Description
Learning Module #3 ~ Leisure Philosophy
Course Learning Outcome(s) related to this Module
≈ Demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the importance of leisure as a component
of human behavior in achieving life balance
≈ Construct their own personal leisure philosophy by applying the concepts of leisure,
recreation and play in society
Leisure Philosophy
• You may have taken a philosophy course in college or read about some of the great
philosophers in high school and I am sure you never thought that you would be
talking about philosophy in a class that focuses on life balance and leisure, however
the best way to learn about leisure and to change our attitude about leisure is to take a
very focused look at foundational components of philosophy and to establish our very
own leisure philosophy.
• Leisure is the basis of life satisfaction, therefore to achieve the level of satisfaction
each of us desires we should have some form of guidance, be it a map, recipe card,
prescription, etc. that will give us direction and a reference point. This can be done
through the creation of a Personal Leisure Philosophy.
•
•
The Youtube video is an excerpt from the movie “Pursuit of Happiness” starring Will
Smith. If you have never seen the full movie, I would highly suggest a viewing.
Although the dialogue is not a “philosophy” you can begin to understand what values
and perceptions Will Smith is attempting to influence on the young boy, however he
quickly recognizes the negativity of his words and how it has and will impact the
child. As we get further into this learning module you will understand the
importance of this Youtube video and the impact parents have on their children’s
value system and their personal leisure philosophy.
REFLECTION ~ If Will Smith would have continued his rant and been negative
about his son playing basketball, how might this have influenced the boy’s leisure
philosophy?
Leisure Philosophy
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Provides:
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Provides a framework for action
Incorporates:
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Understanding of direction
Goals
Purpose
Values
Beliefs
Priorities
Ideas worth pursuing
Has a direct relationship to perceived quality of life
Creating a leisure philosophy is not as easy as just putting pencil to paper and writing
what comes to your mind. We will first need to understand what the leisure
philosophy provides us. Once written, the leisure philosophy will be able to provide
us with a direction on how we want to act not only in our leisure, but even greater,
what we want to do with our lives. After you have completed your personal leisure
philosophy, you or others who read your philosophy, should have a better
understanding of who you are, your interests, values, goals, priorities, and even have
an idea of your purpose.
Your personal leisure philosophy will serve as a reference to what actions you want to
take moving forward in your life. It may be a directive to your leisure participation,
but in many ways it will also offer direction to what actions you want to take in your
daily life.
We will begin building your personal leisure philosophy by determining your
personal values, beliefs, and priorities. We will walk you through a couple of
exercises later to assist you in making these determinations.
As stated, leisure is perceived freedom and it is directly related to life satisfaction,
therefore we can infer that leisure is the determinant to one’s quality of life. Often
when someone speaks about the positive things in their life and what brings them joy
or happiness they reference their leisure participation, be it what they do in their
leisure time, who they choose to participate with, or the outcome of their
participation.
If leisure has this level of influence and importance in life, should there not be a more
focused look at this topic and further establish a written plan on how to achieve a
better quality of life?
Leisure Philosophy
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Provides vision and long term perspective
Provides the answer to the question Why?
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Boys and Girls Club Philosophy
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•
•
•
•
•
RhSdE&feature=related
Believes that their program shapes the
character of young people in the United
States by providing them with wholesome
alternatives to life on the streets.
RhSdE&feature=related
The Youtube video features Robert Fulghum, famous author, as he humorously
taps into some forthright philosophical questions we often face including: “What
have you done?”
As stated, a personal leisure philosophy offers a purpose and direction. In other
words it can offer a vision for the future, a long-term perspective. If you were to look
at some of the vision statements businesses provide, you will begin to see that in
many ways these statements are philosophical in nature. Vision statements, unlike
mission statements are to provide the direction on “where” a business wants to be or
what they want to achieve. In other words if a company achieved everything it
wanted to they would have nothing more to strive for. This is why companies
actually change their vision statements periodically because they actually achieve part
or all of their vision, or because the industry changes their initial thoughts on what
they wanted to accomplish. A company’s vision may no longer be a viable part of an
industry that goes through changes.
