Hey hey Rebooters!
Got super fancy and figured out how to (I think) make our embedded player have our brand colours… so if it works, squeak, and if it doesn’t, please shout! (You can also listen over here if I have in fact got overconfident tweaking code and ballsed this up 😂)
This month, amidst absolutely stupid temperatures in the UK, and the beginning of summer in Canada, we’re talking all things work & play – sometimes intertwined, but both always very important. And not always in that order, either!
Let’s dive in…
What we talked about
We realised it was about time we talked properly about the work vs play question. We touch on it a lot as creatives and business owners – possibly even more so since we’ve both combined the two – but somehow we’ve never given it a whole episode of its own.
So what do work and play really mean, how do they sometimes clash, and what are some surprising new ways to approach both?!
For starters, why does work always come first? People always say “work vs play” and never play first. The idea that work must come first is baked into pretty much everything we do and learn right from childhood. But we have both discovered, along with our neurospicy diagnoses, that if play comes first, everything is better – including the boring work stuff!
In Carla’s world, ADHD coaching has involved quite a lot of unlearning of old beliefs and habits. Instead of seeing play as a reward, she is learning (slowly!) that putting joy and creativity first can actually help her get more done later. But undoing that conditioning is really hard when nearly everyone around you not only still does things the old way, but disapproves of not doing the work first to “earn” the reward of play or joy.
Sarah’s approach is practical and very effective – after hearing a suggestion at a writing retreat, she began starting every day with intentional creative time. Getting to her desk an hour before work starts, ignoring all work emails and other tasks, and focusing on her own creativity for an hour before starting any client or other work has been her routine for some time now. And she’s noticed that her energy, mood & productivity has shifted for the better (and she notices when she doesn’t do it!).
Making time for play, and filling your own cup, always has a good effect – even if it’s just a short amount of time in the day, but intentional. Even when chores or admin pile up, time spent on joy and creativity is never wasted, because play sets you up for a better workday (or at least it does if you have an ADHD or AuDHD brain – but we can’t imagine that anyone with any kind of brain wiring wouldn’t benefit from putting joy first).
We also talked about
Solving housework issues with a robot vacuum, so that less stress and mental load from chores means more mental space for both work and play. Little tweaks that make a surprisingly big difference.
The Do As You Please experiment of keeping a list of things which need doing and just choosing what to do according to intuition and what you feel like. Carla’s been experimenting with this since halfway through January, and to her utter bafflement, she is on the whole getting more done and finally tackling those long-avoided projects. So contrary to what we’ve always been taught, flexibility and leaning into what you want can actually be more effective than rigid discipline.
Little breaks as creative resets – we both definitely see and feel a difference in our days when we manage to get some joy or play time in, whether it’s reading, snapping some doll photos or going for a walk in a flower field. Coming back to our desks after these mini resets, our work is inevitably easier to tackle and gets done faster (and probably better, too!)
Even (especially!) the boring tasks which are hard to start can benefit from a more playful approach. While Carla uses Side Quest lists and a D&D dice to choose which one to tackle next, Sarah uses music and timers to make dull things more manageable.
In a throwback to our Professionalism episode, adding playfulness into work is also a strategy that’s worked for us both – from playing with words in copywriting, to experimenting at the end of photo shoots, and even in Sarah’s past life, sneaking funny words into ambulance calls!
Play really is self care – not the traditional spa & bubble bath type of self care, but giving yourself full permission to do something which makes you happy and isn’t monetised or part of your business. Creative business owners can be particularly bad at this, and it’s a good thing to keep an eye on and make sure you do as often as you can – because what’s the point of having your own business if you can’t run it how you want to?
Trying new things for the sake of it It is not always about being the best at something. Trying something new, creative or otherwise, is fab for a dopamine boost and shaking up your day to day routine, but it’s ok if you’re terrible at it – getting good at being bad at things is something we’ve touched on before and absolutely stand by!
Finally, we get that as two childfree women with our own businesses, we get that not everyone has quite as much flexibility in their daily routine – but having both also had lives that looked very different, we are firm believers in finding little pockets of joy, making time for something you love to do even if it’s only for a few minutes a day or half an hour a week. Making your play time intentional and non-negotiable can have such a transformational effect on your life, your work and how you feel.
So as far as we’re concerned, play absolutely should come first because it makes work better. What do you think? We’d love to know what play & work looks like for you. Are you into Lego, crafts, dancing, doll making, or something completely different? Tell us your favourite ways to mix work and play, and how it feeds your soul.
Get more of us in your life
It’s come to our attention via one of our lovely listeners that while we’ve very enthusiastically shared our experiences and opinions and some really squidgy vulnerable bits, we have not made it easy to find us online outside of the podcast, should you want to follow us! So here we are:
Sarah can be found:
on Instagram @sarahwaytecreative
and on LinkedIn
for copywriting, brand photography and all kinds of colourful joy.
Carla can be found:
at carlawatkins.com and @catalystcarla on Instagram for colourful, magical brand photography
at carlawatkinsphotography.com and @carlawphoto for art, fantasy & mermaid photography
and also on Instagram, YouTube & very occasionally TikTok @colourfulmagicalweirdo for bits of everything.
You can see all her links & ventures & online stuff at carlawatkins.com/multipod. She’s trying really hard to streamline a bit!