Category Archives: Self-Gamification

Self-gamification is the application of game design elements to one’s own life.
Self-gamification is a self-help approach showing you how to be playful and gameful.
In self-gamification, you are both the designer AND the player of your games.

Listening to Oneself Like a Game Designer and Anthropologist

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Our tiny kite flying over a beach in Hals, Denmark, July 2019

Writing a non-fiction book often leads to the discovery of many great books during its research.

But what I find fascinating and even more inspiring that after publishing my non-fiction books, I discover more and more inspiring resources on the topics of these books. It is also the case for my latest book, Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games.

One of the many brilliant books on motivation, gamification, and serving those we serve with compassion, which I recently discovered is Game Thinking: Innovate smarter & drive deep engagement with design techniques from hit games by Amy Jo Kim.

In the foreword to this book by Raph Koster (whom I quoted many times on fun in the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula), I found the following quote:

“That’s really what game thinking is about. It begins by pushing you to look at what your users actually care about, through its process of interviews and job stories. It asks you to listen — really listen — when users tell you what problems they have, and what solutions they wish were out there. It does away with hoary generalizations and made-up personas and goes right to the people most likely to want a solution from you, and teaches you, the designer, how to ask the right questions.” — Raph Koster in the foreword to Game Thinking: Innovate smarter & drive deep engagement with design techniques from hit games by Amy Jo Kim

This inspiring and revealing quote for gamification designers got me thinking and gave me an idea. The game thinking and gameful attitude to life do not only help us ask the right questions to those we serve but in self-gamification, it can also help us ask ourselves the right questions.

In the post last week, I reported how turning my life into games for several years facilitated my resourcefulness and made it effortless and fun.

When we turn our lives into games, besides that, we learn also being both honest and kind with ourselves, and be both simultaneously. I discovered many times in my life that I can’t be truly honest with myself without being also kind to myself. And vice versa, if I try being kind but resist the truth, then the kindness is not present either.

Really listening to ourselves does not mean listening to our thoughts. Those thoughts, especially when uncomfortable and reprimanding, are just an indicator that something is calling for our attention. Real listening to ourselves means, instead, seeing ourselves anthropologically, that is non-judgmentally. And kindly. If we practice such listening with ourselves, then the true and kind listening with the others will come naturally.

I am finishing this post with the quotes of two other authors, whom I frequently quote in the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula, Ariel and Shya Kane:

“True Listening is actively listening to another with the intention of hearing what is being said from the other’s point of view.”

and,

“This act of listening is enough to pull you into the moment. However, you have an incredibly facile mind. You can race ahead in your thoughts and finish another person’s sentence before he or she gets to the point. Or you can take exception to a word he or she uses and stop listening altogether. If you pay attention, you will see that there are many times when you have an internal commentary on what is being said rather than just listening. If you can train yourself to hear what is being said, from the speaker’s point of view, it takes you outside of time and into the current moment.” — Ariel and Shya Kane, Working on Yourself Doesn’t Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Life

And here is one more quote. It is about awareness and the art of being here. I can’t quote all these brilliant gems of wisdom often enough:

Awareness is “A nonjudgmental, non-preferential seeing. It’s an objective, noncritical witnessing of the nature or what we call the ‘isness’ of any particular circumstance or situation. It can be described as an ongoing process in which you are bringing yourself back to the moment, rather than complaining silently about how you would prefer this moment to be.” — Ariel and Shya Kane, Practical Enlightenment

 

P.S. If you would like to learn more about self-gamification then click here or on the image below:

P.P.S. If you already acquired this book (or another product on self-gamification: the book 5 Minute Perseverance Game or the online course on Udemy  Motivate Yourself by Turning Your Life into Fun Games), then I invite you to join the Self-Gamification Community. You can find more about it here.

Self-Gamification and Resourcefulness

Self-Gamification
A playground at one of my favorite places in Aalborg, Denmark, Utzon Center, was one of the brilliant, gameful places we visited this summer.

During this summer vacation, I had another epiphany about self-gamification, which is the art of turning our own lives into games.

I realized that continuous practicing of self-gamification made resourcefulness unfold easily for me and simply be there as a ready tool and not something I needed to force.

Here is what happened and how I experienced this epiphany.

We had three weeks for our summer holidays this year. My husband, our children, and I spent the first week in North Germany at a resort. Then, we came back home to Aalborg, Denmark. The following day, we were joined by our children’s uncle and their three cousins. So, I had less a bit of an afternoon, an evening, and a short morning for unpacking, doing laundry and cleaning (what I didn’t manage before the holidays) before the guests came.

So the massive amount of work after a long drive home (more than five hours) might have stressed me. Many would understand that, and something like that would have depressed me in the past.

But this time it didn’t. Instead, I observed myself considering various options of unpacking and how I could approach it. I wondered which music I would choose to play in the background when we arrived home and how much time it would take me to unpack. I considered what tools (like empty laundry baskets to sort out the things per room in our house) I could use to make the process more efficient and more naturally flowing.

