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The old saying goes that you should, “work before play.”
The proverb seeks to advise us that it is better if we take care of business and any responsibilities first, before we have any fun and enjoy ourselves. The message also seems to say that delayed gratification is the preferred approach.
With this in mind, we should do our errands before we go off to see a movie. We should iron our clothes and buy groceries before we go shopping with our friends. We should do our homework before playing games.
I’m sure the list could go on forever.
“Work before play,” couldn’t be further from the optimal approach in life.
Here’s why.
Work is endless
If you truly lived according to the “work before play” philosophy, you would never have time to play in life.
There is always work to be done.
There is always one extra thing that could be taken care of in the house. There is always one other assignment you could start on to stay on top of things. There is always one extra project at work you could do to get yourself noticed. There is always another this or that, which you should be doing.
Work is endless.
If all you did was the work you were supposed to do, you would never have time to pursue things you enjoy.
There is always more work to be done, so take the time to smell the roses and play before work.
Work is a choice
Work may seem endless, but that is a choice.
Everything in life that “needs” to be done is a product of our minds, values, wants, and desires. Nothing actually needs to be done.
We breathe, sleep, eat, urinate, defecate, and drink water. These things don’t need to be done. You could stop doing some or all of these things if you wanted to do so. Most people value staying alive, however, so almost everyone does these things anyway.
We go to school, work, get married, and have kids. None of this actually needs to be done.
We buy cars, houses, phones, TVs, and computers. We don’t actually need any of this. We value these things and so we buy them anyway.
Nothing ever needs to be done.
We do it for a reason. We shape our own realities. We create our own expectations and/or choose to buy into the expectations of others.
We go to school to learn. We could also go to school in hopes of getting good jobs. Maybe we want to get good jobs to buy nice things, or perhaps we want good jobs to feed our families. Maybe we want families, because we’d enjoy bringing life into this world and want to care for someone.
In essence, everything that we do, we do for a reason. We don’t HAVE to do anything if we don’t want to in life. This includes work.
So, play before working.
Work to live, not live to work
No one can be 100% certain that humans exist for the purpose of working. It could very well be that our purpose on earth is to play. That is also assuming that we even have a purpose.
Taking these thoughts into account, since there is no clear idea as to what our purpose is in life or that we actually have one, we can choose whether we live to work, or work to live.
Given that we have a choice, why not choose to work so that you can live, instead of living to work?
Go out, play before working, if you decide that your sole purpose in life isn’t just working.
Play first, because you’ll be thinking about play anyway
In college, I used to stay in on the weekends if I had an exam or a paper due on Monday. While I intended to do work, I found that I was thinking about all the fun I could be having with others instead of being stuck in my room.
So one day, I just decided I would go out anyway even if I had something big due on Monday.
I found that I was actually more productive after having played over the weekend, than I was in staying in all weekend.
Playing before work helps you to focus
Playing first helps you to be more productive.
After you play, you “get it out of your system,” so to speak. You clear your mind of the desire to go out and have fun, because you did it already.
Now that you’ve gotten rid of the ants in your pants, it’ll be much easier to focus.
After you finish your work, play again
Play to get it out of your system and to clear your mind. Then do the work that you choose to do and see as important. Then play again to celebrate.
2 parts of play to 1 part of work just might keep you happy.
You can satisfy this inner guilt to actually be “productive,” while having loads of fun in life.
Final thought
I’d like to close with this final thought.
The concept of work is so deeply entrenched in the minds of many around the world, that they couldn’t possibly imagine a reality outside of work.
The world is so bent up on work, that people’s value in society is determined by how much they produce. Even a nation’s worth is determined by its economic output, or Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to a world that values work, it doesn’t matter if a country has the most beautiful language ever, or if it has the most talented artists. If it doesn’t produce, it’s worthless.
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My challenge to you
I know that what I’m saying will face a lot of criticism. The same thing happened with the article, “Top 10 Reasons to Take a Job You Hate.” I know that people will say this is impractical. I know all of this.
I challenge you to be different.
I challenge you to play before work if all you’ve ever done is work before play.
I challenge you to make conscious decisions about the work that you do.
If all else fails, I challenge you to value something other than work.
Play before work, and then play again.
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