July 10, 2026

“Don’t get me wrong, preparation’s important. But what if your preparation was more playful? What if your preparation was more playful and it fueled creativity in your work? That’s what we want to get to. Being able to get on your feet, be playful, and get creative while you’re preparing.”  —Coach K

Podcast Transcript

Coach K:

Hey, and welcome to Sari Swears. Well, today I’m going to be talking about play and creativity and how they are intertwined. And you need one without the other or one to create the other or one to fuel the other. And how attorneys, trial attorneys specifically, are very playful, creative people, but they don’t prioritize these things and it gets kind of put off to the wayside, and getting to be intentional about your play and creativity. And I’ll get into how to do that and how important this really is.

You’re in such a stressful profession. I mean, come on. And if you can get the chance to play, like come out here and Command the Courtroom and be with a group of peers and be playing and working through your cases together and collaborating. When you’re on your feet, that’s when you get your best stuff. And when you’re on your feet, here especially, you’re playful, you’re creative. You’re getting into your body and you’re accessing all this stuff that you normally don’t do when you’re at your desk.

The two separate books that I’m going to be pulling from in this particular episode are Play by Stuart Brown and The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. The playbook really gets into the biology or the evolution of play and how play is prevalent with animals, all kinds of animals and humans and how important it is. And how animals play at a young age, and as they get to a certain age, they stop playing. And that’s because of survival. Because if they play, they could be playing in the middle of something or be out in the open and then all of a sudden a predator will come down and kill them. So play is something that goes away once they get older and they get ready to hunt.

Whereas humans, play is something that is a necessity and something that we need to foster on a regular basis because it’s really what works. It’s what is essential to our biology and our growth and our learning. So I’m going to be talking about play and creativity and how they work together in this podcast and how to do it and how to bring it into your life.

Another thing I’m going to bring up and another concept I’m going to bring in is the concept of distraction and that comes from Rick Rubin’s book. And he, Rick Rubin, if you don’t know who he is, he is a phenomenally successful music producer. And he’s worked with so many artists over the years and Grammys, everything you could think of. And he’s become this kind of guru when it comes to creativity lately. He’s on podcasts, he’s all over the place, and he wrote this book. And he really dives into what it is to be an artist, how you keep the creativity flowing, and all the things that are important to stay creative.

And one of the things he talks about is distraction and there’s this intentional distraction. I’m adding intentional to it because this is something that if you’re intentional about it and you put it on your calendar, you’ll consistently do it. And this distraction will get you into play and get you into creativity.

In the current situation, when you’re a trial attorney, you’re so busy and you’re so stressed and you have so much going on. There’s so many things like even thinking about play or creativity, it’s when I’ll get to it, or I don’t have the time for that, or that’s not the most important thing. And the holy grail to y’all in the trial world is preparation. I hear it all the time with my clients. Well, I just need to prepare more. Well, if I was just 100% prepared, I just need to be prepared.

Don’t get me wrong, preparation’s important, but what if your preparation was more playful? What if your preparation was more playful and it fueled creativity in your work? That’s what we want to get to. That’s what we want to get at. So being able to get on your feet, be playful, get creative while you’re preparing.

I just talked about Command the Courtroom. That’s a big reason why we have you get on your feet and act these things out. I mean, there’s the learning pyramid that we talk about in, or Command the Courtrooms and a lot of our training. And the way it’s drawn out is to think of a pyramid or a triangle. Top of the pyramid, the point is 5% of learning. And 5% where you take away the learning is in CLEs, certain things that you all go to where you’re just basically sitting down and somebody’s talking to you and teaching and that’s it. So when it comes to that, you get 5% that you take away from that learning.

Then there’s the 20%, which is if there’s visuals involved. You get to 50% when you’re actually role playing and acting out the things that you’re learning. When you get into 80 and 90%, you’re actually role playing and teaching. And we do that here. That’s what we do at these Command the Courtrooms. You got to come out and come to one of these. They’re fantastic. The one we have next is in September, I believe it’s the 23rd. We can put that in the show notes. But definitely come out to one of these Command the Courtrooms to get on your feet and play and get creative.

So one of the major issues in your profession is that you are so overwhelmed, overworked, and focusing on something like, “I have to be 100% prepared.” Well, what this does is this wears you out and it makes you more open to brain attacks, especially if you’re thinking of something like, “I need to be 100% prepared.” Well, then scarcity comes in because what if you aren’t, which you never will be. And then you start getting thrown off. The saboteur starts coming in. Limiting beliefs start coming in and then there’s really no room for creativity.

So what I’m getting at here is creativity needs to come first. You need to put it first. You need to pull yourself away from these long hours and these hyper-focused sessions of preparation. Now, you may be asking, “How do I do that?” Well, I’m going to get to that.

