In this episode of Refuel Your Brilliance, I’m exploring the rather radical idea of play as the antidote to perfectionism and imposter syndrome.

This was another big week in the course with lots of breakthroughs and bursts of momentum.

“The idea that I could apply the spirit and values of play to my business and be more effective that way blew my mind!”

“I’m excited about starting to show up more in fun, playful and creative ways with others.”

“It now feels possible to truly be myself in my business and allow creativity and playfulness to flow.”

As a recovering perfectionist myself, I know this might seem counter-intuitive. Surely what we need is more preparation, better strategies, and to just try really really hard to "get it right”... Right?

…?

No?

No.

What we actually need is more playfulness.

I know, in a world that’s on fire and in a culture that treats seriousness as a virtue, play may seem frivolous, risky, or naive. But bear with me.

In this week's audio clip from Feminine Fire, I share my thoughts on the importance of play in building your heart-led business and moving from stuckness to flow:

Playfulness is what happens when you take curiosity and mix it with pleasure and enjoyment. It's aliveness in motion: dynamic, responsive, and completely antithetical to the control and management we usually think we need to make progress.

From a Buddhist point of view, playfulness is actually more aligned with reality than perfectionism ever could be.

When you're trying to be perfect, you're operating from the illusion that:

There's a "right" way to do things
You can control all the outcomes
You should know how everything will turn out
There's an ideal image you need to fit into

But reality is far more dynamic than that. Everything is always changing. We're constantly having to respond to new situations. We genuinely don't know how something should go or what the consequences will be.

Playfulness embraces this uncertainty rather than fighting it. Which lessens the resistance we feel and allows creativity and momentum to unfurl.

When you approach your business with playfulness, you:

Experiment rather than trying to get it "right" the first time (or second, or 100th time)
Respond creatively to what emerges rather than forcing imagined outcomes
Stay curious about what happens rather than attached to specific results
Treat "mistakes" as interesting plot twists rather than crushing failures

This is why playfulness is the foundation of both successful business and creative living.

In a culture that equates seriousness with worthiness, choosing playfulness can be seen as an act of soul-led rebellion. It's saying: "I trust the creative process more than I trust my need to control outcomes."

This doesn't mean being careless or unprofessional. It means bringing a spirit of creative experimentation to your work instead of relentlessly striving to get it "right."

Which is a relief, as there is no ‘right way’ to do anything! There is only ever experimentation, discovery and constant iteration. We try something, we learn from it, we shape the next experiment based on what we discovered.

Consciously embracing play puts us in touch with our creative agency and power, and lessens judgement, shame and fear of failure. And, its just more FUN!

~

This week’s practice:

What’s something you used to do for fun as a kid? Spend 30 mins this week rediscovering your delight in it and see what effect it has on your week!

How could you make one area of your business more playful or fun?

What’s one experiment you could try in your life or work this week? There’s no getting it "wrong", it’s all discovery!

~

With playful delight,

Erika x

An invitation...

If the themes of this blog resonate with you, I’d love to invite you to join my next Community Conversations on 26th August where we’ll be taking a deeper dive into the transformational nature of play, power, community and presence. Sign up here.

If you’re enjoying this series, and would like to go deeper, my six-month mentoring programme opens again in September - join the waitlist here for early bird pricing and exclusive bonuses.