Tag Archives: #selfmotivationalgames

One Minute Read from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games

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Here is the third blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.

In this video, I read from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games: A Compressed Version of the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula.

The extract I am reading is from the chapter titled “How?”.

Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.

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Excerpt from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games

1. Self-Gamification is a lifestyle

So far, we have considered all the five “W” questions — those starting with the words “who,” “what,” “when,” “where” and “why.”

The remaining question is how to turn something or anything into games.

The answer is multi-faceted, and in a way, the whole book is about how to do it, because the “how?” embraces the answers to all the “W” questions: “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, “where?” and “why?”.

But the most important facet of how to turn our lives into games is that the gameful approach to life, Self-Gamification, just like those for our health, well-being, and happiness, is not a one-time pill to fix a problem once and for all, but a lifestyle. Because:

“Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life.” — Anonymous

2. What is Self-Gamification?

So, what is this new approach to increasing self-motivation and bringing ourselves back on our happy path? And why the need for a new term?

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The next step

To take this game to the next level, I invite you to read the book. To look at The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games and buy it on Amazon, click on its title or the image below:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. The Self-Gamification Happiness Formula is one of the three. The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games will be one of the next books I will share there.

Enjoy answering any question you receive or ask yourself in a gameful and joyful way!

One Minute Read from the 5 Minute Perseverance Game

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Today I start a series of blog posts featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.

Here is the video where I read from the 5 Minute Perseverance Game: Play Daily for a Month and Become the Ultimate Procrastination Breaker.

The extract I am reading is from the chapter “About the Game.”

Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.

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Excerpt from the chapter “About the Game”

Procrastination means putting off something which needs doing, whereas perseverance is to keep on doing the task whatever it takes.

So procrastination is bad and perseverance is good. Do you agree?

You do? Have you ever tried questioning this statement?

Quite a few people on the Internet do question the supposedly negative side of procrastination by organizing pro-procrastinating fan groups. They rebel and fight the procrastination fighters.

And what do the others, the pro-perseverance say? Many say you need to work hard to achieve something. They search for those inspiring figures throughout history and the present, who achieved amazing heights in various areas, in spite of challenges they might have faced or still face.

You want the same, badly. You want to achieve something, you have a dream. But on the other hand, you like what procrastinators and writers of “Be lazy at work” books say. You want fun, not hard work.

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Special news and a special offer

Before I finish this post, here is a reminder of the special piece of information I announced in the post “How to Persevere With Joy Instead of Effort,” published a week and a half ago.

Here is what I shared there with you:

I will publish the 2nd (5-Year) edition of the 5 Minute Perseverance Game this year. I sent the revised manuscript to my editor this week, and I hope in March, I will publish it.

So, here is my offer to you.

If you buy the first edition of the 5 Minute Perseverance Game before the second is published and send me a copy of your receipt, then within the week of the second edition’s launch, I will send you a link where you will be able to download the second edition of the book as an e-book in a format of your choice.

Please send me your receipt to vib@optimistwriter.com or in a personal message through one of the channels listed on my contact page.

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Where to buy the book

To take a look at 5 Minute Perseverance Game and buy it on Amazon, click on its title or this image:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.

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Enjoy playing your perseverance, voluntary procrastination, or any other self-motivational and uplifting games! ?

What Is the Best Thing About Turning Life Into Fun Games From Game Design Perspective

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Screenshot by the author

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I want to invite you into the world of game designers. Writers and artists are also such designers. All these and other creatives have one thing in common. When they create something for others to enjoy, they have to think about what their customers might feel or wish for.

In one of the sixteen books I am reading right now in parallel, I found the following enlightening quote about the challenge that many game designers and creatives face:

“A great game designer must both predict the actions that players will take within a given game and understand how those actions will make players feel. To some of you, this definition may sound a bit wishy-washy.

“‘We have to talk about feelings?’ Yup, there is no escaping it. Our job as game designers can be described as working in a feeling factory. Only by understanding our own feelings and emotional reactions to games can we empathize well enough with others to do our jobs well. Get ready to get uncomfortable!”

— Justin Gary, Think Like A Game Designer: The Step-by-Step Guide to Unlocking Your Creative Potential

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The best game designers trust their players’ instincts

Later in the same book, I found the following truths about game players:

“In a fundamental way, player perception is reality.”

and

“The best test for knowing whether players liked your game is if they ask to play again.”

And when they play you — as the game designer — pay attention to the following:

“Try and make a player’s natural instincts be (most of the time) the correct thing to do. If your players are constantly taking a certain course of action, embrace it.”

— Justin Gary, Think Like A Game Designer: The Step-by-Step Guide to Unlocking Your Creative Potential

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You have your player right inside you

Game designers have the challenge of guessing and later finding out what their players think by gathering feedback and observing them while the players test the game.

As the self-motivational game designer — the one who turns challenges, projects, activities, and tasks into fun games for yourself — you have an enormous advantage comparing to what the traditional game designers face.

