Tommy was ready to snap. He stared at his work with a look that would have lit it on fire if it could. Why could he not make the shapes that were in his head? He considered the satisfying feeling that would come from chopping his hand through everything he had done but thought better of it. He stole a glance at the kids around him. None of them seemed to be having trouble. “This is crazy,” Tommy thought. “If Brad can do this, so can I.” He dove back into his work, determined.

Sweat beading on his forehead, he ran a sleeve across his brow. Twice before he’d been seconds from completion when his work crumbled from under his hands. “Something’s wrong with the stuff I’m using.” He reached a few inches to the right, scooping a new batch from an area in the sunlight. It felt different. He applied it to his project. Better. Way better.

Suddenly things were falling into place. He was rolling now. Soon he’d have this thing built and looking good. It was just a matter of time.

Time. Uh oh.

His time was almost up. “Hurry,” he thought. “Gotta get this done.” His heart pounded as he lifted more material into place. It seemed that no matter how hard he worked, he was always being cut short.

“Okay kids!” came the call from the doorway.

“No!” the kids shouted in unison.

“Time’s up!”

“I’m almost done!” yelled Tommy over his shoulder, frantically applying the finishing touches.

“Your snowman will still be here when you’re done with your homework,” explained his mother.

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At Hackstudio, we’ve thought a lot about the difference between work and play. As this story illustrates, “play” can look a lot like “work” if you look at it from a different angle. Both provide challenges and opportunities to build character. Both test your grit, your courage and your problem-solving skills. Both even present “have-tos.” The difference is that one offers something powerful that the other does not: a boost from internal motivation

The problem with defining what is work and what is play is complicated because different people are motivated by different things. What is “work” for one person is “play” for another and vice versa. When you think about it, there’s no objective difference between work and play. The difference is not in how hard or how important or even how pleasant it is, (every parent has seen tears shed during play), it’s in whether or not what I’m doing is supercharged by autonomy, authenticity and passion.

For this reason, WE BELIEVE PLAY ISN’T THE OPPOSITE OF WORK, IT’S A HIGHER FORM OF WORK. It’s the work you feel privileged to be doing, the work you engage in by choice for reasons chosen and understood by you. Play is work with a built-in accelerator. Our passion for our endeavors allows us to be more engaged, work harder and persevere longer.

You play basketball. You play chess. You play a character in a play. Engagement in these endeavors requires no lack of desire to work and improve and in fact can be very serious and intense. The difference is play builds you up where drudgery depletes you.

What if more people chose to play math, or school, or their job? How much more would they get out of these things and how much richer would their experience be?