How to Turn Voluntary Work and Hobbies into Fun Games
And why it makes sense
I am discovering the magic of turning life into fun games every day anew. And I often say you can turn anything and everything into games — and that all the time.
When I am in the flow and enjoy an activity, I am already in the game. But when I feel down and observe it without judging my circumstances, anyone, or myself for that, then my enthusiasm sparks just from the awareness that I can also turn the most tedious and initially resented activity into something fun and enjoyable.
Voluntary work and hobbies are rarely considered tedious. They are the projects of our hearts.
In the case of voluntary work, we give our time to a cause we believe in and do it wholeheartedly.
Hobbies stopped being looked at as something unnecessary and instead considered as rechargers and power-ups. One of the writers on Medium I enjoy following, Itxy Lopez, writes already in the title of one of her recent articles the following statement:
There are many articles praising hobbies for being immensely helpful in finding and following a happy way of life.
The voluntary work is not different. We identify a cause close to our hearts and engage in it.
But there might be times when you feel so down and exhausted that you might ask yourself why you do that, either for the benefit of a cause or as a hobby. “Who needs it? I do it all in vain! It doesn’t help anyway.”
In those cases, self-compassion and self-appreciation are especially important. Turning life into games can help you find a re-empowering way to celebrate your ability to be kind.
Just like in the case of family time, turning hobbies and voluntary work into fun games is more about appreciation than ambition.
While turning life into fun games, I was fortunate to discover a fun way to classify tasks depending on our behavior and thought processes.
I discovered that those I procrastinate (escape from) include both things I claim wanting to do but not having time for them and those I committed to but think or say not wanting to do. And those activities I escape to from the former are either very obvious (like surfing aimlessly online) or productive but not that urgent (like restructuring folders on my computer or doing laundry).
Voluntary work and hobbies often encompass those tasks that we say we want to do but don’t have time for.
But like any other escape-from task, they can also become our escape-to activities if we resent something else. Voluntary work and hobbies often produce visible and hugely satisfying results for our well-being. So, they can become something we escape to.
Self-Gamification (= turning life into games) and the three approaches it embraces (anthropology, kaizen, and gamification) can help you become creative at breaking your tasks into small bits and appreciating each of them if the work stalls.
Or it can also help you become aware that you are using this work as an escape-to activity, in which case stop at some intentional point, appreciate what you have managed with a point, badge, gem, or star, and move on to other projects and activities.
Thank you for reading this article! If you enjoyed it, then in addition to those referred to above, you can also like these:
This article is an extended and updated excerpt from Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games.
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