Work, Money, & Play
April 14, 2008
Pursuit of Happiness: Work, Money, & Play
The categories are a little jumbled this month to reflect how a lot of us have gotten our thoughts jumbled. We think we need money in order to play, and to have money we need to “work” – implying a certain level of drudgery and sacrifice. We formulate it like this:
I need a j-o-b that pays more than my bills. Whatever I make above that I can use to play. The more I make the more I can play.
What happens when we take charge of the relationships between work, money, and play?
Take away money as a precursor to play and you’re left looking for ways to play that cost little or nothing. It brings to mind a frequent complaint from older parents and grandparents who say children today don’t know how to entertain themselves. They don’t have to use their imaginations because they have electronic toys, video games, and movies they can play in their homes. How can your imagination help you play without spending a lot of money?
Barbara Winter tells a great story about a friend who called her and, though a little hesitant to ask, invited her to come over to paint with water colors. It wasn’t two trained artists working on pieces to sell. It was two women who enjoyed something as girls who finally decided to give it another go. As a fun evening, it was a spectacular success.
Think about the standard entertainment script: dinner and a movie. Is it enjoyable time with your friends and family, and is it worth the money? Often it’s not. What about movies on DVD at the library? It’s doubtful anyone has seen every movie available, even if you limit the list to all the movies considered classics. A Bette Davis or Clark Gable marathon with a “floor picnic” (around here that’s fast food eaten with a beach towel as the blanket on the living room floor) might be a lot of fun and give you many more opportunities to talk to each other.
Museums often have a day of the week or month that you get in for free or nearly free. Community theater companies put on enjoyable presentations for a low ticket price, and if you volunteer you might get in free. Unlike golf, tennis can be played at many public locations for free. You need a companion, a racket, and some tennis balls. Find the right person and he or she will provide all of them! Someone who wants to try out sailing can start meeting people at the marina and offer to learn by helping crew on some outings. You’ll probably sail a lot more than the people who spend a bunch of money to buy a boat, rent a slip, and keep up with maintenance!
Can you work without making money? Trust me! You can, especially when you’re starting a new business. But there are other ways to work without pursuing money. You can volunteer part of your time. You can do extra things at a j-o-b to learn more and get more experience. You can write without publishing, or without seeing a short-term possibility to publish. You might eventually get paid, but it’s not the main motivation. The work itself is.
Many people who write, or paint, or create things they might eventually sell do it for the enjoyment. They have already blurred the line between work and play. They have discovered work, a productive activity with a goal in mind, can be as enjoyable as play. Stories abound about people taking college classes for the joy of learning, then winding up with enough credits to get a second degree. The degree may lead to a new career or open additional doors. The experience of being involved in learning something for fun may lead to offers to work in the field.
The big question, it seems, is How can I play and make money? The ideal answer is to find a way to do work that crosses into play. It will be productive, like work, but involve the imagination and a sense of wonder and a lot of enjoyment.
A friend wrote an update to our creative career forum that in her new job she is able to organize the office, their paperwork, and some of their daily operations. She loves it! This is something she has looked forward to doing for years, and she sees it as something she “gets” to do, not something she “has” to do. That may not be play for most of us, but it sure is to her.
In the trailblazer’s life, the lines between work, money, and play will get blurry. Sometimes they might even disappear. Trailblazers find a way to do what they were born to do, so it flows from their gifts and passions and ignites their souls. They find people who will benefit from what they do, the ones who need what they have to offer. Those people are happy to pay for it.
May it be so for all of us.
Posted in Pursuit of Happiness: Money, Pursuit of Happiness: Work & Play, Zine 8: April 2008
