On the Value of Goofing Off

This past holiday season, a co-worker and I built a rubber-band powered paper airplane. It took us several days of putting our engineering and scientific skills to the test, as we experimented with propeller shapes, materials, and sizes, rubber band dimensions, chassis development, paper folding techniques, and straw selection. In the end, though, we accomplished a very solid template for a reliable self-propelled airplane. I will get a video of the airplanes soon.
We also spent a good deal of time giggling like maniacs, because of course this kind of work is frowned upon at, well, work.

But during the building and designing, both of us got to flex mental and creative muscles we do not normally get to flex, but which are incredibly important to our jobs. He is a sales engineer, and must not only help customers engineer solutions, but must think on his feet and be very flexible. I have to analyze and create for my job as well, although less tangibly, and therefore must keep those skills sharp and well-oiled.

Additionally, my colleague and I had the rare chance to really size one another up, intellectually, analytically, and creatively. We got to see where the other one fell down, and where he or she excelled. It was a spontaneous team-building exercise without all of the corniness and much more efficient and fun.

So why are these types of forays into the absurd still so taboo? If companies like Google can allow their employees time to experiment and expand their minds, why can’t the regular Joe’s of Corporate America?

Frankly, I don’t know. What I do know is that the value of goofing off would be lost on those with their panties in a bind, regardless of the black-and-white numbers in front of their noses. No matter how many white papers and columns of figures I provide, my company will never, ever endorse rubber-band-guitar sing-alongs or paper airplane races.

That’s too bad for them. In the meantime, I’m going to giggle maniacally in my while I work on my next project: a house of cards made entirely of manila folders.