Well, let me read from the book Play for a second to kind of give you an idea of what this is all about. Biologists, psychologists, social scientists, and researchers from every point of the scientific compass now know that play is a profound biological process. It has evolved over eons in many animal species to promote survival. It shapes the brain and makes animals smarter and more adaptable. In higher animals, it fosters empathy and makes possible complex social groups.

For us, play lies at the core of creativity and innovation. Of all animal species, humans are the biggest players of all. We are built to play and built through play. When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality. Is it any wonder that often, the times we feel most alive, those that make up our best memories, are moments of play?

Now, just reading that, I mean, let that one sit for a little bit. I mean, play fuels creativity. Play is something that’s so essential in us. I mean, I’m going to go so far as to say play is just as important as breathing, sleeping, eating, shit, sex. Well, maybe not as important as that. Anyway, play is very important and I think I’ve illustrated that so far, but let me talk about how you can start bringing it more into your life.

So let’s talk about incorporating distraction into your work. So the way the brain is wired, the way it works is if you want to be productive, let’s say, you need to work in 90-minutes to two-hour blocks. And that’s the way we work here and that’s the way we teach all of our calls, all the things we do in person, we do it in 90-minute blocks. And that is for peak performance of the brain. Once you start getting beyond 90 minutes, two hours, your brain just starts wearing out and it needs to be rebooted. So to reboot it, you need to distract yourself. You get up, go do something different, walk around, spend five to 10 minutes away from your desk and change scenery and then come back.

So to do these things on a regular basis, well, working in 90-minute blocks is essential. So to start putting things that you do on your calendar every day at work in 90-minute blocks and giving a buffer in between. And that buffer, well, can be a distraction. Rick Rubin talks about how important distractions are for creativity and he talks about how when you distract yourself, you end up pivoting in a way mentally so that you open up different channels in the brain. And when you open up those different channels in the brain, that makes room for creativity.

He talks about non-thinking acts and he talks about washing dishes or brushing your teeth or things that basically don’t take really any very critical thinking, but they leave room for you to start bringing in other ideas, especially if you’re at work and you’re feeling blocked, to be able to get up and do something different, change your scenery, distract yourself away from the thing that’s blocking you, that’s how you can intentionally start opening up those other channels in the brain and making it possible to be able to come back with a reset fresh brain. But by doing this, you’re also making room for that creativity to show up. One of the things that Rick Rubin says is sometimes disengaging is the best way to engage, and that’s what I’m talking about here.

So what are some things that you can do that are playful in these distraction times when you’re at work? Well, it’s simple things like you can throw a tennis ball against the wall or draw something out on a flip chart that’s silly or just doodle. Something that is a physical distraction but then also is playful. Getting outside and getting into nice weather, if the weather is nice, getting out there can also open up the channels for creativity and keep you from staying blocked.

In Rick Rubin’s book, The Act of Creativity, he writes here, “When we reach an impasse at any point in the creative process, it can be helpful to step away from the project to create space and allow a solution to appear.” So there you go, there’s that distraction.

Sari:

If you’re a longtime listener, you’ve probably heard me say practice makes progress and what better way to practice than with a fellow group of trial attorneys in person and with me. Our two-day Command the Courtroom masterclass sessions put the H2H method into action and I’m there every step of the way with live coaching and feedback and finish mama fierceness. And don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what PI attorney Sean had to say about our two-day masterclass.

Sean:

My biggest takeaway is that I now have a new approach as to how I’m going to enter the courtroom. It’s a new energy, a new spirit, and it really gets me excited because that’s actually the more fun part of what we do and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of everything that I learned here.

Sari:

Now seats are limited. These are small group, high-impact courtroom sessions, not an auditorium full of bored attorneys and dull lectures. If you want to change the way you go to trial and turn your practice into progress, visit sariswears.com/masterclass to register for a 2026 class today. That’s sariswears.com/masterclass.

Coach K:

I’m going to say that your job requires creativity, at least if you want to be the kind of trial attorney that I know you want to be. Creativity will set you apart from others. There’s plenty of people out there that chase what other method and do what other things that, say, get results, but when you start being able to take all of that information in that you’re learning and get creative and create your own ways of approaching trial, working with your clients, all kinds of things that are connected to your work, it really sets you apart.

And this isn’t just a setting apart, this is all about fulfillment. If you want to have a more fulfilling life, less stress, less overwhelm, prevent burnout, well, being able to take breaks like this and do playful things and it’s not just these little distractions I’m talking about, being able to start playing in your life more, scheduling these things, calendaring these things. I know so much of this just seems like play, whenever I get the time I’ll do it, but play is essential. Play is going to keep you going. It’s going to keep your batteries charged and your reserves filled.

