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For Life on Purpose Episode #98, my guest is international speaker and positive psychology “play coach” Jeff Harry. Jeff shows individuals and companies how to tap into their true selves, to feel their happiest and most fulfilled — all by PLAYING.
He’s worked with Google, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon, and Facebook, helping their staff to infuse more play into the day-to-day.
Jeff joins me to talk about the crucial importance of play in our lives and how we can begin to rediscover that!
“I believe that play is as important as breathing, sleeping, and love. It’s where so much of our happiness, fulfillment, and creativity comes from.”
In our fun and inspirational conversation, Jeff and I discussed:
- Asking ourselves: “We’re in a pandemic, am I even supposed to be playing?”
- Play as the opposite of perfection;
- “I define play as any joyful act where you forget about time.”
- Howard Thurmon’s quote: “Don’t ask what the world needs; ask what makes you come alive because what the world needs is for more people to come alive.”
- The work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and flow states; what’s actually happening in your brain?
- The concept of savoring and how to do more of that;
- Why adults don’t play enough & the 148,000 “no”s;
- Elizabeth Gilbert’s quote: “Personal transformation doesn’t happen until you get tired of your own BS.”
- Confronting his own stories at the beginning of the pandemic and beginning to make videos;
- “I’d ask your listeners: ‘What’s a BS story that you’re telling yourself?'”
- Positive Psychology and the work of Dr. Martin Seligman;
- “I don’t know if you’ve ever met anyone who seems ‘perfect.’ They don’t seem happy at all!”
- Some concrete steps you can do to start playing more;
- “Because your brain is constantly looking for patterns, it you’re looking for positive patterns, you’ll find one!”
- Carol Dweck and the concept of a Fixed Mindset vs. a Growth Mindset;
- PERMA-V: Positivity, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, Vitality;
- Concept of the Inner Child vs. waiting for permission to play;
- Various ways Jeff works with people and organizations;
- “I feel like play is one of the tools that can help heal the world and I want to use it as much as possible while I’m still alive!”
- Much more!
About Jeff Harry:
Jeff Harry shows individuals and companies how to tap into their true selves, to feel their happiest and most fulfilled — all by playing. Jeff has worked with Google, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon, and Facebook, helping their staff to infuse more play into the day-to-day.
Jeff is an international speaker who has presented at conferences such as INBOUND, SXSW, and Australia’s Pausefest, showing audiences how major issues in the workplace can be solved using play.
Jeff was selected by BambooHR & Engagedly as one of the Top 100 HR Influencers of 2020 for his organizational development work around dealing with toxic people in the workplace.
His play work has most recently been featured in the Upworthy, Mashable, Shondaland, and The NY Times. He has also been featured on AJ+, SoulPancake, the SF Chronicle, and CNN.
While we spend most of our time pretending to be important, serious grownups, it’s when we let go of that facade and just play, that the real magic happens. Fully embracing your own nerdy genius — whatever that is — gives you the power to make a difference and change lives.
Jeff believes that we already have many of the answers we seek, and by simply unleashing our inner child, we can find our purpose and, in turn, help to create a better world.
To learn more about Jeff and his work, visit: https://www.rediscoveryourplay.com
Connect With Jeff Harry:
Jeff is active on the following social media:
LinkedIn – @jeffharrys
Medium – @jeffharryplays
Instagram – @jeffharryplays
Twitter – @jeffharryplays
YouTube – @jeffharryplays
Tik Tok – @jeffharryplays