Your personal leisure philosophy should have some of these same similarities in that
it should provide you with the framework of where you want to be or what you want
to accomplish in your leisure. In other words if you had the “perfect leisure life”
what would this look like?
Similar to the businesses, your personal leisure philosophy may change over time and
it may need to be adjusted or rewritten. Due to the many influences in life your
values, beliefs and goals may change at any time.
Your personal leisure philosophy should be able to answer the question, WHY? Why
do I make the decisions I do? Why do I choose to do certain things in my life?
The Boys and Girls Club philosophy: “To enable all young people, especially those
who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible
citizens.” “Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys
and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.”
The philosophy has been provided to offer an example of a very simple and direct
statement of purpose. From this example you should be able to easily determine what
their values are, what their priorities and beliefs are, and what direction they are going
to take in the future. It is difficult to see what their vision is from this statement.
This is because they have a separate vision statement that they provide.
•
REFLECTION ~ Look closely at the B&G Club philosophy: What do they value?
What are their priorities? What is their purpose?
Leisure Philosophy
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What is a philosophy?
Where do the philosophical ideas come
from?
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Developing your own Philosophy
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Determine and articulate personal values
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Values Activity
Asking Questions of self
•
By definition a philosophy is a collection of systematically defined values, beliefs,
and preferences; its primary tool is reason. A philosophy defines a set of beliefs that
can be acted upon and that give meaning and direction to one’s efforts. It helps to
determine what is important and what is not. It is usually expressed as an abstract
idea or set of constructs.
•
Philosophical beliefs/ideas come from society and from individual belief structures.
Generally cultural expectations and life’s events will have an influence on a person’s
belief system. Some of the potential attributes to a philosophy could be: divine end,
happiness, combination of work, play, love, self actualization, Utopia, no end,
balance, quality of life, etc. There are so many different beliefs that we establish over
time, but we never formally study or explore them with the intent of categorization or
further development. (Until now)
•
How do you go about developing your own personal leisure philosophy? The first
thing we need to do is determine our values. You have established values so they do
not need to be created, they just need to be prioritized and written. So now you may
be asking, “What is a Value?” Values are principles or guidelines that individuals
regard as being important in life.
•
Your leisure philosophy will help to define your values. Essentially values are the
foundation of your philosophical position.
•
TASK ~ Write/Type a list of your values. You should be able to list between 5-15
things you value in life. These should not be specific to leisure; they should be life’s
values. What are the things most important to you in your life. (Ex. family, religion,
money, beauty, honesty, etc.) After you have listed your values you will need to go
back to your list and prioritize them. Rank order, as best as possible, what is your
number one value and proceed to list your values from most important to least
important.
Leisure Philosophy
•
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•
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What influences our values?
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Values guide our individual choices
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Why build a philosophy of Leisure?
Now that you have listed your values we can take a closer look at what values provide
and how they are influenced. You, like everyone else, has established your values
over time, however not everyone has the same values. Values are not assigned; they
are learned based on life’s experiences and certain influences. The primary
influences are: parents, friends, school, church, television, newspaper, radio,
worldwide web, work, etc.
It is easy to understand that as a child you acquire most of your values from your
parents or whoever is raising you. This is because you spend the most amount of
time with them; therefore they impose their personal values on you. As you grow
older and begin to develop your own personal belief system, in addition to being
exposed to more people that may have conflicting beliefs or values, your values and
beliefs may begin to change. Additionally life’s experiences have an impact on your
values or beliefs. You may experience a situation in which the outcome is in conflict
with your values or beliefs. This experience may actually cause you to change or
alter your value. The avalanche of conflicting information, values or beliefs, can
easily confuse a person. As a person matures and experiences many of life’s
situations, his or her value system may change drastically. For others they may retain
many of the same values their parents or caretakers imposed on them.
