew up in a home where you got lots of encouragement, but you know, we are creative beings. So, I think playfulness is a crucial part of that."

"Natalie Nixon has a great frame for creativity where she says it's toggling back and forth between wonder and rigor. I think the walking example refers to that."

"Doing challenging things doesn't mean you have to have a frown on your face or, you know, know chin up and persevere through hardship. I think all challenging work can be done with joy, and that's probably informed by my lifelong interest and love of Stoic philosophy in part."

"But I think long before I knew what Stoic philosophy was and how to live joyfully through all of life's challenges, I always believed that it's supposed to be fun. And I remind myself of that every day. And I remind my clients and the students in the Akimbo workshops and everywhere I go. It's supposed to be fun."

"I think it's supposed to be fun."

I just delivered an invitation to have fun doing work that matters. How can you bake a little playfulness into the difference you're making today?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

(BTW, you can watch this and every other entire interview in the Creative on Purpose Broadcast Archive. To learn more and access it for free, click here.)

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