FHC #4 – Play [4 pages]

Concerns of “Linguistic Beings”

Body, Family, Work, Play and Sociability

Play and Work are different from one another, but not always when we are mature adults.  We’ve evolved to enjoy both of them individually and socially.

They complement each other at home and in the marketplace in ways most businesspeople do not suspect, unless they reflect.

This is especially true when work is unrewarding, frustrating or thwarts good intentions because businesspeople can’t earn and save enough money to avoid running out of it with their spouse during their old age.

And, they are intertwined.

When human beings know how to work the way an attorney practices law, or when businesspeople know how to use “Aji”,

… it becomes a form of play, or adult play.

Play most fundamentally is action we enjoy and perform unselfconsciously. 

We Play at work, as well as in the arts or aesthetically where practical utility is not required.

Children play unselfconsciously, and without concern, to learn. 

They experiment by inventing playful intentions, such as dressing a doll, throwing a ball or riding a bike, and then they practice, practice and practice their skills so they can fulfill their intentions. 

Adults are needed to watch over them because their lack of concerns makes them unaware of danger.

Adults play unselfconsciously to learn, too, and they, too, practice, practice, practice when they are having fun.

That’s how most businesspeople learn “Aji”.  It works!  It’s interesting.  It’s creative.  And, it produces and allows businesspeople to recover their dignity.

People also Play to rest, recover and rejuvenate their bodies and ability to think and act.

But, unlike children, adults do not forget their concerns when they Play. 

They watch out for danger and they are “productive” with their play at work until they’ve fulfilled their financial, career and business intentions.

Adults Play at home and at Work, and often without realizing it. 

Work, being a spouse and raising children is fun for adults.

It’s a set of deeply meaningful obligations adults enjoy fulfilling, or they shouldn’t do it.

When we are young adults before we reach our mid-thirties the threats, obligations and opportunities of the adult world are new, scary, costly and complex.  We have to learn and practice arrays of new intentions and skills to fulfill those intentions.

After a while, we get the hang of it.  How many times do we have to pay off our credit card’s bills, buy and pay for car insurance, get a new doctor or learn our way around our neighborhood’s grocery stores … before it becomes a form of play?

The same learning happens in the marketplace and works when using “Aji”, which is the way I designed it.  Young adults are overwhelmed at first by the complex concerns, competitive situations, capabilities and action plans adults have created.  Eventually, they catch on … and the play to make money, earn a living or become rich begins.

When businesspeople Play together using “Aji” they design steady streams of fresh, new offers, practices, narratives and strategies … and enjoy themselves!

Because human beings are “linguistic beings” Play is invented and played inside our language. 

That’s why professional sporting events have a team of announcers to explain, make assessments, characterize players, etc.  It’s the language that is play for “spectators” and the announcers show it.

Games, and their dramas, must be spoken.  If we don’t know the language of a game, we don’t know the intentions players are working to fulfill or the skills they are using to fulfill those intentions.

Rugby is the most common example students have cited in the past when reading this.  They say they can turn on a Rugby game and watch for as long as they’d like but they can’t figure out what’s going on no matter how hard they try. 

What’s missing?  Language,

… i.e. the ambitions, moods, language (explanations), intentions, distinctions, interpretations, commitments, practices and outcomes of the game.

Because we are “historical selves” we find people playing games at home and at work that were invented before we were born.  Some of the games are obvious and called games, such as playing poker or dominoes.  Others sound like work but are performed playfully, such as going to the grocery store, leading a meeting, writing a report, designing a spreadsheet or selling. 

Many forms of business “play”, such as selling or marketing, require us to learn a set of skills before we are able to perform them easily enough to Play with them.

Because Selling is Play, for example, many businesspeople like to have the conversations to “try” to sell but lack the skills to fulfill their financial intentions with an income between $400k-$4m when they do it.

Because we are “Selves”, and not “things” with thoughts and feelings, we have identities when we Play at home and at work. 

We have assessments about our own intentions and skills when we Play.

Those around us make similar assessments about our value to them and integrity when we Play, or Work, and then they gossip about it.

Together, our private and public identities, which are formed partially by how we Play and Work, open and close our possibilities for living a good life at home with our families and in the marketplace.

Play is “existential” when we use it effectively, strategically and competitively to design, execute, rest and rejuvenate because this helps us to survive, adapt and live a good life.

It’s also existential because playing with our family, co-workers, customers, etc. is enjoyable, builds skills as well as identities, and creates relationships that are meaningful.

Adults who remain “arrested adolescents” present a warped and flawed notion of Play.  They get agreement they are “right” from Carnies and other arrested adolescents.

Their too-low incomes and savings are the truth.

Their decline to grow themselves up into mature adults who can be trusted by their spouse and children to Play inside the context of their adult obligations…because they want to. 

They seek distraction and use shopping, politics, videos, politics, sports, etc., to fulfill their intentions without giving any apparent first or second thoughts to the consequences their Play is producing, and will produce, for family members who have given them their trust.

Play is “strategic” when we use it to execute action plans, improve them or produce new action plans.

It’s “competitive” when we use it to produce outcomes whose importance, utility and worth are superior to those of our competitors’ outcomes.