The Sand Box

Quick, when you read the title, what were your first thoughts and emotions?  For me whenever I hear the words sand box I picture the one I had as kid and I always associate it with fun. 

Not long ago I was leading a teleclass for small business owners and the topic was creativity.  From somewhere I got the wild idea that it would be great if everyone could remember how creative they were as children.  I decided to use a game I played as a kid.  I asked everyone to imagine that they were kids again playing in a ‘sand box’.   To kick-off the game I said, “I have a car that goes 200 mph.”  With some gentle prodding of the group, one of the participants remembered how the game used to go and hesitantly, “I have a car that goes 300 mph.”  Then someone said excitedly, “My car flies.”   Which was immediately followed by an exclamation that,” My car flies and it can go to the moon.”  Before the word ‘moon’ was even completed, someone blurted, “I have car that goes all the way to Mars.”  

After playing for just a few minutes everyone was laughing and any inhibitions they had about the game were gone.  Very quickly and with only a small amount of encouragement, everyone’s imagination was running wild.  The creativity of children was flowing through them. 

I hesitated in ending the first part of the exercise because everyone was having so much fun.  I really enjoyed being back in that space where anything was possible, everyone was happy and no one made any disparaging comments about my crazy ideas. 

That was the first step of the exercise.  For the second step, I asked them to imagine that they were back in the sand box again, only this time let’s put that same kind of childhood imagination to work on building their businesses as opposed to cars that can fly. Based on how well the first part had gone, I was sure we would go immediately into having a great time with this part.  To begin the process I stated, “My business has 50 people in it!”  Unfortunately there was silence after I opened the game.  It seemed that they had forgotten how to play in the ‘sand box’.   After I gave one or two more examples of what they could possibly say that would top my opening salvo, one of the participants declared, “My business has 200 people in it.”  Then someone added, “My business is international and I travel first class all of the time.”  Yeah, we were off and creating again.  Wrong.  We quickly ground to a halt. 

The adult fears had replaced the childlike enthusiasm even though we were back in the ‘sand box’.  We discussed fears for a few minutes then I pushed the group back into the game by saying, “My business has” and then I asked them to fill in the blank.  We were able to once again get back to that unfettered creative space with everyone laughing and topping what the previous person had created. 

The exercise was a success in many ways.  The most important one was for everyone to once again tap into the ease with which they were creative and imaginative as children.  Everyone in the teleclass recognized how quickly they reverted to the fear-driven adult life that they had learned to live. 

It is especially easy for women to get stuck in the adult fun-less version of the ‘sand box’ where your focus is on making everyone one else happy.  The ability to let go and create without fear of judgment gets lost over the years.  With the departure of creativity goes the ability to have fun at whatever you are doing.  

I encourage you to try the ‘sand box’ exercise with your colleagues or friends.  In case you are reluctant to lead the exercise, as a bonus for reading today’s post, I will facilitate the exercise once for free for the first ten readers that send me a request. 

A few years ago there was a book titled “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”.  I think I will write one titled “Everything I needed to Know I Learned in the Sand Box.”  That is your cue to exclaim, “I am going to write 5 books about the sand box!” 

And we are off and playing again.  I LOVE THE SANDBOX!!!