Lessons from Free Range Kids

Part of moving out of zombie mode is no longer acting dead. But like many in burnout, you may have loss identity,  stopped hobbies or unable to find things that re-energize.

Watching my kids outside, wands (sticks) in hand, casting spells across the yard while our free-range chickens dart through their imaginary battles (pictured below). There’s no fancy setup, no structured play. Just creativity, adaptability, and the kind of magic you can only create from nothing.

Watching them, I’m reminded that childhood is one of the most resilient stages of life. Kids don’t just adapt; they thrive in uncertainty. They ask what if, they bend the rules of reality, and they turn the simplest moments into adventures.

Somewhere along the way, we start treating adaptability as a skill tied to productivity, problem-solving, or efficiency. But the real key to adaptability? It’s in imagination. It’s in the ability to wonder, to shift perspectives, to see a stick and believe it holds power. In that power...that type of energy then comes productivity, problem-solving, and efficiency.

Maybe it’s time to unlearn the rules of adulting and reclaim the adaptability we were born with. Because resilience isn’t just about pushing through. It’s about reinventing, reimagining, and remembering that even in the ordinary, there’s something new you can create out of nothing.

Give yourself, your team space to imagine what your organization could look like.

Then lead the change. Dig into programs here: Services