Values contribute to the basic belief about living the “good life” and what constitutes
life satisfaction, hence the values are the “nuts and bolts” of a philosophy statement.
If you take the time to really think about your values you will begin to see your
values actually guide you in almost every decision you make in your life. When
faced with a decision, you will often reflect on your values to determine what
decision you will make. For example: You are hungry and you are at McDonald’s.
Your value system may determine what food choice you make. If you value health
and good nutrition you may choose a salad instead of a Big Mac and fries.
•
Values give meaning to life – they affect how people feel about themselves when
their thoughts, attitudes, and actions agree with their values. People often experience
guilt and regret when the decisions they make do not align with their values.
Everyday we are faced with important decisions to be made. How we respond is
often based on our core values.
•
A personal leisure philosophy will serve as a sense of inspiration and encouragement
while directing your leisure participation. It will help to clarify important personal
values regarding and related to leisure. It may also assist you in coping with
uncertainties and anxieties that arise because of decisions that need to be made.
•
REFLECTION ~ Think about how your values have affected your choices related
to friends, activities, language you use, clothing, television shows you watch, what
you text, how you interact on Facebook, career choices, and how your respond to
others. Further reflect on how your values influence your life balance.
•
The following video is a Ted Talk featuring Adam Leipzig as he presents: “How to
know your life purpose in 5 minutes.” As you listen to the video you should be able to
recognize how this has a relationship to one’s personal philosophy and even potential
to expand to one’s personal LEISURE philosophy.
Leisure Philosophy
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Philosophical Constructs
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•
Perennialism
Idealism
Realism
Experimentalism
Existentialism
Pragmatism
Humanism
There are a number of different philosophical constructs that exist. It is not essential
that someone categorize or align themselves with a specific construct, but they can
provide some thought provoking ideas on beliefs and values others have.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Perennialism builds on the belief that life is constant and unchanging and that eternal
truths exist. The focus is on reason; Perennialists believe life events should focus on
developing rationality and discovering truth through study and divine inspiration.
From a leisure perspective they view leisure as an opportunity to bring individuals
closer to God and to promote spiritual values.
Idealism builds on the notion that some individuals act according to what they believe
in, regardless of what other people think or the consequences of their actions.
Idealists formulate and define their own individual ideals that may or may not be
reality based. Their ideals remain constant. From a leisure perspective they promote
harmony among people, promote nature, conservation, preservation, etc.
Realism builds on works drawn from Aristotle. Realists are concerned with revealing
the natural order of the world and the universe. They feel that objects have an
existence independent of human consciousness of them. From a leisure perspective
they view play and work as very distinct and defined separate parts of life. They
view leisure as a means to rejuvenate individuals to work more effectively.
Experimentalism tests the value and truth of ideas. Experimentalists claim that an
idea only works when action based upon it produced results. Therefore they view the
world as constantly changing. From a leisure perspective they believe leisure must
have a specific measurable outcome or result.
Existentialism is similar to Pragmatism in that Existentialists see the world ever
changing. They are concerned with what works and what doesn’t. They seek to
discover and expand the society and culture in which they live. From a leisure
perspective they assist people in exploring a variety of life experiences. They are
very group oriented and openly accept change while seeking to improve society and
culture.
Pragmatism is built on the feeling that individuals develop themselves and are
responsible only to themselves for their behavior. From a leisure perspective
Pragmatists don’t want prescribed regimented experiences. They want to develop or
create their own rules. They want to have the freedom to define their own leisure
means and end.
Humanism focuses on human interests and values. Humanists’ beliefs suggest that
humans are the supreme value in the universe and should only be concerned with
human interests, not spiritual. Humanism promotes human development. From a
leisure perspective humanism provides opportunities for a person to achieve joy,
mastery, uniqueness, self-realization, and shared experiences. They focus on the
development of a human being.
Leisure Philosophy
Questions
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What do you value as a result of your own
thinking?
