The difference between work and play is one of the most destructive aspects of Western culture. Outgrowing this distinction may be the essence of creative thinking. Regarding work and play as something different creates a block. The Taoists regarded life as a comedy, Shakespeare as a play, and James P. Carse explains in his book 'Finite and Infinite Games' what kind of plays there are. Creativity is not outside of us but within. In the right environment it always comes out. Every child 'lives creatively', without wondering if what it is doing is work or play. At school this changes. There is playtime and -most of the time- work to be done. No wonder that many of us feel uncertain when there is nothing to be done. Daydreaming is called idleness, and we are not supposed to idle our time away. The question to ask ourselves is if we divide our time between fun things and boring things called work. How much do I feel that play is the reward of work? How deeply do I feel that work cannot be play nor play work?
By calling work play I do not change everything. But looking for the challenge in every activity changes a lot. We all know that if I do my work with fun I will do a better job, but what's more, people who do have fun in their jobs know that the work is not 'the product' of our activities, but the activity itself. It is like quality, the meaning of creativity lies in the activity and not just in the product. When we have fun in our work we will look better and see more. We shall be open and want to make much of it.
Distinguishing work from play is seeing life as a finite game; with fixed, unchanging rules, referees, winners and losers and a reward. In the finite game the players know what is expected and the surprise lies in the game itself.
The infinite game player knows that the game has ever changing rules, knows no end (every horizon opens onto a new horizon), the referees are not on the sideline but the players themselves and the reward is playing rather than winning. The infinite player does not want to score at the expense of others (no-win situation) but tries to create win-win situations. The players themselves are responsible for the game.
When the organization and rules are very strict things become very much like a finite game and people will respond accordingly, they will become dependent. They will come to feel that the reward for their work must come from others. When they experience freedom energy will be liberated and they will not need the reward from others, the reward will be in doing it and they will be independent.
If there is an infinite game life must be it, the only certainty is that I was born, am writing this and will die. For the rest nothing is certain! Though when you look around some seem to think otherwise, for example, in meetings we may see the finite player in action. He will want to score on debating points. Afterwards others will shrug their shoulders and things will continue as normal. Ego-tripping seems very much the line of the finite game. Innovative thinking is what is required if we want to evolve and develop. Creative techniques aim at changing rules and looking what will happen. This should be done with like-minded players so that 'win-win situations are created. When the infinite game is played well there are no losers.