Can Play Make You More Successful? Why High-Achieving Women Need Play | Ep. 297
episode
PLAN GOAL PLAN | Goals, Transformation for Women, Mindful Time Management, Balance, Working Moms
18 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Why do high‑achieving women feel guilty about taking time to play?
Hey y'all, June on this podcast is about play. Now, some of y'all are already thinking play. I barely have time to finish a meal while it's hot. I don't have time to play. I see you, I understand you, I've been there. But here's the question that I've been sitting with. What if the women who are doing the biggest, boldest things are the ones that are working the hardest, but they're the ones that have figured out how to play? This month, I'm asking three questions that I genuinely do not have a tidy answer to. They are, can play be productive? If you play in your play, is it still play? And what is the role of play in doing big things? Without losing ourselves. Y'all, let's do this. Welcome to Plan Goal Plan, a podcast where ambition meets balance.
I'm Daniel McGeeu. I'm a professor, speaker, mom, recovering overachiever, and self-leadership coach for high achieving women. At the intersection of research, practice, and play, I discovered a path to planning and goal setting that's bold, balanced, and sustainable. Together, we'll reclaim your time. empower your goals and create a life where you thrive at work and at home. Grab a pin, let's get started. So I'm incredibly jazzed to talk about play. I am an incredibly playful person and that is often a superpower for me, but it does bamboozle me from time to time. So I was really excited when I realized that play was the theme for this month. And I almost immediately thought of a story that I have around play.
So I was really excited when I realized that play was the theme for this month. And it just so happens that I am planning a workshop for our Center for Teaching and Learning later this month, so mid June. And in that workshop, I'm talking about storytelling. So storytelling is something that I teach often. And one of the things that the director of the CETL, that's the Center for Teaching and Learning, would like me to make sure that I address is this idea that people may see stories and storytelling as a distraction from the very rigorous and real content that we are expected to teach.
How can play actually boost productivity, creativity and brain health?
And when he asked me, is this something that you can work on addressing, when I thought it was really astute of him to be aware, that people might have this issue, but it immediately made me think of A situation I had, it's probably been gosh, seventeen years ago. I had just finished my PhD and I was applying for adjunct work, which is part time. Academic work where you just get paid to teach the courses and oftentimes not very much. And this was a place that had particularly low pay. And I had submitted my syllabi and I got a call back from the dean. So one of the courses that I've taught more than any other course is called Oral Communication. It is a basic public speaking course in my field. And it is often part of people's general education requirements.
So most students going to college are expected to have some basic level of public speaking skills. Now, of course, we also know that a lot of people have intense fear around public speaking. And so rather than writing public speaking anxiety on the syllabus, I would mark it as a play day. And I had A series of different games that I would play with people that were designed to alleviate. People's fear of public speaking. So this Dana called me up and she said, Hey, I noticed that you have play day written on your syllabus. Can you tell me a little bit about it? And so I explained to her, what I just explained to you is that I've just found that if I use the word anxiety. People come and they're already nervous.
If I tell people that it's a play day, they get excited. And I explain some of the pedagogical reasons behind using play as a technique to alleviate public speaking fear. And so I explain all of these things and the dean says to me. I'm gonna ask that you change that because we expect our instructors to actually teach at our institution. And I paused for a moment and I said, good luck finding another instructor because I don't think this is a good fit. And I quit. And it was seriously terrible pay.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why do high‑achieving women feel guilty about taking time to play?
0:00–2:14
2
How can play actually boost productivity, creativity and brain health?
2:14–4:39
3
What happened when I labeled a public‑speaking class as a “play day”?
4:39–6:53
4
Why do we treat play as a reward instead of a necessity?
6:53–9:13
5
Is planning your play still genuine play, or does it become another task?
9:13–11:36
6
How does scheduling play help me fully unplug and be present?
11:36–14:35
7
What role does play have in doing big things without losing yourself?
14:35–16:41
8
How can women use play as a form of resistance to a productivity‑only culture?
16:41–18:22
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from PLAN GOAL PLAN | Goals, Transformation for Women, Mindful Time Management, Balance, Working Moms
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