What are the influences of your family peers,
education, religion, and community?
What specifically do your consider worthwhile
about leisure?
What events shape your values?
What excites you about leisure?
What has frustrated you about leisure?
What contributions do you make to others?
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The questions listed above will allow you to begin to examine your own personal
values in preparation for the development of your personal leisure philosophy.
•
TASK ~ Building on the values you listed earlier begin to construct these values into
statements that represent philosophy, include beliefs, priorities and ideas worth
pursuing. Further expand these statement to show relationship to leisure, be it leisure
choices, interests or pursuits.
•
After you have written your personal leisure philosophy it should clarify what you
believe and allow you to better focus on your goals and direct your behavior toward
the achievement of these goals. Additionally a person unknown to you should be able
to read your philosophy and have a very good idea who you are and what your leisure
interests and pursuits are.
•
The following slides are philosophies that we will examine to get a better idea how
you will write our own personal leisure philosophy. As you read through the slides
you should keep in mind the core components of a philosophy – values, beliefs, and
preferences. Remember that it provides direction.
Philosophy
Google
Never settle for the best
“The perfect search engine,” says Google coco-founder Larry Page, “would
understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.”
Given the state of search technology today, that’s a farfar-reaching vision
requiring research, development and innovation to realize. Google
Google is
committed to blazing that trail. Though acknowledged as the world’s
world’s leading
search technology company, Google’s goal is to provide a much higher
higher level
of service to all those who seek information, whether they’re at a desk in
Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling in Bangkok.
To that end, Google has persistently pursued innovation and pushed
pushed the
limits of existing technology to provide a fast, accurate and easy
easy–toto-use
search service that can be accessed from anywhere. To fully understand
understand
Google, it’s helpful to understand all the ways in which the company
company has
helped to redefine how individuals, businesses and technologists view the
Internet
•
After you review Google’s original philosophy statement, you can certainly draw out
their vision or direction, their core beliefs, their values, and even some of their goals.
o Vision – Their vision focuses on not only being the best or having the perfect
search engine, but also striving to be better than the best – Not to settle for the
best.
o Values – Google values research, development, innovation, (customer)
service; these are apparent; some that may not be as apparent are: leadership,
challenge, perfection and understanding
o Goals – to provide a fast, accurate, easy-to-access search engine that can be
accessed from anywhere; to be the leader or front runner in the industry (blaze
the trail); to provide a much higher level of service
Philosophy
Wal-Mart
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Commitment
The philosophy that drives diversity at WalWal-Mart is a natural extension of
our core beliefs: respect for the individual; service to the customer;
customer; and
strive for excellence. Diversity is a key dimension of our commitment
commitment to
customers, suppliers, and associates: treat them with fairness and
and respect,
be their advocates, be sensitive to their concerns, value their differences,
and serve and support them the best we can.
We are committed to increasing and promoting the sourcing of merchandise
merchandise
and services from minorityminority- and womenwomen-owned businesses.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to enhance and integrate our supplier diversity programs
programs into
all of our procurement practices and to be an advocate for minority
minority– and
womenwomen-owned businesses.
What We Expect
All suppliers must have: competitive prices, financial stability,
stability, proven
success in the marketplace, and offer excellent products and/or services
•
TASK ~ Study WalMart’s philosophy and determine the different components.
What is their vision, beliefs, values, and goals?
•
If you feel you need more practice in dissecting a company’s philosophy you can
explore some of the following large businesses.
Philosophy
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Nike
Dell
Target
SnkMU
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Will Smith is featured again speaking about his own personal philosophy. Hopefully
you can find within his testimonial all the features of a philosophy and how to put
one’s ideas into a context that is empowering and motivating.
•
You should now be able to construct your own Personal Leisure Philosophy. You
have determined your values, you have put these values into statements and related
them to leisure, and you have looked at other philosophies to get an idea on how to
put your value statements together to make an understandable philosophy that is
readable and flows.
