Whaddayacallit?
Getting from ‘to do’ to ‘to done’ and having fun getting there
Okay, dear reader. Here is my (slightly longer than an) elevator pitch for a new game. The goal of the game is to decrease stress by having your “stuff” better organized, and as a result, get more (important) stuff done.
[Title of Game Goes Here]
A playful concept for organizing your life.
The Objective of The Game
To create an order for yourself (and all of your practical, creative, emotional, metaphysical, economic, caring, and nurturing personas.)
Your mission in the game is to:
Be productive
Be creative
Be relaxed
Have fun with it
It’s a Card Game
You get to create all your own game cards. As you play the game, you accumulate more cards so you’ll have opportunities to learn from them, modify them, re-sort them, add to them, archive them and even throw some of them away.
In my notes I have a reference to role playing games (RPGs). I think we all play various roles in our lives. My roles today include cook, dance caller, writer, sound engineer, and personal financial manager among many others. A lot of times when we decide to do something its because one of our personas is telling another one what to do.
What are the benefits of making this a card game.
If you keep a few things on hand, it’s quick and easy. It’s a great way to get something off your mind by getting it down on paper.
You get physical with the process. You use your hands. It’s real.
It’s a way to capture all your thoughts, ideas, shopping list items, jokes, quotes, recommendations, and more in one place.
You can make it as personal as you want to. You can include notes about—anything. So the system can function as a kind of journal or diary.
Playing the game, dealing the cards and keeping score can help you keep yourself prepared and motivated.
And you can have some fun with it, too.
What’s the Name of the Game
When the “game” stuff came to mind, my first thought was Game of Life. It could be a game of my life or Ridge’s life. Anyway, “Life” loomed large. and it’s taken.
While I was thinking about all this, I was also re-listening to Keep Going by Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist, etc.). And the title of the first chapter in Keep Going is: 1) Every Day is Groundhog Day. That’s as in the movie, Groundhog Day—when our hero wakes up and every day is February 2. He is stuck in a time loop .
And it’s true. For us humans, yesterday is over and done with. We can’t have it back. And tomorrow is the future. It’s out there somewhere. The thing we have to focus on is today. So, in a way, every day IS Groundhog Day (like in the movie).
That, I think, is a big part of what the game is about. It’s an effort to collect all the bits and bobs, sort them and put them away so you can find them again if you need one, and then do the one thing that you put in front of yourself to do.
And then the next. And then the next.
And at the end of each round of the game, check your score. How are you doing? Did everything go great? Are there things you’d like to improve on?
Ahah! Since we know it’s pretty good idea to focus on our lives one day at a time, how can we make our game encourage that kind of thinking? Make a new card every day. Use it decorate it. Date it. Cross things off. Use the back of it. And plan to save it.
Gameplay—A New Round
At some time, maybe first thing in the morning or some other time that works for you, the player figures out the score for the day before, and starts a new card for the day ahead.
In addition, you will have made some new cards—notes to self. You might have something to research, a new recipe to try, the car may need an oil change, and you noticed. These get sorted and organized however you decide to organize them. The shuffling, re-dealing and sorting is all part of playing the game, I think.
I added a few additional things to my organizing effort.
Games have game boards. They have markers that get moved. Dice. Timers. And they usually have some kind of container—a box that you put all the pieces away in.
An Epiphany
I was in the middle of all this, sorting, assembling, thinking and making more cards when the inspiration for the name of the game struck.
It was still (American) football season. I was paying some attention to the results of some teams. The playoffs were under way. And in the playoffs, every game is a big game.
We were also thinking ahead. We’ve hosted Super Bowl watchers for several years now, so it was time to get that organized.
In the midst of all that and my pondering about organizing that it hit me: The Big Game.
The Big Game
So—if every day is going to be “the same” in a way—let’s make sure it’s a good one.
Today is not just a day – Wednesday, February 12, 2025. Nope. Today is the day of The Big Game. It’s exciting. We can anticipate it as the sun comes up. We can talk to the coach (probably talking to yourself). Play some energetic music in the locker room or kitchen or wherever.
For a big game, you know you’d better have a good game plan. Put that on your card: Game Plan.
The Big Game analogy has so many handy handles such as: Teams (who’s on your team, communicating with them), scoring (how to and why), strategy & tactics (game plan stuff, I suppose), rules (I have some ideas for them) and more.
So that’s it. The secret of successfully organizing your life. Every day, it’s time to play The Big Game.
Clear eyes. Full heart. Can’t lose.
(Ten points to you if you give me the source of that last line.)
Anon.
Ridge