Turn it into a game!

“Give people a competition, and it can transform a dull-but-important task into something exciting.”

I’m not a gamer by any means but I read Wired Magazine online. (My inner nerd must want to be free). A recent article called “The Future of Games: The Game of Life” just validated my competitive spirit. Friends often laugh (or roll their eyes) at my competitive streak, which tends to show itself at times when a competition is non-existent in the first place. Succinctly said, I create my own games. I am my own competitor. I do think this drives me to accomplish more. I have to keep track of my running times so I know if I’m getting better or worse. I calculate my gas mileage and see if I improved it from the last time I filled the tank. Every day, I try to beat my driving time to and from work (my fastest drive home is 22 minutes – what rush hour?)

I love the example at the end of the article where people took the competition in the game too far and their lives became about online points and badges. My life is about finding balance between my addictive personality and the rest of the building blocks that make up my existence. I’m not saying I’d be the one clutching a can of Mountain Dew and playing WoW in the basement at 3 a.m., but I have been known to disappear in a game (or three) of online Scrabble.