You have your player right inside you. You are the player and the designer of your games.

So, the clue is that you observe how you feel with the game you play (= task you took on or been given to) and then, if necessary, tweak the design of that game in such a way that the player — yourself — can’t wait to engage into this real-life game.

Your tools are awareness, identifying the smallest step you can perform effortlessly and with the resources you already have, and approaching the whole thing gamefully and playfully.

I invite you to reread the quotes above as a self-motivational game designer. Become aware that the player in those quotes is you. Here is the last of the quotes above rewritten to make it visible that the player of your life’s games is you:

“Try and make [your] natural instincts be the correct thing to do. If [you] are constantly taking a certain course of action, embrace it.”

Isn’t this awareness and the brilliant wisdom of a hugely successful game designer fantastic?

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Where you can learn about being both designer and player of your life’s games

The awareness that you have all the tools to make any challenge, project, or activity exciting and fun for yourself can help bring on your natural resourcefulness.

But if you want to take it to the next step, I invite you to check out many of the resources I offer to turn life into fun games. You can find a comprehensive list here.

If you enjoy learning through online courses, then I have a special offer for you.

I have created a coupon to enroll in my online course Motivate Yourself By Turning Your Life Into Fun Games on Udemy for only $9.99 instead of the standard price of $154.99. You save over 90%. To take advantage of this coupon, make sure you redeem it before February 9. Click on the title of the course above or the image below to enroll with this special price:

Image by Alice Jago

Here are the coupon’s data for your convenience:

  • Code: 2A8452A550DDD3B79E3B
  • Expires 02/09/2021 00:02 AM PST (GMT -8)

If you have questions, then you can contact me either by e-mail or on social media. You can find the list of channels where you can find me on my contact page.

Designers and Players: The Main Feature of the Gameful Project Management

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Reading time: 4 minutes

Acronyms: GPM = Gameful Project Management; SMG = Self-Motivational Game.

Of all four main components of games*, Self-Gamification emphasizes voluntary participation, which seems to me to be sometimes forgotten in gamified solutions and when serious games are developed. (We will consider the game components and their counterparts in real-life projects in a later post.)

When I was exploring and formulating the Self-Gamification approach in the book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games, I discovered that the main feature of turning anything in our lives into fun games is the following:

We are both the designers AND the players of our Self-Motivational Games (SMG).

Before reading this blog series or the book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula, you might have heard this statement as two separate ones:

  • “Be the designer of your life,” and
  • “Here is how you play the game called life.”

But I discovered that you couldn’t separate the two. We are both the designers AND the players of our daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and so on games, be it at work, at home, or anywhere else.

That is especially true for project management.

Many brilliant resources on project management emphasize that successful project managers start with managing themselves**.
But how can we do it, I mean turn project management into games?
We can, for example, learn from other players and designers of self-motivational project management games.

Many gamers and skill learners nowadays learn from videos on YouTube and other media, watching how their fellow players play the games (or instruments) they love and succeed playing.

But designers learn that way too. They play other people’s games in the genre they are interested in and eagerly study and absorb each detail for inspiration.

Writers do that too. They learn from their peers and idols by reading books in the genres they write.

The project management game designers have even a better situation. They can learn not only from other project managers in their or different niches, but they can also learn from the game and play (toy) designers. They can absorb almost everything around them like a sponge, wringing out what doesn’t apply and keeping the fun for them bits to implement in their projects and work.

Above learning from others, the following question to yourself and your team (since project management includes team management***) can help to jump-start undoing even the tightest knots in your projects:

  • For yourself: “If my project was a game, and I was its designer (which I am!), how would I approach it so that I, as its player, can’t wait to start playing (engaging in it) and enjoy doing so when I do?”
  • For you and your team members: “If our project was a game, and we were its designers (which we are!), how would we approach it, so that we as its players can’t wait to start playing (engaging in it) and enjoy doing so when we do?”

When you ask yourself and your team this question, remember that no idea that appears is wrong. The main criterium to find out it is appropriate for you and your team is how fun it is.

In the next blog post, I will address the significance of fun for project management.

References:

* “What defines a game are the goal, the rules, the feedback system, and voluntary participation. Everything else is an effort to reinforce and enhance these four core components.” — Jane McGonigal, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

** “It is a project manager’s job to organise everyone else, and you will be much more efficient at doing that if you can keep on top of your own activities. If you are clear about what you have to do next it will make it easier for you to organise other people and the work of your team.” — Elizabeth Harrin, Managing Yourself: Shortcuts to success

*** “Project management is no longer just about managing a process. It’s also about leading people—twenty-first-century people. This is a significant paradigm shift.” — Kory Kogon, Suzette Blakemore, James Wood, Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager

If you want to learn more:

Sign up to Optimist Writer’s Blog to follow the Gameful Project Management series.

Check out my coaching and consulting services to work directly with me.

Take a look into my book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula.

Go to this link for the list of all the resources I offer on Self-Gamification.