I became utterly curious about the unpacking process. At some point as I contemplated this, I heard myself saying to my husband, “You might not believe it, but I am looking forward to unpacking tonight.”

He was surprised as much as I was.

So I decided to test this curiosity and see if it really occurred when we would arrive home. In the meanwhile in the car, I continued by chatting with my children when they needed a distraction from the long trip, distributed snacks and water, read books on my Kindle, made notes for the novel I am currently writing, checked my mobile for messages and e-mails, took a nap and did other things that can be done by a parent sitting in the front seat.

As my husband parked the car in our garage, my anticipation picked. I eagerly jumped into what I now call my “unpacking game.”

My husband took care of our garden, and my children went to their toys and games. I had the “unpacking game field” and the entire luggage all for myself. I eagerly proceeded and noticed having immense fun in the process. I put on music, then went on to unpacking (and danced in the process) with an occasional clean of one or another surface in the house. I started counting in my head the pieces of clothes and things I unpacked (and put in their places), as well as the laundry I sorted to put into our two washing machines to get washed. I did feel like a video game figurine.

In the evening, after putting my children to bed, I felt exhausted. But I was happily exhausted. Very happy. I managed to unpack and even did a part of the cleaning and preparing our house for our four visitors arriving the next day. More than that, I had fun.

In the past, it took me sometimes more than a week to unpack from even shorter trips (also those all by myself) than this one with the whole family. In the past, I resented both packing and unpacking deeply. Now, it was fun. I realize today that some of the reasons were new, fresh qualities to it. I had limited time for unpacking, laundry after a week’s holidays away from home, and cleaning — a very limited time. And I had my gameful attitude to life as a habit.

The gameful approach to life, which I practice for several years now, made resourcefulness effortless and extremely fun. I became curious about something I resented before and even eager to address it.

When I experienced this epiphany, I was once again immensely grateful for how my life was turning out at each moment. And for the possibilities self-gamification as a gameful approach to life offers. My life was so surprising and could be so much fun even in the supposedly most mundane situations and activities.

P.S. If you would like to learn more about self-gamification then click here or on the image below:

P.P.S. If you already acquired this book (or another product on self-gamification: the book 5 Minute Perseverance Game or the online course on Udemy  Motivate Yourself by Turning Your Life into Fun Games), then I invite you to join the Self-Gamification Community. You can find more about it here.

Happy Summer 2019!

Self-Gamification

Before I dive into my summer vacation, I want to wish you FUN and JOY with yours. Be where you are, discover every moment, enjoy it, and let yourself be rejuvenated with the experience of being with those, with whom you spend your vacation.

Have a beautiful summer vacation, dear friends!

***

P.S. You can purchase the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula and/or read the complete introduction and part of chapter 1 by clicking here or on the image below:

The Balance Game Gets an Upgrade

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My new book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games is just out, born exactly two weeks ago, and already I am adjusting my latest self-motivational game design, which I call “Balance Game.”

I am adding badges. I had a particular asterisk system to motivate myself to do some things before the others, but this system didn’t work for too long.

Why? There might be many reasons. The asterisk system worked similarly as earning five stars each day. So it wasn’t bringing anything new, and I wasn’t learning anything new, but playing games is about learning. So I got bored. And the asterisk marks were not colorful. Not like my beloved pink stars. There could be many other reasons my clever mind can come up with. But the fact is that I started failing to reach the daily goals I was reaching easily previously.

So there was time for a new upgrade to keep the player (me) engaged.

I did test one badge for one thousand words written in one of my current works-in-progress. But it looks like I want more than one badge. So now I am curious what kind of badges I will come up with. So, I, as a player and designer, can come up with new ones depending on what and when I want to achieve something.

The picture I took today shows four badges:

  • “1k” stands for 1000 words written for my new book.
  • “1W” stands for doing all the wellness tasks (the E (eye gymnastics), SP (practicing straight posture), and W (workout mixed with yoga exercises)) before lunch.
  • “S” stands for calling it a day and going to get ready to bed before 10:30 PM if the following day is a working day, and midnight if the next morning is a weekend or a holiday.
  • “1h” means working for a project for more than an hour apiece.

I can guarantee that there will be more.

If you want to know why I do all that and why such an adjustment of self-motivational game designs is needed, then read the following excerpt from the Self Gamification Happiness Formula:

***

There will always be more than one design

I discovered something interesting about myself in relation to project management and the means I used for it. I realized I was under the illusion that one approach or system was a magical solution that I could use from the moment I discovered, tested, and liked it, until forever.

