Unstructured Recreation
Play with no outcome is the fuel that gets you across the finish line — schedule the break, not the goal.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
Unstructured Recreation is the phase Wells says entrepreneurs find hardest and skip most — and the one whose absence caused her burnout. It is play with no target outcome, deliberately different from the workout that belongs in preparation; its job is to restore the energy needed to reach transformation and finish. It should be unstructured, mirroring how children play purely for fun, and it should push you out of your safe zone so you flex the muscle of openness. Even a 15-minute activity can pull a bad day back on track. Staying open to newness this way is the natural engine of always evolving.
Origin
Wells thought she was nailing her Soul Cycle workouts until, at a retreat in Utah, a masseuse told her she could tell Wells worked out but that it wasn't helping her stress. She realized her workout belonged in preparation and that she was missing a separate recreation phase — the very energy she needed to transform and finish. Adding unstructured play became the breakthrough of her whole approach.
Core principles
- 01Recreation is play with no target outcome, distinct from the workout that belongs in preparation.
- 02It restores the specific energy you need to reach transformation and finish the goal.
- 03It should be unstructured — mirror how children play just because it's fun.
- 04Getting out of your safe zone flexes the muscle of openness to new ideas.
- 05Staying open to newness, even things unrelated to your business, keeps you evolving.
How to run it
- 1
Distinguish workout from recreation
Recognize that exercise is a preparation task like sleep and hydration; recreation is separate, outcome-free play meant to decompress.
Watch out Assuming your workout is de-stressing you can mask the fact that you never actually rest.
- 2
Take unstructured, safe-zone-breaking breaks
Schedule play with no goal — from 15 minutes to a couple of days — and choose something outside your safe zone to open your mind.
Pro tip Reading 15 minutes about something you're merely curious about flexes the openness muscle.
Watch out Refusing to engage new things ('I don't care about AI') closes the muscle you need as an entrepreneur.
- 3
Play like a child
Watch how kids play with no intended outcome and copy it — do the thing because it's fun, not to achieve X, Y and Z.
Pro tip A 10-15 minute game with a child is legitimate recreation.
In the wild
After a massage at a Utah retreat, Wells was told 'I can tell you work out, and that's not helping your stress.' She realized her intense Soul Cycle sessions belonged in preparation and that she had no true recreation phase.
→ Adding unstructured play restored the energy she needed to finish projects and became her biggest breakthrough.
Common mistakes
Treating workouts as recreation
Fitness is a preparation task; counting it as your decompression means you never actually rest and burn out anyway.
Making recreation goal-oriented
Playing for a specific outcome defeats the purpose — the restorative value comes from having no target at all.
Is it for you?
Best for
High performers who confuse structured workouts with restoration and stall before finishing.
Not ideal for
People who already build in genuine downtime and aren't at burnout risk.
From the transcript
“when I started to see how much better I was reacting to situations... I realized it was absolutely the most important thing”
“watch how kids play and watch how there's like no outcome... they're playing because it's fun”
From the episode
Tina Wells: The Elevation Approach, How to Achieve Work-Life Harmony While Still Crushing Your Goals
Tina Wells