Comparing state of flow and state of play
I usually talk about the idea of a “play state of mind” in part to illustrate the value of being “playful” when thinking about problem solving, and also to offer a distinction that hopefully seems differentiated (from other brand strategists) and at least somewhat ok to discuss in a professional context.
Of course, notions of play and work have been set in opposition for a long time, and in a professional environment we tend to forget this opposition is engineered, what the historian and linguist Johan Huizinga reminds the reader of in the opening line of his book Homo Ludens:
“Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing.”
Play as a phenomenon exists prior to human beings inventing the notion and context of work.
Play is natural, all animals have been observed to play, whereas work is constructed.
Play can occur at work, though I’d be the first to admit that the work context is typically not built for this. More on that another time, here I wanted to write about similarities between flow and play. Please forgive the quick analogy, it may not stand to much academic scrutiny.
Building on the notions in Homo Ludens, French sociologist Roger Caillois in his book Man, Play and Games also writes about the difficulty of defining play. He does get to a list of six core characteristics that best describe whether play is present in a particular situation:
It is free, or not obligatory.
It is separate (from the routine of life), occupying its own time and space.
It is uncertain, so that the results of play cannot be pre-determined and so that the player's initiative is involved.
It is unproductive in that it creates no wealth and ends as it begins.
It is governed by rules that suspend ordinary laws and behaviours and that must be followed by players.
It involves make-believe that confirms for players the existence of imagined realities that may be set against 'real life'
Separately, in positive psychology there is this idea of ‘Flow’ coined by the Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and described in his best-selling book of the same title.
Flow is described as a mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
It also has six core characteristics:
Intense and focused concentration on the present moment.
A distortion of temporal experience, as one's subjective experience of time is altered.
Merging of action and awareness.
A loss of reflective self-consciousness.
A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity.
Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience.
Admittedly they are different, though there are some similarities, such as the subjective experience of time being distorted while in flow and play occupying its own time and space.
It does seem like there is some correlation. If you observe children at play, or even an adult playing chess, music, or building a complex set of LEGO, it is possible they could be said to be in a mental state of flow.
This makes me think it is possible to foster a play state of mind, in some ways similar to a mental state of flow, in a professional or educational environment.
This is a just starting point, as I study more elements of play from different authors, I will add to these ideas, tools, and exercises to be tested and used in brand strategy workshops and immersive training.
