Tweedle Dum Time

Why we need to create space for Genius Thinking

The morning begins inside a skyscraper under a florescent sun. Within the labyrinth of gray steel Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum sit separated by a magnetic board with very little attraction. A phosphorous fog fills the room with cost-saving light tempered by a single 65-watt lamp swiped from the office of a Dilbert Principal hire gone awry. Tweedle Dum posts note-to-self: “The end is near. Only 20 years to retirement.” The ubiquitous monitor glows. The hypnotism begins. Forced submission is only moments away. Humpty Dumpty sits on the firewall watching. Facebook, Twitter, and other perfectly good avoidance behavior resources are blocked to meet the company goal of maximum production for the Wizard of Oz. Desk lunch is served from a plastic container hot and radioactive from the microwave. Eight hours later, with vitamin D sucked from every pore and all vital systems completely acidified through electronic overexposure, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum escape down the rabbit hole. They follow a neon sign flashing the promise to wash away lost hopes by reducing them into a childlike state through extreme inebriation. It is not fulfilled. The night spirals down with hours of complaining that drone on drink after drink, until last call and a cab ride home.

Repetitive tasks and rote patterns dissolve our sense of adventure, curiosity, and fulfillment. The body and mind need recreation. If they don’t get it, they will seek alternative solutions, most of which are highly destructive. Geniuses do not create by working in a mind eating corporate machine. They have to play. They have to be in an environment that allows them to take chances, improvise, experiment, and cross boundaries. If a clock is right at least twice a day, couldn’t it be said that we can all be a genius at least once in our lifetime. Daniel G. Amen, M.D. author of Making a Good Brain Great and Magnificent Mind at Any Age would probably agree. His findings through a long-term study and brain imaging have enabled him to help clients boost their mental capacity, and treat everything from anxiety to insomnia all predominantly with vitamin supplementation and exercise. He hasn’t explored the idea yet; however, if he performed his brain imaging techniques on test subjects after a few hours of euphoric play, the discoveries might be worth noting.

If you visit award-winning creative departments in advertising firms across the country, you often see ping-pong tables, basketball courts, or pool tables. Why? The people who make up a creative department, often referred to as perpetual children, have forever resisted the corporate diatribe that believes a butt in the seat means an employee is being productive. They know something most don’t: play fosters creative and innovative thinking. You don’t come up with the next “big idea” behind closed doors with four blank walls and bad carpeting. Sometimes it comes while you’re singing in the shower.

As early as the 1800s, philosopher Herbert Spenser recognized play as an important feature of the human experience. Of course, it’s doubtful it’s taught in an MBA program where quantification has become synonymous with “why you pay us the big bucks”. Even though it’s pretty much just another variation on “smoke & mirrors”, without those magic numbers most company leaders would be too scared to make a move. Who can blame them? Their jobs are on the line. However, it’s a big price to pay, because fear is contagious. It begins to permeate in ever sector of society, until all possibility of creativity and innovation is stored away in a time capsule no one has enough courage to swallow.

 Imagine if there was a mandate for play in schools and corporations across the world. Yes, today with the economic downturn we are facing. It seems it should be an imperative especially now, because our financial losses have perpetuated fear and stagnated energy by pulling the reins tighter. We’re choking. We need fresh air. Playtime is a free initiative. Even based on the argument “Time is money”, playtime will take the place of complain time. If any company feels that is something they aren’t paying top dollar for now, they need to rewind the tapes and watch a little closer. Most freelancers know they are much more productive than a salaried employee for just this reason. They give themselves downtime and don’t waste their time with office gossip.

In the 1940’s, D.W. Winnicot developed “play therapy” as a way to open the psyche. In his work he was able to successfully reach into the anxieties of virtually every child he worked with -a success rate that was unimaginable in his era. However, today his techniques are reserved mostly for victims of abuse. The rest of us have forgotten the healing power of play, like the American Public School System. When they canceled recess in schools, they simply increased the amount of money they spend paying teachers to discipline. Parents and teachers should be the ones asked to provide the statistics. They know kids. The findings would conclude teachers should be paid to teach not to discipline. Pay for a recess and the money APS spends paying teachers to discipline will go down. The results: teachers teach more and students learn more.

It all seems like a no-brainer. Somehow highly educated people don’t see it. Until they do, the clock will tick on into our wonted oblivion. All the Tweedle Dees will drink with the Tweedle Dums, while Wee Willie Winky runs through the town in his nightgown looking for a playground.