Show Notes:

In this episode, Angie sits down with Steve Rix, founder of Play Lab, for a conversation that is equal parts inspiring, hilarious, and quietly profound.

Steve opens up about growing up believing something was wrong with him, and how it took him 47 years and two little kids on a Honolulu beach to discover the tool that would change everything. After 90 days stuck in victim mode with an emotional fuel tank running bone dry, a simple question from two children, ”Hey mister, you wanna play?”, cracked his whole world back open. Thirty minutes of dancing in the waves and building sandcastles left him electrically smiling, and he has never looked back.

Together, Angie and Steve dig into why play is the ultimate bypass for trauma. When Angie shares that trauma is the loss of access to imagination, Steve calls it brilliant, and the two of them unpack how play rebuilds that bridge back to possibility. Angie stomps around as an elephant. Steve becomes a wave that never ends and a cloud that always sees the sunshine. Silly? Sure. Life-changing? Absolutely.

You will hear the difference between the act of playing and the state of being playful, why you can run a work meeting or an inventory report in a state of play, and Steve's five ingredients for genuine playfulness: full presence, connection to imagination, free expression, connection to others, and zero ulterior motives.

Steve also shares the mission behind Play Lab, tackling workplace burnout by turning offices into metaphoric playgrounds where people are playfully productive. And he gets real about the hard stuff too: the discomfort of that first drum-circle dance in Venice Beach, the exercise where his clients wrote their future selves as warrior princesses and space agents (ten of twelve are now living those stories), and his belief that transformation is never timely and change is never convenient, but it is always worth the journey.

The big takeaway? Play never lets you down. Ever. Whether you use it as a respite from the work of healing or as the means of healing itself, your imagination is the gateway to the life you actually want.

Bio:

Meet Steve Rix, he has dedicated his life to becoming a Human Capital Wizard: He believes investing in the mental well being of people is the most important mandate of the coming years.

Steve has spent three decades honing and developing his skills as an expert in employee engagement. From start-ups to fortune 100 companies, Steve has provided coaching and consulting in the development of people to perform at their highest levels. Through the ebbs and flows of his own entrepreneurial journey, his experience has provided invaluable insight to corporate leadership, organizational health, and cultural vitality.

Some of you may remember him for starting Imagine That almost 10 years ago. During those years he has explored, researched and experimented with play in the workplace as the highest state of effectiveness and efficiency. From coaching and consulting, to focus groups and beta testing, over 250 unique case studies lead Steve to develop a particular set of experiments and experiences; that when delivered to a workplace culture undeniably facilitate useful changes in culture.

During the pandemic he took a bold step in bringing in two partners and rebranded the business to Playlab. In the last year they haven released his first book, Play Saves the Day. Additionally they have acquired one company and working another. Behind the scenes the company has been designing a series of new tools to be used by all business professionals globally. The inspiration for all of this came from the dangerously alarming state of mental health in the workplace. Now more than ever companies have a moral mandate to take care of their human capital. Putting people over profits will unequivocally create more profit and happier people in the workplace.

Play as a state of being is the most powerful foundation for human transformation. Steve is on a mission to be the prophet of play to help heal the global mental health pandemic. He is fun, he is passionate and will help anyone he can discover their personal playful path to transformation.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/rixsteve/

LinkedIn:    https://www.linkedin.com/in/steverix/

Website:  www.experimentwithplay.com

🎁Grab an electronic copy of his book Play Saves the Day by emailing [email protected] with ”Angie's podcast” and ”play saves the day” in the subject line. 

Connect with me:

Website:  https://angieberrettmovement.com/

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