•
ASSIGNMENT ~ Construct your Personal Leisure Philosophy and submit it in the
Canvas in the Leisure Philosophy folder.
Learning Module #3 ~ Leisure Philosophy
Course Learning Outcome(s) related to this Module
≈ Demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the importance of leisure as a component
of human behavior in achieving life balance
≈ Construct their own personal leisure philosophy by applying the concepts of leisure,
recreation and play in society
Leisure Philosophy
You may have taken a philosophy course in college or read about some of the great
philosophers in high school and I am sure you never thought that you would be
talking about philosophy in a class that focuses on life balance and leisure, however
the best way to learn about leisure and to change our attitude about leisure is to take a
very focused look at foundational components of philosophy and to establish our very
own leisure philosophy.
Leisure is the basis of life satisfaction, therefore to achieve the level of satisfaction
each of us desires we should have some form of guidance, be it a map, recipe card,
prescription, etc. that will give us direction and a reference point. This can be done
through the creation of a Personal Leisure Philosophy.
The Youtube video is an excerpt from the movie “Pursuit of Happiness” starring Will
Smith. If you have never seen the full movie, I would highly suggest a viewing.
Although the dialogue is not a “philosophy” you can begin to understand what values
and perceptions Will Smith is attempting to influence on the young boy, however he
quickly recognizes the negativity of his words and how it has and will impact the
child. As we get further into this learning module you will understand the
importance of this Youtube video and the impact parents have on their children’s
value system and their personal leisure philosophy.
REFLECTION ~ If Will Smith would have continued his rant and been negative
about his son playing basketball, how might this have influenced the boy’s leisure
philosophy?
Leisure Philosophy
Provides:
Provides a framework for action
Incorporates:
Understanding of direction
Goals
Purpose
Values
Beliefs
Priorities
Ideas worth pursuing
Has a direct relationship to perceived quality of life
Creating a leisure philosophy is not as easy as just putting pencil to paper and writing
what comes to your mind. We will first need to understand what the leisure
philosophy provides us. Once written, the leisure philosophy will be able to provide
us with a direction on how we want to act not only in our leisure, but even greater,
what we want to do with our lives. After you have completed your personal leisure
philosophy, you or others who read your philosophy, should have a better
understanding of who you are, your interests, values, goals, priorities, and even have
an idea of your purpose.
Your personal leisure philosophy will serve as a reference to what actions you want to
take moving forward in your life. It may be a directive to your leisure participation,
but in many ways it will also offer direction to what actions you want to take in your
daily life.
We will begin building your personal leisure philosophy by determining your
personal values, beliefs, and priorities. We will walk you through a couple of
exercises later to assist you in making these determinations.
As stated, leisure is perceived freedom and it is directly related to life satisfaction,
therefore we can infer that leisure is the determinant to one’s quality of life. Often
when someone speaks about the positive things in their life and what brings them joy
or happiness they reference their leisure participation, be it what they do in their
leisure time, who they choose to participate with, or the outcome of their
participation.
If leisure has this level of influence and importance in life, should there not be a more
focused look at this topic and further establish a written plan on how to achieve a
better quality of life?
Leisure Philosophy
Provides vision and long term perspective
Provides the answer to the question Why?
Boys and Girls Club Philosophy
RhSdE&feature=related
Believes that their program shapes the
character of young people in the United
States by providing them with wholesome
alternatives to life on the streets.
RhSdE&feature=related
The Youtube video features Robert Fulghum, famous author, as he humorously
taps into some forthright philosophical questions we often face including: “What
have you done?”
As stated, a personal leisure philosophy offers a purpose and direction. In other
words it can offer a vision for the future, a long-term perspective. If you were to look
at some of the vision statements businesses provide, you will begin to see that in
many ways these statements are philosophical in nature. Vision statements, unlike
mission statements are to provide the direction on “where” a business wants to be or
what they want to achieve. In other words if a company achieved everything it
wanted to they would have nothing more to strive for. This is why companies
actually change their vision statements periodically because they actually achieve part
or all of their vision, or because the industry changes their initial thoughts on what
they wanted to accomplish. A company’s vision may no longer be a viable part of an
industry that goes through changes.
