Here's the thread of the concept: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/internet-mobile-apps-software/41600-game-life-concept.html
Day One
How many of you set goals? How many of you track those goals?
My guess is that 20% set goals and only 10% track those goals. I'm afraid that this is still an high number, but I have my hopes up.
The past few days, I asked myself: "Why don't I set goals and track them?"
It's a critical habit for success, but it hurts. You need to be honest with yourself, when you set goals. No more lies, lying is easier than facing the truth.
But what if you could make it fun?
It changes the whole dynamic. As long as the fun factor is bigger than the fear factor, you will set goals and track them.
I'm a big believer of the Theory of Constraints (ToC), a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. It doesn't matter if you improve the other chains with 50%, as long as the weak link isn't fixed. You stay stuck in your situation.
Delaying gratification is such a weak link. There's no need for delaying gratification in our society, so we don't learn it. Although, it's highly important for living your dreams.
There are only three choices:
- You delay gratification.
- You fall for immediate gratification. (highly likely)
- You make delaying gratification part of immediate gratification.
What's the easier one? Falling for immediate gratification. Humans take the path of least resistance. It's hard to make delaying gratification a path of least resistance. It's doable, you can move to another city with only a few hundred bucks in your pocket like MJ. It's not impossible, but though.
Choosing for immediate gratification is maybe easy, but not fulfilling. So, that's not an option.
Why would you make it hard, if it can be easier? The beauty of packaging delayed gratification as immediate gratification is that you still pay the price. You can't expect another effect if the cause is the same. You won't get success without a lot of hard work. Games make hard work look like easy work. Every die-hard gamer knows that gaming isn't easy, you still need to put the hours in it.
So, mixing game mechanics with success principles that what's I'm going to do.
There's a need for such a tracking tool. I can imagine that it's a few million dollars worth with good execution. But, I don't have any illusions, because this concept is mainly for me, not for earning money. I will use my life as a test object. If it works for me, then I will create a small contest to see what the result is for others before I dream about the success.
I'm not even sure the concept will work. There are still a lot of gaps out of practical viewpoint. I believe in the philosophy, but maybe not in the execution. I will see, I'm flexible.
The turtle won the race against the hare, and that's what I will do. Taking it slow.
Week Goals:
- Read "Running Lean"
- Read "A Theory of Fun"
- Research this site: Gamification Wiki | Gamification.org
- Set goals in the 5 categories (happiness, success, health, love & meaning)
- Do the exercise Wheel of Life (How Are You Faring In Your Life Now? – The Life Wheel)
Actions:
- Read 50p/day
- Work 1h/day on the project
- Dream 30min/day; marinating the idea
Now, I need to translate this in game mechanics. You can reduce games to a few vital components:
- Points
- Levels
- Rewards
- Leaderboard
Points:
You have three different types:
- Easy (1 star)
- Normal (2 stars)
- Hard (3 stars)
You break your goals down to the minimum building block, and then rate them according to difficulty.
Read 50/Day => 2 stars; I read easily 50 pages a day, but not from the same book. I lose my focus rather quickly, that's why I give it 2 stars.
Dream 30min/day => 1 star; Nothing is easier than this, you can do it on the toilet.
Work 1h/day on the project => 3 stars; It will be difficult to make an habit out of it.
So, I can collect a maximum of 6 stars each day.
The use of stars is essential to maintain a daily focus on your dreams. So, you can compare each day.
Levels:
For the moment, I'm not going to use levels.
Rewards:
For the moment, I will divide the rewards in two categories:
- Daily: Each day I collect six stars I will watch a movie.
- Weekly: When I achieve my week goals, I will take a day off for playing games.
Leaderboard:
I'm alone, so no leaderboard.
The strength in this approach, is that you can compare your progress with others in a rather qualitative way.
One obstacle, I see is that it will be too much of an hassle to use it. I will try to streamline it to an easy method.
