We’re big Welcome to Wrexham fans in our house.
Last week, we watched the final episode of the latest season, and I cried through most of it. But one moment absolutely undid me.
Co-owner Rob McElhenney, who’s known for his rousing pre-game team speeches, really pulled out the stops for this one:
“Forget the history. I want you to go out there and play like you were 10 years old and have the time of your lives, because I promise you, that is the only thing you will remember.”
Cue footage of the players as kids—toddling around with tiny footballs, gangly limbs and wild joy.
Cue my weeping.
💡 My “Ah-ha!” moment
Play like you’re 10.
So I asked myself: What was I doing when I was 10?
Playing librarian. Reading for hours. Playing office. Playing with Barbies, board games and my little brothers. Reading some more. Learning to bake because it was fun, not because anyone needed muffins. Biking, swimming, swinging at the park.
You know what all of that had in common?
🎯 It was play. For its own sake.
No outcomes.
No monetization.
No lists, spreadsheets and deadlines.
Just curiosity, joy and imagination.
And it got me thinking…
When did my work stop being play?
When did:
- Guiding people to (re)Discover Your Spark start to feel like I was dragging them toward a goal with a motivational cattle prod instead of inviting them on a magical adventure to Bath, Florence or next year’s not-yet-released-but-extraordinary location?
- Talking about Uninterrupted: A Retreat to Spark Creativity feel like pleading instead of offering someone a hammock for their creative soul?
- Audaciously Visible become about the number who say yes instead of the goosebumps I get watching someone command the stage and own their message for the first time?
- Editing Brave Middle Ground turn into groaning at transcription editing instead of celebrating the fact that I get to have deep, funny, emotional, unexpected conversations with brilliant humans?
- Accepting speaking gigs feel like a task to check off instead of what it actually is: my absolute favorite professional space on earth?
Here’s the real talk I gave myself:
🧳 The right people will leap at the (re)Discover Your Spark travel experience because it’s a creative pilgrimage in a magical place. Just wait until you see what I have planned for next May!
🎨 Serious creatives will run, not walk toward Uninterrupted—not because it’s productive, but because it’s permission to slow down, be curious and remember what it feels like to love what they’re creating and how it feels to simply give themselves permission to say yes.
🎤 Brave leaders will say yes to Audaciously Visible because they’re ready to play big—and I’m the right person to coach them through the “scene work” of engaging an audience, owning their message and commanding the rooms where they show up.
🎧 Editing the podcast? It’s a small price to pay for the amazing, mind-expanding conversations I get to have.
🎙️ Speaking gigs? Please. That’s my version of recess.
So over to you:
Where in your life did play turn into P.R.O.D.U.C.T.I.V.I.T.Y.?
Where did the joy get replaced by just one more metric?
Where are you forgetting that being a little scared, a little silly and a lot curious is part of the fun?
I’m not saying life isn’t work. Of course it is.
But play is still available. Right here. Right now. In the middle of your inbox, your next client call, your half-written project, your next career move, what you say yes to even though you’re scared…
Play might not fix everything—but it sure makes the journey more fun.
And gosh, that’s gotta count for something, right?
Oh, and the Wrexham team?
Spoiler alert: they won the game and made history as the first football team to ever earn promotion three years in a row.
If they can do it—if they can remember that play is what actually scores the goals, brings the joy and earns the wins—we can, too.
Photo caption: Me at about 10 years old playing a game…for the sheer fun of playing.
