But crucially it isn’t suppressed in the same way for everyone. But we all need a little constructive mischief in our lives.įlip this to a work environment, with its more structured and prosaic set of social norms, and our natural proclivity for constructive mischief is immediately suppressed. Some people are better at finding or creating life’s mischief, others like to sit back and absorb the mischief made by others.

To bring humour to tough times, to distract ourselves from nerves or just to build rapport with somebody else.

It allows us to laugh at difficult or maybe even dangerous situations. Our lives are full of constructive mischief. Constructive in business parlance is normally an adjective that massages a noun with negative connotations, like criticism or even feedback.Ĭonstructive Mischief then can be described as ‘positive misbehaviour’, or put another way a little bit of roguish conduct that is ultimately well-meaning and done to deliver something positive, be that a feeling or a relationship. I wouldn’t want to spend time with a bad person, but a mischievous person…that person seems exciting and compelling.Ĭonstructive on the other hand is a universally good word.

But at the same time it has an undercurrent of roguish playfulness that seems warm and engaging. Face value tells us it’s a negative word.

What does the word mischief mean