Play

• Embrace the Wisdom of Your Inner Child
• When we get older something happens. We are introduced to the idea that play is trivial. Play is a waste of time, play is unnecessary. Play is childish
• The Industrial Revolution  - has removed leisure and much of the pleasure out of learning.
• Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement.
• Some companies and executives give lip service to the value of play in sparking creativity.
• Create the kind of playful culture that sparks true exploration.
• Play - defined as: Anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than as a means to an end.
• Play has the power to significantly improve everything from personal health to relationships to education to organizations ability to innovate.
• Play leads to brain plasticity, adaptability and creativity.
• Nothing fires up the brain like play.

A Mind Invited to Play

• One thing is certain, during play animals are especially prone to behave in flexible and creative ways.
• Play expands our minds in ways that allow us to explore, to germinate new ideas or see old ideas in a new light. It makes us more inquisitive, more attuned to novelty and more engaged.
• It fuels exploration in three ways
• One, broadens our range of options available to us.
• Two, it is an antidote to stress.
• Third, has a positive effect on the executive functions of the brain.
• Executive functions - planning, prioritizing, scheduling, anticipating, delegating, deciding, analyzing
• Most of the skills any executive must master in order to excel in business.
• Play doesn’t just help us explore what is essential. It is essential in and of itself.

Sleep

• Protect the Asset
• The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves.
• One of the most common ways people damage this asset is through a lack of sleep.
• It challenged the notion that sleep was an enemy of productivity, convincingly arguing that in fact sleep was a driver of peak performance.
• Bill Clinton was quoted as saying that every major mistake he made in his life had happened as a result of sleep deprivation.
• The way of the nonessentialist is to see sleep as yet another burden
• NonEssentialist
• One hour less of sleep equals one more hour of productivity.
• Sleep is for failures
• Sleep is a luxury
• Sleep breeds laziness
• Sleep gets in the way of 'doing it all'
• Essentialist
• One hour more of sleep equals several more hours of much higher productivity
• Sleep is for high performers.
• Sleep is a priority
• Sleep breads creativity
• Sleep enables the highest levels of mental contribution.
• Harvard Business Review- 'Sleep Deficit: The performance killer
• Sleep deprivation undermines high performance.
• Full nights sleep may actually increase brain power and enhance our problems solving abilities.
• In a nut shell - sleep is what allows us to operate at our highest level of contribution so that we can achieve more in less time.
• Sleep is now being touted as the restorative companion to the creative executive mind.