I’m currently involved in organizing a competition for writers & speakers. This question — what’s the point in competing? — generated this answer.

When you choose to play a game, what are you *doing*?

(And here we know that ‘game’ is broad, right? From arts to sports, to exploring and innovating, to interviewing and networking, to building a team, a business, a life…)

Are you (and your team):

1) playing to prove yourself, as measured against others, so the trophy is the end goal?

Or

2) playing to improve your skillset, so that you are the measure, and progress is the end goal?

Or

3) Are you playing because playing is a human behaviour that expresses, long before it is a human skillset that impresses, so that the end goal is to be ever more fully & expressively you?

Proving. Improving. Expressing. Exploring.

These reasons change how we see things & how we do things. And each brings its own challenges & benefits.

For example, dancing is a human behaviour, intrinsic to us — humans move — long before we’re taught, disciplined, assessed, certificated, validated, and given permission from an external ‘authority’. And yet, if you haven’t been ‘officially’ taught how to do it ‘properly’ and practiced such that you’re judgable as ‘good enough’, you might feel like you’re somehow not allowed to move.

Or create. Or express. Or enjoy.

Play is first a behaviour, then a skillset. Then perhaps a tool for competition, or an identity we might claim, a profession we might pursue, or a grand purpose to dedicate ourselves to. There is a place for all of these, & each develops our capacity in new ways.

But fundamentally it’s not about you being *good* at the behaviour, it’s about the behaviour being good for you. You don’t need certification to dance, move, put pen to paper, sole to board, voice to song, or introduce colour to surface via potato printing, fingertips, or the finest horsehair.

So, as you visualise the games you play, in what ways could you feel differently, and perform differently, by moving between these reasons?

To prove. To improve. To express. To explore.

Which makes you more driven, at ease, enlivened?

And what about your team, your clients, your customers?

How could you use these to motivate, to manage, to lead, and to enjoy your experience even more?

#NoPermissionNeeded