As I continued turning my life into games, I learned that one system/approach for recording and planning tasks might be appropriate (and fun) at some times in my life, but not at others. I used apps, monthly calendars, weekly, daily, Microsoft Excel, sticky notes, etc. All of them were of value at one particular time. Sometimes I used several simultaneously.
Right now, I stick with paper planners. In addition to the family calendar, I use three planners for the following: one for appointments, the second for appointments with myself (i.e., to-do lists), and the third is my self-motivational game feedback system with points and bonus stars. The latter two are the tools I currently use for my application of self-gamification (the same books I mentioned by name in chapter 11, section 2, activity 2).
But even using paper I felt I should have had one perfect system to record my tasks as well as the points. At some point though, I realized this is not only impossible but also unreasonable.

Being different in almost every moment is the main reason.

Thus, don’t stop experimenting. A design for your motivational games that works well today might not be appropriate a month from now. Don’t judge yourself for changing.
Don’t judge yourself for trying to find the perfect design, either. It seems to be normal for us humans to try to find one ideal solution for all time.

Approaching my self-motivational game design as a game in itself was of great help, and a great discovery for me. If I enjoy the game I design, I play it. If not, then just like passionate players of strategic games, I make notes for the next moves, which are to change the design for the next round.

I was curious once to hear Alex Rodriguez (nicknamed “A-Rod,” an American former professional baseball player) when being interviewed by Ellen DeGeneres, describe why he and Jennifer Lopez (“J Lo”) went to a TruFusion bootcamp and liked the new workout approach so much. In other interviews too he has pointed out that doing only one type of fitness is not only boring but also stressful for his body, having had both hip and knee surgery.

Here is the description I found for this new popular workout: “TruFusion is the latest innovation in group fitness offering multiple studios under one roof at an affordable price. With up to 240 group classes weekly in over 65 different styles, TruFusion gyms provide the hottest blend of yoga, kettlebell, Pilates, barre, bootcamp, boxing and cycle classes.” (https://www.franchisegator.com/franchises/trufusion/)

Over sixty-five different styles of classes? Is it any wonder that this style of workout is so popular? It is quite understandable that it never gets boring to practice it.

So, why do we try to find one single way to manage and carry out our projects and activities? The curious thing I observed is that many of us not only try to find one perfect approach to almost everything, but we also try to “sell” something that works well for us now as an ideal solution for everyone for all time.

Why not instead just enjoy what we do and be curious about how we can modify it, along with the change in our interests and behaviors that occurs all by itself?

Here comes the message of awareness, extended to include what we have established about game design and gamification:

Being a kind and honest designer and player of self-motivational games is the key.

***

P.S. You can purchase the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula and/or read the complete introduction and part of chapter 1 by clicking here or on the image below:

Press Release for ‘Self-Gamification Happiness Formula’

Self-Gamification

Dr. Victoria Ichizli-Bartels Releases Innovative New Book: ‘The Self-Gamification Happiness Formula; How to Turn Your Life Into Fun Games’

AALBORG, Denmark, June 18, 2019 – Electronic engineer and scientist Victoria Ichizli-Bartels recently codified her unique life-philosophy of Self-Gamification in a new book entitled “The Self-Gamification Happiness Formula.” Seeking to expand on current gamification approaches to living, generally championed by game designers, Self-Gamification is a three-pronged approach to gamifying life and pursuing lasting happiness. Victoria’s book is currently available for purchase on Amazon.

Synopsis: Written for those struggling to find daily motivation to work on projects and maintain healthy habits, Self-Gamification illustrates that happiness is always nearby and available to absolutely everyone. The secret lies in not taking life too seriously and allowing gamification to transform all that one thinks and does into a game of excellence. Self-Gamification also provides motivation by implementing proven game-design reward elements into daily life.

Victoria discusses the mastery of three specific skill sets that will help readers be successful in their self-motivational game designs:

  1. Seeing one’s thoughts and surrounding world in a non-judgmental way, exactly as an anthropologist might do.
  2. Identifying one’s dreams and goals, then taking action — one small step at a time — to achieve those goals, in the style of “The Kaizen Way.”
  3. Applying the art of gamification to living. Seeing and treating all activities, large and small, as a game. Designing, playing, and improving these games by giving oneself points, badges, stars and other small symbolic rewards. Doing so will increase one’s sense of well-being and improve life over time.

Five-Starred Review for Victoria’s work by New York Times best-selling author, John David Mann: “…The sabotaging voices in your head will push you down to the pavement. A good writing teacher or coach picks you up and helps you along the path. I’ve now published thirty books — and I still need someone to do that for me. That’s exactly what Victoria does. Pick up a copy of her [work] and she’ll do it for you.”

About Victoria Ichizli-Bartels, Ph.D.

A writer and specialist in business development, information technology, semiconductor physics and electronic engineering, Victoria founded Optimist Writer in 2015 as a writing, publishing and consulting business. Since 2015, Victoria has published both non-fiction and fiction titles, while creating and promoting a new self-motivational approach to living she calls Self-Gamification. To learn more about Victoria’s work, Self-Gamification and forthcoming titles, visit: www.VictoriaIchizliBartels.com.