Gamify Your Writing

If you are a blogger or other content creator, I suggest you gamify your production--especially at the beginning of your venture. It works much better. What do I mean by this?

When I first started this website, I gamified the early stages by gamifying writing content. I pledged to donate $1000 to the charity of my digital mentor's choice if I didn't produce a new piece of content for at least 90 days. If you think about it, that $1000 guillotine was really just a game we constructed, with rules and consequences. It worked. I hustled like a dog for 90 days (actually 121), and both TomJohnston.org and MightyInvestor.com were born.

More broadly, turning most things into a game will help you stay motivated and accountable. When you look at something as a game, you gain a certain detachment and objectivity. This leads to much greater productivity because you agonize less about perfection. Think about it this way. When you play a game like tennis, do you obsess about whether each specific shot is totally, utterly perfect? No. You keep perspective and recognize that each move is simply part of the game--and that no single move should become an obsession.

Here are the other games I have going right now. I've made my bed every day for 130 days straight (tracking this with TDP.me). I've also done at least ten minutes of yoga for 28 days in a row (shooting for 90, again tracking with TDP.me).

When A Kindly Mom Duped Her Beloved Child With Gamification

When I was a kid in elementary school, my mom entered me into a competition at our local library where children would strive to see how many books they could read over the summer. I didn't take it too terribly seriously, but I did enjoy seeing the number of books I read shoot up, up, up. A few years ago, my mom told me she focused on getting me short books that summer--so that I would rack up big numbers and be encouraged. It worked. To this day, I have a preternatural love for libraries. I even often visit the public library in cities I'm visiting as a tourist if it looks cool, just to check it out. I know, I know, kind of nerdy.

Gamify, Get Started, and Have Some Fun

So instead of agonizing about whatever it is you want to accomplish, turn it into a game and get going. It's fun. Kind of like you are playing a game or something….