So start thinking about things that you really maybe don’t do anymore or miss that you want to start doing that are playful. I mean, it can be pickleball, it can be acting classes, it can be coaching your child’s little league team, whatever it is, but something that’s playful that you’ve been putting off and making a list of these things. Make a list of these distractions first, these ones that you start doing when you take that break, when you take that brain break in the middle of the day, something that’s a playful distraction or something that’s a non-thinking distraction like Rick Rubin talks about.

And then going from that list, start building on things that are playful that you can start calendaring and putting in your life. This is something that once you start doing it, you’re going to start getting pretty damn addicted to this thing, different from, say, the regular buffering that you do every day. Like say you’re at work and you’re stuck or you’re tired of working, you’re burnt out a little bit and you just need a little break. So then you just scroll social media. Or God forbid you get an opposing counsel email that comes in and you fire back with some really lashing email and feel like crap after you do it and exhausted. These are the kinds of things that happen when you’re buffering and you’re not giving your brain the breaks that they need. You start getting downright resentful and angry.

Let’s stop that, let’s stop buffering. Let’s start doing things that fuel us and these playful activities are definitely going to do that. And the more playful things you’re doing, the more creative you’re going to get. So start putting this on your calendar.

And I recommend that you have a regular routine of this. So if you do this every 90 minutes to two hours, you have this blocked out on your calendar that you get up and you break, you breathe, you do something playful, you open up that channel in your brain for creativity, then you come back. If you have that on your calendar, start blocking out things on your weekend. And that’s the jump from these little distractions during the day to open up your brain and to bring in play and creativity.

This is something to build upon. It comes from Atomic Habits and that book basically states that if you’re going to create any kind of habit, you have to do it in small increments and build upon that. So the small increment here is creating these distractions throughout your day and I’m going to say three times a day, five to 10 minutes a day. That’s it, three times a day. Build this into your calendar, start building upon that. And then on your weekends, bring in play, bring in something that’s an activity that’s 30 minutes and build upon that because what the eventual building towards goal is, is for you to start taking more time off and these bigger distractions like vacation. These are things that are going to be something that are a standard.

Sari and I take a month off in the summer. Every July, we take the month off and that’s something that we’ve done for years. We block out that time ahead of time. And that’s another thing I’m going to say about blocking out this time, make sure that you block it out, say, on your Sunday. So go to your calendar, block out your times at work that you’re going to be doing those 90-minute blocks to two hours. And then put in there a little piece, 10 minutes of this break time, this distraction time, this play creativity time. Put that in for three times a day and do that on Sunday so you’re intentional about this because the intentionality is what makes the rubber meet the road, changes the game, whatever cliche you want to hear. So get intentional about this and on Sundays block this out. So you do this three times a day, five to 10 minutes at a time.

From that point, you can build upon this. Then look at your weekends. What are some playful acts that you want to start doing to start opening up this creative channel and to start bringing more fulfillment into your life? Like I said, some hobbies that you haven’t done for a while. I use pickleball. I don’t even do it. I have a client that has a pickleball injury and can’t even do it anymore. So I don’t play pickleball, but I play the drums. I get out in nature, I do all kinds of things that keep me playing in my life. Start calendaring this. So on the weekends, do playful acts.

And then from there, start looking at, okay, what are my timed off going to look like? What playful things can I do here? What distractions can I build into my life? And start building these vacations and looking far ahead of time, forecasting this far ahead of time so that you make sure that it’s so.

Now, granted, I know trials come up in things like that where they take precedent. But in general, you can be able to plan these things out and be intentional about them and start really bringing in and building in more play, creativity into your life, and giving your brain a break and bringing in a lot more rest, play, relaxation into your life so you can start unplugging more. And this is a habit that you’re going to start building.

So let me give you a quick recap. You’re going to start building more playtime in your life. I know it sounds maybe a little silly, but it’s hugely important for creativity and fulfillment. So you’re going to start on Sundays blocking out this time three times a day in between your time blocks of 90 minutes to two hours of work. Give yourself a chance to reboot, your brain to reboot and do something that’s a non-thinking act, a playful act, something that can distract you away from your regular daily work. And what this will do is open up the channels in your brain to come back and bring in more creativity and be refreshed when you work.

Then from there, you start building upon these 10-minute, three times a day blocks or pieces that you put in between your blocks and you build to things you’re doing on your weekend that are more playful. From there, you start building towards putting in vacation time way ahead of time on your calendar so that you can create these more spacious distractions and this will make for a way more fulfilling life.

I love you all. It’s great talking to you and a great time doing these podcast episodes always. And I look forward to the next one.