Days Of Play & Experimentation

They may not feel like progress, and yet they are so important.

Yesterday, my partner finished a project that she had been working on for months. After that, she really just felt like taking a rest. Or so she thought.


The reality was that she got bored after an hour or two.

People who are really heavily into their subject of interest, rarely ever enjoy sitting back and doing nothing.

But did she get back to work? No, she didn’t.

Instead, she downloaded a new architecture software and started playing around with it. Not with any particular purpose in mind. She did it just because she enjoyed it.

She quickly discovered that this software had some functions to do stuff that she didn’t even know was possible. Before she knew it, she was totally immersed into the software, and enjoyed herself very much.

I don’t know anything about architecture. And I have no idea what exactly she learned.

But I am sure that this day will have an impact on her development as an architect.
It is these days of play and experimentation that…
… help us discover new aspects of our work that we didn’t know existed.
… help us make new connections between different things that we didn’t see before.
… break the routine of our work and turn it into something fun and enjoyable once again.


Don’t fight your urge to play and experiment
When the time comes that you feel like just trying something new, just playing around with your work, just having a little bit of fun with what you… then just give in to that feeling.

While play and experimentation never feel like real, tangible progress, they are important in that they take you out of your routine, and instead put you once again into a mindset of discovery.

They take you out of your role as an expert, and put you into the perspective of a learner once again.

In other words, it is these days of play and experimentation that will help you to move from one level of skill and knowledge and to the next. They open up your mind for new perspectives, new ways of looking at an issue, new ways of dealing with a problem.
Play and experimentation might not push your project forward directly. But they will push you forward as a practitioner of that field.


The urge is a sign for repetitiveness and boredom
Repetition is an important aspect of learning. It is only through repetition that you can really internalize a lesson, and slowly move your way towards mastery of that particular aspect of your craft.

But eventually, you will have done something so many times over and over again, that you can not move forward in your learning process through pure repetition alone.

It is at this point that you will have to try something new.

And while it may seem ‘random’ what you are playing around- or experimenting with, it really isn’t.

Your subconscious mind is driving you towards something that will help you improve in that particular aspect of your craft that you are currently still struggling with.

In the beginning, you might not see how to apply what you have learned in the process to your day-to-day work.

But eventually, you will.


Some final words:

I’m playing around with new ways of constructing articles all the time. Most of them turn out to be a complete failure. But some don’t.

Mostly, I am doing this simply because its enjoyable.

Sometimes, the whole pressure of producing an article that performs well, is simply quite annoying. So, I am using the play and experimentation stage as an excuse to just go ahead and write whatever I feel like doing at the time.

I could label this as a ‘waste of time’. But over the years, I have learned to appreciate the process.

Because honestly, this is how I have learned most of the valuable lessons on how to construct a successful article.

It was those articles which did succeed as a result of my process of play and experimentation, that have taken my writing to a whole new level. I am just glad that I didn’t suppress my urge at the the time, and just let it go.

The next time you feel like play and experimentation, unless you are under complete time pressure, please don’t suppress the urge.

Some of your best ideas may come out of it.