Success isn't easy, we can all agree with this statement. But what if we can make it easier?

What's the difference between games and life? Why can I, as an ADD'er, concentrate for hours in a row on a game and lose my focus in a matters of minutes in real life? Hours vs. minutes? Why?

Life ain't fun, games are!!

It isn't necessarily that life is boring, but the progress to success is.
Why is that?
In life, there's no button to choose the difficulty (easy, normal or hard) like in games. The progress in a game is incremental, the better you become the more difficult the game is. When you graduate from school, life is hard and it will only be harder. There's no smooth transition.

So, how can we make life fun? By combining game mechanics with the key elements of success.

Game Mechanics:
- Missions
- Points
- Levels
- Rewards
- Social Leaderboard

Key Elements Success:
- Awareness
- Goals
- Choices
- Action
- Habits

When you integrate game mechanics in your daily journey to your dreams, it become fun. When something is fun, it's easier to do. Why do you procrastinate for paying the bills and not for watching the tv?

Essentially, it's all about tracking and sharing your progress. And that's a keystone habit. If you incorporate this habit in your life, it has the power to cause a chain-reaction that influence your life for the better. Why? Because you can't deny the facts. When you share your progress with others you multiple the power of measuring your progress. But measuring your success or the lack of it isn't fun. If you add game mechanics on top of it, you make it fun. For the moment, it's still very primitive out of practical viewpoint, but it's a start.

Missions:
- You set goals (missions) for yourself. Those missions can consists of very different things; learning a new language, earning more, eating healthier,...

Points:
- For every action you take toward your mission, you earn points.
- For every inaction, you earn nothing.
- For every action that moves you from your mission, you lose points.

You determine for your own the amount of points you earn/lose. The reason for this is that everyone has different goals, weaknesses, strengths,...

You break your mission down to a building block. You determine for this element a point value. For example; going for a 30min. run is 5 points worth. Every time you go for a run you earn 5 points.

You can determine points by effort or time.

Every time, you reach a certain amount of points (milestone) you earn a reward, you determined. For example; an hour of guilt free tv.

Levels:
- When you achieve 3 goals you move up a level.
- When you fail to accomplish a milestone for 3 times, the level restart.

Rewards:
- You determine your own rewards by the difficulty of your goals.

Social Leaderboard:
- You try to achieve the highest level possible.

The purpose of the Game of Life (GoL) is fulfillment. The reason behind every action is your drive for fulfillment.
Fulfillment consists of 5 areas:
- Happiness
- Success
- Health
- Love
- Meaning

In those 5 areas, you need to master the elements of success. So, you need to divide your mission in those categories.

I will use my own life as a test object to improve this concept. If you like to be a part of it, just say it and I will open another thread Game of Life: Contest. It only takes one person to make a contest out of it, to see who progress the most to the life of their dreams.

So, any constructive comments, doubts,...??



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I'm well aware that the storyline of a game is a major component in the success of games. For now, it's not practical and too difficult to come up with a story. It's not essential for the MVP. Although, I have an idea how I want it.

Tomorrow, I will open another thread; Game of Life: The Making Off. Where I will share my progress to make this idea reality. Next week, I will post a CENTS check and an one page business plan.