Recognizing the difference between work and play allows us to regulate our resources during play while better managing our deliberate actions at work.

As we engage our daily activity, we go about our purposes, using our coping skills to affect routine changes that allow us to sustain ourselves. Making those changes happen requires the use of our will. So it is worth noting that the most taxing exercise the brain engages in is the use of the will. The will uses a lot of energy; In fact, recent cognitive studies confirm that it is the use of the will that consumes more energy than even aerobics or weight-training. The brain of a 150 lb. adult weighs about 3 lbs. And yet those 3 lbs. absorb 25% of the oxygen taken into the body, and 40% of the blood glucose. Blood glucose and oxygen are the building blocks of our internal energy, and as you can see by these figures, the brain takes most of the body’s available energy.

Using the will is the most energy intensive activity employed by the brain. The will needs a lot of energy to work, and it also wears out; it becomes fatigued, like a muscle. Cognitive science calls this ego depletion, as described in John Tierney and Roy Baumeister’s book, “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength”. One of the major factors in maintaining good self-control comes from an introspective awareness of one’s present resources. Knowing to postpose engagement until one is rested often makes the difference between successful completion and depletion accompanied by frustration. Unlike muscles, however, without such internal awareness, people generally tend to press their will more as the day wears on, unaware of the fading effectiveness of their determination, as their energy starts to ebb. People, who are good at regulating their mix of activities, have learned to conserve their willpower for when it is needed the most. It is common for most of us, however, to discount the will, and to depend on its use, regardless of how tired or stressed we may be. One of the most accessible ways to maintain the will is by playing. As adults, we may lead busy, over-committed lives, but some of our fondest memories are the carefree play we enjoyed as children. Also, most everyone has a good laugh, a light-hearted moment that reinforces the life-affirming nature of play. Learning how to play, consistently and effectively, however, will regulate the needs of the will in an enjoyable manner. But to begin with, one must first understand the difference between work and play.

Play is unstructured activity that does not anticipate an outcome. Following this definition, many so-called leisure activities are not really play. Gambling is work, because you may not know the outcome, but you are invested in winning. So when the will is fixed on an outcome, the activity requires the same energy as work. Play, on the other hand, is a voluntary activity, undertaken in a casual atmosphere where relaxing is a major component of the activity itself. Watching sports is mostly a willful activity. You root for your team to win; victory is the point. It is why we are interested. We are fixed on the outcome. Play occurs when the outcome of our interaction with others is undetermined. We don’t care where it leads, because we are having fun at the moment. That sense of fun occurs when we let go of outcome, and give ourselves over to a spontaneous unfolding of events. In doing so, our will rests.

To use play constructively, in our lives, we need to recognize activities that give us opportunities to rest the will. Sandlot baseball, for instance, is usually play. But when it turns serious, the will insists on winning, and the work begins. Playing fresbie is generally recognized as play, tossing and catching the floating saucer, without keeping score. Of course, young children use play to exercise their imagination, by engaging in rituals that are played out in fanciful agreement.

To effectively rest the will, play needs to be repetitive, but not mindless. Although the activity must have no obvious function, and no actual goal, it nevertheless needs to be engaging. Play is, in fact, non-willful engaging. Singing, dancing, playing ball, hiking, and swimming all have a palliative effect on the overworked, providing that the individual understands the source of the benefit, and plays along. Of course, you can make anything into a competition. Swimming is a leisure activity for some, but it is also a popular sport. The point is to know what your personal intentions are, to compare those intentions with your immediate needs, and then to meet those needs with an appropriate choice of activity. Knowing the difference between work and play allows a person to choose the activity that is right for them at the time, and so to purposely regulate the use of the limited resource of their willpower.

The benefits that playing bestows on the will are incremental. That means that to effectively rejuvenate the will, play needs to be a regular activity in one’s life. A few days off every couple of years are nowhere near what are required. To restore one’s balance, play needs to be a feature of weekly routine. Playing with children can be a good way to stay on track, because young kids know how to play. If the adult will follow a child’s lead into imaginative, spontaneous interaction, they will have no trouble keeping their will disengaged. Also, play is not only restful; it promotes a range of activities that cannot be experienced during the course of purposeful actions. Routine play can result in greater behavioral flexibility in adults, and as they share non-willful engagement with their children, they develop a more secure bond together. When parents teach their children, they are encouraging them to follow adults into their purposeful world. So when the parent follows the child’s lead into the make-believe world they inhabit so easily, they verify for the child that they, in turn, make a tangible and real contribution to the adult’s life as well.

As an adult rediscovers the benefits of play, they also expand their adult relationships. As adults learn to play together, they find that they can then more easily relate during adult exchanges. They tend to let judgments go in favor of the shared experience in the moment. This is one of many ways in which the effect of play is felt during reengagement in willful activities. Properly balanced with time for play, the experience of work tends to be less urgent, and somewhat more fulfilling, while non-willful engaging restores the quality on one’s energy. Play also contributes an essential understanding between adult and child playmates alike allowing them to follow into a shared sense of non-willful, spontaneous, and light hearted interaction. When work and play come into balance, the individual is both able to use their strengthened will more effectively, when needed, and to deliberately let go at other times, following into play more easily. The overall effect of the two ushers the individual into an enlivened state of being that can only result from a healthy balance of work and play.