(Re)introduction of BRG (Book Race Game) and PRG (Project Race Game); See the middle of each page between NR and GrG games. These stand for Reading Nora Roberts’ Books Game and Gratitude Game. The picture illustrates my scores this past weekend (Feb. 22 and 23, 2025)

By the middle of February, I was sure my report on life gaming this month would mainly focus on gaming itself and not the designs of my real-life games or their adjustments. But all that changed when I realized I needed to adjust my reading games.

I realized that I was jumping to the end of some books to see how they ended and was suppressing my wish to read more in other books. So, I decided to have not only one book in addition to Nora Roberts’s books, which I read more than once on any particular day, as I did in January with the Read for Health Game (RFHG), but in others too. I decided to bring back the Book Race Game (BRG) but with a modified feedback approach. I brought this building stars one segment after another after reading a little in each book of the race. I love how the books “race” for my attention in this game or how I help one book win by reading more in it on any particular day. Reading various books helped me stop moaning that I was still not done with any of the books. Instead, I enjoyed reading and learning about sometimes unrelated topics on any particular day.

After having success and fun with reading and learning, I realized that I had a similar situation with motivating myself when attending to some projects and activities. I procrastinated on some of the projects, especially those outside my consulting work, and had trouble starting even a short two-minute run on them, even if I wanted to do them very much, and wrote their drafts in my head. But daydreaming about writing them didn’t lead to making progress in writing them on screen or paper. So, I also decided to apply the same “race design” to my projects. I used to play the Project Race Game (PRG) in the past, but without the star-collecting feedback system.

Writing this blog has also been a part of the Project Race Game today. Although I had other things like HouseHold Game (HH) racing along, this blog post raced mainly against the latest book I wrote on S1000D. Each part/segment I map/compile/write builds a start for that project, and each paragraph or group of paragraphs in this blog builds another star. And this paragraph has just brought both projects head to head.

I enjoy playing the book and the project race games. These new versions of both games are still fresh, and I love playing them. However, I have noticed that I needed to observe my emotions closely. After the first day of this version of the Project Race Game, I noticed the need to slow down. In the evening of the first day, I felt pleasantly tired, but the beginning of the second day started with anxiety about whether I would manage at the same pace and whether I would manage as much as the day before. The Emotions Exploration Game (EEG) came to help here. I noticed how opposite emotions started popping up and “waving enthusiastically” to me, drawing my attention to them. So, the confusion and weariness were the result. Noticing all these emotions helped me to realize that not all days in my fun race games need to be hugely dynamic. Slow, mindful, relaxed, and even sad could be helpful too.

So, my highlight games this month are, in alphabetical order:

• Book Race Game (BRG)
• Emotions Exploration Game (EEG)
• Project Race Game (PRG)

I look forward to discovering which real-life games will engage and surprise me next month.

Wishing you a beautiful March and a gameful start to Spring.

***

My game plans and score sheets might appear utterly complex, even if I find my way quickly through them. I am asked once in a while what game framework or game plan I developed over the years, which I would recommend when starting to turn life into games, i.e., to live gamefully. And every time I contemplate it, I come to the same answer. It started for me with the 5 Minute Perseverance Game (5MPG), and if you want to try turning your life into fun games, then it is a great place to start.

I dedicated a little book to it with the same name, 5 Minute Perseverance Game. The book is available in two editions. I recommend checking out the second edition, which was published in 2021 and available since February 8, 2025, in German.