Your personal leisure philosophy should have some of these same similarities in that
it should provide you with the framework of where you want to be or what you want
to accomplish in your leisure. In other words if you had the “perfect leisure life”
what would this look like?
Similar to the businesses, your personal leisure philosophy may change over time and
it may need to be adjusted or rewritten. Due to the many influences in life your
values, beliefs and goals may change at any time.
Your personal leisure philosophy should be able to answer the question, WHY? Why
do I make the decisions I do? Why do I choose to do certain things in my life?
The Boys and Girls Club philosophy: “To enable all young people, especially those
who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible
citizens.” “Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys
and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.”
The philosophy has been provided to offer an example of a very simple and direct
statement of purpose. From this example you should be able to easily determine what
their values are, what their priorities and beliefs are, and what direction they are going
to take in the future. It is difficult to see what their vision is from this statement.
This is because they have a separate vision statement that they provide.
REFLECTION ~ Look closely at the B&G Club philosophy: What do they value?
What are their priorities? What is their purpose?
Leisure Philosophy
What is a philosophy?
Where do the philosophical ideas come
from?
Developing your own Philosophy
Determine and articulate personal values
Values Activity
Asking Questions of self
By definition a philosophy is a collection of systematically defined values, beliefs,
and preferences; its primary tool is reason. A philosophy defines a set of beliefs that
can be acted upon and that give meaning and direction to one’s efforts. It helps to
determine what is important and what is not. It is usually expressed as an abstract
idea or set of constructs.
Philosophical beliefs/ideas come from society and from individual belief structures.
Generally cultural expectations and life’s events will have an influence on a person’s
belief system. Some of the potential attributes to a philosophy could be: divine end,
happiness, combination of work, play, love, self actualization, Utopia, no end,
balance, quality of life, etc. There are so many different beliefs that we establish over
time, but we never formally study or explore them with the intent of categorization or
further development. (Until now)
How do you go about developing your own personal leisure philosophy? The first
thing we need to do is determine our values. You have established values so they do
not need to be created, they just need to be prioritized and written. So now you may
be asking, “What is a Value?” Values are principles or guidelines that individuals
regard as being important in life.
Your leisure philosophy will help to define your values. Essentially values are the
foundation of your philosophical position.
TASK ~ Write/Type a list of your values. You should be able to list between 5-15
things you value in life. These should not be specific to leisure; they should be life’s
values. What are the things most important to you in your life. (Ex. family, religion,
money, beauty, honesty, etc.) After you have listed your values you will need to go
back to your list and prioritize them. Rank order, as best as possible, what is your
number one value and proceed to list your values from most important to least
important.
Leisure Philosophy
What influences our values?
Values guide our individual choices
Why build a philosophy of Leisure?
Now that you have listed your values we can take a closer look at what values provide
and how they are influenced. You, like everyone else, has established your values
over time, however not everyone has the same values. Values are not assigned; they
are learned based on life’s experiences and certain influences. The primary
influences are: parents, friends, school, church, television, newspaper, radio,
worldwide web, work, etc.
It is easy to understand that as a child you acquire most of your values from your
parents or whoever is raising you. This is because you spend the most amount of
time with them; therefore they impose their personal values on you. As you grow
older and begin to develop your own personal belief system, in addition to being
exposed to more people that may have conflicting beliefs or values, your values and
beliefs may begin to change. Additionally life’s experiences have an impact on your
values or beliefs. You may experience a situation in which the outcome is in conflict
with your values or beliefs. This experience may actually cause you to change or
alter your value. The avalanche of conflicting information, values or beliefs, can
easily confuse a person. As a person matures and experiences many of life’s
situations, his or her value system may change drastically. For others they may retain
many of the same values their parents or caretakers imposed on them.
