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In today’s workaholic culture, sometimes the idea of allowing ourselves to simply have fun and enjoy life seems unthinkable. Yet often, especially as men, it’s exactly what we need for our own sanity
On today’s episode, Charlie Hoehn shares the story of how he cured his debilitating anxiety using an unconventional strategy: play. Charlie talks about the dangers of depriving yourself of fun, and how rediscovering play can help radically transform your outlook on life, and even improve your productivity.
Charlie Hoehn
Hey gents, I’ve got a great episode for you. Once again, my guest is Charlie Hoehn. He is an author, marketing strategist, speaker and self-described “play enthusiast.” He is the author of Play it Away, Play for a Living, and Recession-Proof Graduate. In the past, he has also worked with notable authors and entrepreneurs such as Ramit Sethi, Seth Godin, Tucker Max, Tim Ferriss and Gary Vaynerchuck, to name a few.
His work has been featured by The New York Times, NPR, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, TEDx, and many others. If you’ve ever felt like you have workaholic tendencies or struggled with anxiety, this may be the perfect episode for you to hear right now.
Episode Highlights
- How Charlie was rejected for over 100 jobs before getting to work for entrepreneurs like Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferriss
- The dangers of getting caught up in workaholic culture and not recognizing your body’s warning signs
- Why Charlie started taking a performance drug designed to keep fighter pilots awake
- How Charlie’s anxiety got so bad that he had to quit his dream job
- How Charlie tried everything from exercise to flotation tanks to meditation to cure his anxiety
- How Charlie discovered play, and it immediately recognized it as the answer
- How humans evolved as a playful species
- “The opposite of play isn’t work, it’s depression”
- Why play can help make you more productive at work
- “Play is a state where we are truly ourselves, once we let go of our egos and fear of looking stupid”
Resources Mentioned
- Play it Away
- Blog post about how Charlie reached out to Tim Ferriss
- Recession Proof Graduate
- The 4-Hour Body
- The 4-Hour Chef
- Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
- The Power of Having Fun
- Play for a Living
- Office Arcade
