When I was on vacation with my extended family last week for our annual reunion, inspiration hit late one afternoon and I sat down at the picnic table next to my RV trailer and opened up my computer. I was soon engulfed in the pleasure of writing the copy for an email newsletter.

One of my dad’s friends walked by and scolded me for ‘working’ while on vacation.

I told him my work doesn’t feel like work and Inspiration had called so I was going with it. He didn’t seem to understand; so I ignored him and kept writing.

I didn’t need to be writing that email because I had prepared in advance to be completely “off” for the entire two weeks. Because, even though my work doesn’t feel like work, I know I am better at it when I take time to completely unplug and rest.

However, that afternoon, Inspiration had come to call and I know better than to ignore her when she shows up to play.

I’ve been thinking about that interaction ever since. And it occurred to me that many of us adults have taken on the idea that work and play are distinctly different activities. And that makes me sad since we spend so much of our lives “at work”.

Play is often associated with children and frivolity. And it is true that children play more naturally than adults who have become stuck in ruts and habits.

But current research has shown that play is not just for children; it’s essential for adults too. It helps develop mental flexibility and prepares us for unexpected situations.

Approaching our businesses with a sense of play and adventure can help us prepare for and improvise when hit with the unexpected, which, let’s face it happens on the regular in our businesses. Yet, we demand certainty of ourselves and our businesses and stress out when we don’t get it.

When we are willing to approach our businesses with a sense of play and adventure, we see opportunity and possibility everywhere. We are willing to experiment and see what happens when we try something we haven’t done before, and to move on quickly without punishing ourselves  if it doesn’t work.

Every day on our two-week family vacation, my 4 1/2 year old grandson spent hours at the beach “working” on making “barriers”. He’d dig trenches and walls and then assign one of the adults the job of pouring water so he would watch in fascination as the water found its way around, over or through his barriers back into the lake.

If you had watched Oliver digging relentlessly with his shovel you might have been reminded of your own childhood when it seemed like you had nothing to do but play. But really, like Oliver, you had a lot of work to do. You were learning to be a person, how to get along in the world, how things, like water and sand, work.

Adult brains get stuck in ruts and habits, so we become less likely to play than kids, but when we do, we’re way better at it. The quality of play going on when Simone Biles nailed her beam routine at the Olympics, for example, is much more interesting to watch than a kid digging on a beach, (unless he’s your kid or grandkid ;).

Of course, in any endeavor, from Olympic gymnastics to your business, there is a relationship between work and play.

You have to do the work of showing up to play. This is where mindfulness comes in. Play involves full absorption in the present moment and relearning how to develop mental flexibility as an adult. It involves a willingness to try things to see what happens. And it involves holding it all lightly.

Mindfulness is key to playfulness, and embracing it can help us enjoy the present moment. By incorporating play into our adult lives, we can improve our social, physical, and cognitive development and have a lot more fun and better results in our businesses!

My longing for you is that you will allow yourself to play in your business. Being an entrepreneur is a creative act. You can let it be fun AND still make a lot of money. Ask me how.