Today, I already collected 4 stars, still two to go. I will read 50p of "A Theory of Fun".
Day One
How many of you set goals? How many of you track those goals?
My guess is that 20% set goals and only 10% track those goals. I'm afraid that this is still an high number, but I have my hopes up.
The past few days, I asked myself: "Why don't I set goals and track them?"
It's a critical habit for success, but it hurts. You need to be honest with yourself, when you set goals. No more lies, lying is easier than facing the truth.
But what if you could make it fun?
It changes the whole dynamic. As long as the fun factor is bigger than the fear factor, you will set goals and track them.
I'm a big believer of the Theory of Constraints (ToC), a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. It doesn't matter if you improve the other chains with 50%, as long as the weak link isn't fixed. You stay stuck in your situation.
Delaying gratification is such a weak link. There's no need for delaying gratification in our society, so we don't learn it. Although, it's highly important for living your dreams.
There are only three choices:
- You delay gratification.
- You fall for immediate gratification. (highly likely)
- You make delaying gratification part of immediate gratification.
What's the easier one? Falling for immediate gratification. Humans take the path of least resistance. It's hard to make delaying gratification a path of least resistance. It's doable, you can move to another city with only a few hundred bucks in your pocket like MJ. It's not impossible, but though.
Choosing for immediate gratification is maybe easy, but not fulfilling. So, that's not an option.
Why would you make it hard, if it can be easier? The beauty of packaging delayed gratification as immediate gratification is that you still pay the price. You can't expect another effect if the cause is the same. You won't get success without a lot of hard work. Games make hard work look like easy work. Every die-hard gamer knows that gaming isn't easy, you still need to put the hours in it.
So, mixing game mechanics with success principles that what's I'm going to do.
There's a need for such a tracking tool. I can imagine that it's a few million dollars worth with good execution. But, I don't have any illusions, because this concept is mainly for me, not for earning money. I will use my life as a test object. If it works for me, then I will create a small contest to see what the result is for others before I dream about the success.
I'm not even sure the concept will work. There are still a lot of gaps out of practical viewpoint. I believe in the philosophy, but maybe not in the execution. I will see, I'm flexible.
The turtle won the race against the hare, and that's what I will do. Taking it slow.
Week Goals:
- Read "Running Lean"
- Read "A Theory of Fun"
- Research this site: Gamification Wiki | Gamification.org
- Set goals in the 5 categories (happiness, success, health, love & meaning)
- Do the exercise Wheel of Life (How Are You Faring In Your Life Now? – The Life Wheel)
Actions:
- Read 50p/day
- Work 1h/day on the project
- Dream 30min/day; marinating the idea
Now, I need to translate this in game mechanics. You can reduce games to a few vital components:
- Points
- Levels
- Rewards
- Leaderboard
Points:
You have three different types:
- Easy (1 star)
- Normal (2 stars)
- Hard (3 stars)
You break your goals down to the minimum building block, and then rate them according to difficulty.
Read 50/Day => 2 stars; I read easily 50 pages a day, but not from the same book. I lose my focus rather quickly, that's why I give it 2 stars.
Dream 30min/day => 1 star; Nothing is easier than this, you can do it on the toilet.
Work 1h/day on the project => 3 stars; It will be difficult to make an habit out of it.
So, I can collect a maximum of 6 stars each day.
The use of stars is essential to maintain a daily focus on your dreams. So, you can compare each day.
Levels:
For the moment, I'm not going to use levels.
Rewards:
For the moment, I will divide the rewards in two categories:
- Daily: Each day I collect six stars I will watch a movie.
- Weekly: When I achieve my week goals, I will take a day off for playing games.
Leaderboard:
I'm alone, so no leaderboard.
The strength in this approach, is that you can compare your progress with others in a rather qualitative way.
One obstacle, I see is that it will be too much of an hassle to use it. I will try to streamline it to an easy method.
Today, I already collected 4 stars, still two to go. I will read 50p of "A Theory of Fun".
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