Keeping it light and breezy

Welcome to this week’s issue! Inside you’ll read about:

• 1 way to increase your capacity to play and learn

• 1 profile of a person and how they use play to succeed

• 1 trend to toy around

Whether or not you consider yourself an artist, Austin Kleon's book series is a must-have to help you show your creativity, share it with the world, and keep on doing it. Here's an excerpt from his book, Keep Going, about staying light and returning to that childlike play state.

1. Follow Kurt Vonnegut's poetry assignment (including throwing it all away, watch James Earl Jones read the letter for the extra feels.

2. Practice for practice's sake

3. Seek out unfamiliar tools and materials

4. Find something new to fiddle with

5. Try to make the worst thing you can

6. Hang out with young kids

The Director seems like they're not playing but their imaginations run wild when they're planning or executing events and experiences. For them, the world is a stage and they enjoy making things happen.

Future-forward, they imagine what it could be like in the future vividly and do their best to go from step 1 to the end product. In children, you can see them leading pretend play. For them, the stage is already set and everyone has a role to play.

What tickles them is getting a peek at what’s happening behind the curtain and applying that to their next activity.

Animal Crossing's peak was around May 2020, when almost the whole world was locked down, and the experience of creating an island where you and your friends can meet virtually helped maintain everyone's sanity.

Games such as Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and Stardew Valley are called cozy games. They are named as such because they are non-violent, cutesy, and often relaxing. If violent games or time pressure stress you out, then this genre is for you.

I'm currently playing Office Cat on my mobile phone. The premise is you're a property manager of an office building and your goal is to help your business grow while helping other companies. There's no pressure in time (also called idle gaming) but I admit I have used money to level up faster. I also love the names of the companies such as "New Pawlance" and "Nyahoo," which make me giggle when I say it out loud.

That's it for this week! Keep going, keep playing!

Bituin ✨