Values contribute to the basic belief about living the “good life” and what constitutes
life satisfaction, hence the values are the “nuts and bolts” of a philosophy statement.
If you take the time to really think about your values you will begin to see your
values actually guide you in almost every decision you make in your life. When
faced with a decision, you will often reflect on your values to determine what
decision you will make. For example: You are hungry and you are at McDonald’s.
Your value system may determine what food choice you make. If you value health
and good nutrition you may choose a salad instead of a Big Mac and fries.
Values give meaning to life – they affect how people feel about themselves when
their thoughts, attitudes, and actions agree with their values. People often experience
guilt and regret when the decisions they make do not align with their values.
Everyday we are faced with important decisions to be made. How we respond is
often based on our core values.
A personal leisure philosophy will serve as a sense of inspiration and encouragement
while directing your leisure participation. It will help to clarify important personal
values regarding and related to leisure. It may also assist you in coping with
uncertainties and anxieties that arise because of decisions that need to be made.
REFLECTION ~ Think about how your values have affected your choices related
to friends, activities, language you use, clothing, television shows you watch, what
you text, how you interact on Facebook, career choices, and how your respond to
others. Further reflect on how your values influence your life balance.
The following video is a Ted Talk featuring Adam Leipzig as he presents: “How to
know your life purpose in 5 minutes.” As you listen to the video you should be able to
recognize how this has a relationship to one’s personal philosophy and even potential
to expand to one’s personal LEISURE philosophy.
Leisure Philosophy
Philosophical Constructs
Perennialism
Idealism
Realism
Experimentalism
Existentialism
Pragmatism
Humanism
There are a number of different philosophical constructs that exist. It is not essential
that someone categorize or align themselves with a specific construct, but they can
provide some thought provoking ideas on beliefs and values others have.
Perennialism builds on the belief that life is constant and unchanging and that eternal
truths exist. The focus is on reason; Perennialists believe life events should focus on
developing rationality and discovering truth through study and divine inspiration.
From a leisure perspective they view leisure as an opportunity to bring individuals
closer to God and to promote spiritual values.
Idealism builds on the notion that some individuals act according to what they believe
in, regardless of what other people think or the consequences of their actions.
Idealists formulate and define their own individual ideals that may or may not be
reality based. Their ideals remain constant. From a leisure perspective they promote
harmony among people, promote nature, conservation, preservation, etc.
Realism builds on works drawn from Aristotle. Realists are concerned with revealing
the natural order of the world and the universe. They feel that objects have an
existence independent of human consciousness of them. From a leisure perspective
they view play and work as very distinct and defined separate parts of life. They
view leisure as a means to rejuvenate individuals to work more effectively.
Experimentalism tests the value and truth of ideas. Experimentalists claim that an
idea only works when action based upon it produced results. Therefore they view the
world as constantly changing. From a leisure perspective they believe leisure must
have a specific measurable outcome or result.
Existentialism is similar to Pragmatism in that Existentialists see the world ever
changing. They are concerned with what works and what doesn’t. They seek to
discover and expand the society and culture in which they live. From a leisure
perspective they assist people in exploring a variety of life experiences. They are
very group oriented and openly accept change while seeking to improve society and
culture.
Pragmatism is built on the feeling that individuals develop themselves and are
responsible only to themselves for their behavior. From a leisure perspective
Pragmatists don’t want prescribed regimented experiences. They want to develop or
create their own rules. They want to have the freedom to define their own leisure
means and end.
Humanism focuses on human interests and values. Humanists’ beliefs suggest that
humans are the supreme value in the universe and should only be concerned with
human interests, not spiritual. Humanism promotes human development. From a
leisure perspective humanism provides opportunities for a person to achieve joy,
mastery, uniqueness, self-realization, and shared experiences. They focus on the
development of a human being.
Leisure Philosophy
Questions
What do you value as a result of your own
thinking?
What are the influences of your family peers,
education, religion, and community?
