Why You Should Start Playing Your Life Right Away
Whenever you turn your life into games, in other words, practice Self-Gamification, you develop your own self-motivational games. But you also play a game. And that makes sense because whenever you design your games, you play. And whenever you play, you design. You are both the designer and player of your self-motivational games.
Don’t wait — start playing right away
Self-Gamification occurs right in this moment. Both, designing and playing your life as games also occur now. Therefore, don’t overthink turning whatever you do into games — test out the ideas you gather along the way and add your own. In other words, start playing right away, if you haven’t already. You may have done so without even realizing it, but now you can do it deliberately and intentionally, should you put your mind to it.
I fell in love with the following quote as soon as I read it.
I learned that when you play golf you’re actually supposed to play golf. It’s a game. You play it. You don’t think it. It’s before and after a round that you do your thinking, your analysis, your practicing. — James Scott Bell, The Mental Game of Writing: How to Overcome Obstacles, Stay Creative and Productive, and Free Your Mind for Success
Isn’t it utterly revealing and eye-opening? We often tend to analyze the game while playing, which is not entirely possible. You can’t do both. Here is another brilliant truth:
No two things can occupy the same you at the same time. — Ariel and Shya Kane, Practical Enlightenment
Thus, when you analyze (including judgments and complaints) your game, you aren’t playing it. A game is not fun unless you play it. You can enjoy watching someone play it but not for long. I watched once videos of people playing Candy Crush Saga. I didn’t want to play it. I just wanted to see how the game functioned. If I remember correctly, I watched only two videos and not even in their entirety. As soon as I had the information I was after, I wasn’t interested in watching other people play anymore. I wanted to return to my self-motivational games and see how I could implement what I had seen into my project and project management games, and play them.
You have to experience a game or a project to truly enjoy it. In other words, if you want to “play” your projects like games, then start right away.
Yes, the best way to start a game is to play it. Not to think about playing it. But remember that planning a project is a part of your game or another game altogether. You can choose how you see that. But if you design your game (i.e. plan your project), then actively and actually do that, don’t just daydream about your game (project).
So if the next appropriate step is to take out your art materials for the next painting session with friends, then take a big box and put what you need in it. Or put in it what you have to hand and jot down that the next step will be to make a list of everything that is missing. And if you have time now, you can jot that list down right away. By the way, making such a list later can be beneficial as well, because you might recall objects you need that you didn’t think of when you dug out what you already have.
And as soon as you make those first preparation steps, pull out your notebook or open the file where you record or draw your points, stars, gems, and badges and record your score. Smile about your achievement and move on.
Thus to start seeing, playing, designing, treating a project or activity as a game, these three approaches can empower you:
- An anthropological approach to living in the moment: That is, observe non-judgmentally your state of mind, your bodily responses, the circumstances you are in, the dynamics of the world around you and the thought-processes connected to all that, and recall that they can’t be any different than they are; and neither can you.
- Kaizen: Meaning the identification and taking of the smallest, most effortless step you can do right where you are with the means available to you.
- Gamification: And finally remind yourself that this could be a game, that games bring fun and can help you reduce the drama of it all. As soon as you manage that, reward yourself with a point or a badge (in writing or mentally).
The three techniques that Self-Gamification brings together complement each other tremendously, but their synergy always starts with awareness.
This article is an adjusted excerpt from Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games.
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About the author:
Victoria is a writer, instructor, and consultant with a background in semiconductor physics, electronic engineering (with a Ph.D.), information technology, and business development. While being a non-gamer, Victoria came up with the term Self-Gamification, a gameful and playful self-help approach bringing anthropology, kaizen, and gamification-based methods together to increase the quality of life. She approaches all areas of her life this way. Due to the fun she has, while turning everything in her life into games, she intends never to stop designing and playing them.
