The playground is still open
Playful Humans 52 Reasons to Rediscover the Power of Play in Your Life and Career
Feeling burnt out, bored, or just plain tired of adulting? This book is the rescue mission for your inner child: 52 reasons to play, drawn from psychology, neuroscience, and 200+ conversations with people who turned their passion into a living.
Paperback and Kindle on Amazon · by Mike Montague
The message
Grown-ups never outgrow the playground. We just stop visiting.
Somewhere between our first job and our fiftieth inbox, we traded recess for productivity and called it maturity. The research says we got a bad deal. Play is how humans connect, create, recharge, and find the courage to try hard things, which is why the book is built like a deck of cards: four suits, 13 ideas each, one card a week for a year of fun.
Connection
Play is how humans bond. Hearts are the games we play well with others, and the fulfillment that follows.
Creativity
Your inner child is also your muse. Diamonds bring back good, old-fashioned fun and the ideas it sparks.
Conditioning
Body, mind, and energy. Clubs are the kind of play that keeps you in flow and fuels your best work.
Confidence
Playful people take bigger swings. Spades build the nerve to live boldly and laugh at the misses.
The podcast archive
People Who Play for a Living
Every week for four years, Mike sat down with a comedian, game designer, improviser, athlete, artist, or entrepreneur who figured out how to get paid to play. The book holds the best lessons. The archive holds every conversation.
200+episodes
4years of weekly shows
52reasons to play
1book to rule them all
Art, Therapy, Art Therapy, and Coaching for Artists with TJ Walsh
The Mentor Project: How to Have Fun and Give Back with Deborah Heiser
The Power of Practical Effects & Puppetry to Teach Soft Skills with Kate Katz
Corporate Action Hero: How John Davis Went from Being Paralyzed to Starring as a Comedy Sword-Fighting Stuntman
The Unhustle Revolution: Find Balance & Success without the Stress by Milena Regos
Prefer audio? Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Invite everyone to the playground
Come Play With Us
The community lives wherever people are playing. Here are three easy ways in.
Find your play style
Six quick questions reveal which of ten Playful Personalities your inner child is running with.
Take the QuizJoin the YouTube crowd
Every episode, the Joke of the Week Shorts, and a comments section full of fellow grown-up kids.
SubscribePass the ball
Know someone who needs recess? Send them the book with a note from you. Playfulness is contagious.
Gift the BookPlayful Humans has played with
- Amazon
- McKinsey
- T-Mobile
- Uber
- KC Chiefs
- Vistage
- Hanes
- Thermo Fisher
- Subway
- Harrah's
- Express