My children love playing soccer with a balloon in our living room.

Honestly, I love it too, even though it’s a bit absurd. Unlike a soccer ball, which can be dribbled and passed with control, a balloon moves unpredictably: you aim up, and it floats down; you kick left, and it swirls right. Yet, that unpredictability is precisely what makes it so engaging.

This dance between control and chaos reveals a truth about life and work: absolute control removes challenge, and with it, engagement. In fact, a Gallup study found that 85% of employees worldwide are disengaged at work, often because their roles lack variety or challenge.

The late Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s groundbreaking work on the state of ‘flow’ perfectly explains this. Flow occurs when we are fully immersed in an activity, balancing skill and challenge, order and chaos. Too much control, and we get bored; too much unpredictability, and we feel anxious. The sweet spot—where the task stretches us just enough to keep us engaged—is where we thrive and where even our sense of own self vanishes. This is the same interplay that makes playing with a balloon so captivating: it constantly shifts us between control and uncertainty, mastery and the unknown.

Consider:

• The stagnation we feel when novelty disappears from work.

• The satisfaction of creating something new or achieving a milestone.

• The growth that emerges when we grapple with the unknown.

Life, like soccer with a balloon, thrives on this balance. Embracing unpredictability with a playful mindset sparks creativity, engagement, and joy.

How can you bring this playful balance into your work today?

Philippos

PS: Check out my book The MARVEL of Happiness for detailed analysis on some of the concepts explored in this edition.