What specifically do your consider worthwhile
about leisure?
What events shape your values?
What excites you about leisure?
What has frustrated you about leisure?
What contributions do you make to others?
The questions listed above will allow you to begin to examine your own personal
values in preparation for the development of your personal leisure philosophy.
TASK ~ Building on the values you listed earlier begin to construct these values into
statements that represent philosophy, include beliefs, priorities and ideas worth
pursuing. Further expand these statement to show relationship to leisure, be it leisure
choices, interests or pursuits.
After you have written your personal leisure philosophy it should clarify what you
believe and allow you to better focus on your goals and direct your behavior toward
the achievement of these goals. Additionally a person unknown to you should be able
to read your philosophy and have a very good idea who you are and what your leisure
interests and pursuits are.
The following slides are philosophies that we will examine to get a better idea how
you will write our own personal leisure philosophy. As you read through the slides
you should keep in mind the core components of a philosophy – values, beliefs, and
preferences. Remember that it provides direction.
Philosophy
Google
Never settle for the best
“The perfect search engine,” says Google coco-founder Larry Page, “would
understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.”
Given the state of search technology today, that’s a farfar-reaching vision
requiring research, development and innovation to realize. Google
Google is
committed to blazing that trail. Though acknowledged as the world’s
world’s leading
search technology company, Google’s goal is to provide a much higher
higher level
of service to all those who seek information, whether they’re at a desk in
Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling in Bangkok.
To that end, Google has persistently pursued innovation and pushed
pushed the
limits of existing technology to provide a fast, accurate and easy
easy–toto-use
search service that can be accessed from anywhere. To fully understand
understand
Google, it’s helpful to understand all the ways in which the company
company has
helped to redefine how individuals, businesses and technologists view the
Internet
After you review Google’s original philosophy statement, you can certainly draw out
their vision or direction, their core beliefs, their values, and even some of their goals.
o Vision – Their vision focuses on not only being the best or having the perfect
search engine, but also striving to be better than the best – Not to settle for the
best.
o Values – Google values research, development, innovation, (customer)
service; these are apparent; some that may not be as apparent are: leadership,
challenge, perfection and understanding
o Goals – to provide a fast, accurate, easy-to-access search engine that can be
accessed from anywhere; to be the leader or front runner in the industry (blaze
the trail); to provide a much higher level of service
Philosophy
Wal-Mart
Commitment
The philosophy that drives diversity at WalWal-Mart is a natural extension of
our core beliefs: respect for the individual; service to the customer;
customer; and
strive for excellence. Diversity is a key dimension of our commitment
commitment to
customers, suppliers, and associates: treat them with fairness and
and respect,
be their advocates, be sensitive to their concerns, value their differences,
and serve and support them the best we can.
We are committed to increasing and promoting the sourcing of merchandise
merchandise
and services from minorityminority- and womenwomen-owned businesses.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to enhance and integrate our supplier diversity programs
programs into
all of our procurement practices and to be an advocate for minority
minority– and
womenwomen-owned businesses.
What We Expect
All suppliers must have: competitive prices, financial stability,
stability, proven
success in the marketplace, and offer excellent products and/or services
TASK ~ Study WalMart’s philosophy and determine the different components.
What is their vision, beliefs, values, and goals?
If you feel you need more practice in dissecting a company’s philosophy you can
explore some of the following large businesses.
Philosophy
Nike
Dell
Target
SnkMU
Will Smith is featured again speaking about his own personal philosophy. Hopefully
you can find within his testimonial all the features of a philosophy and how to put
one’s ideas into a context that is empowering and motivating.
You should now be able to construct your own Personal Leisure Philosophy. You
have determined your values, you have put these values into statements and related
them to leisure, and you have looked at other philosophies to get an idea on how to
put your value statements together to make an understandable philosophy that is
readable and flows.
ASSIGNMENT ~ Construct your Personal Leisure Philosophy and submit it in the
Canvas in the Leisure Philosophy folder.
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attachment