Quickthink

I hate “to do” lists. I start feeling exhausted at the mere sight of a long “to do” list. And as I start going through the list, I suffer from that inevitable temptation to rush in order get the task over with (no learning) so I can cross it off as “done”.  Then at the end of the day, I look at the list and sigh, thinking of all the priority “2″ and “3″ things that remain “not done”. To do lists produce terrible living. It’s a slave’s life.

Yet, as far as I know, all time management software platforms are based on the “to do” list format. Is it a big surprise that they do not have a huge impact on productivity? Why “Time Matters” software doesn’t produce creativity? Why “Outlook” isn’t any better?

I have a better idea. Yes, we need tools to keep organized. But these tools should also help us learn. In order to help us learn, the tools should energize rather than exhaust us. What energizes us? Games. In fact, we watch and play games for precisely that reason — to get excited. So our organizers should be “game” creators rather than task list creators. Gaming makes converts tasking into learning. If so, we need to become more aware of how playing games affects the way we live and learn.

Not convinced? Here is a simple example — a museum is dedicated to teaching physics to people who march through it. But what should the museum do if it discovers that visitors actually are not learning anything? That people are not interested? That people are not coming at all? How about introducing a game ….

Welcome Rocket Park Mini Golf next to the Hall of Science in Queens, NY. Check it out. It is pretty cool. Now that I think of it, other museums do this too. The Franklin Institute for example.

So shouldn’t we be gaming more? Why don’t we? I think there is a “taboo” about gaming. It seems contrary to the “work ethic”. Not serious. In my next post on gaming, I will argue that this is … well … nonsense on stilts. Hmmm … “Nonsense on Stilts” … sounds like a fun game.

FOLLOW - This was Randy Pausch’s life creed. The link is to a video of his “last lecture”. Very inspiring. But it takes around an hour to watch it from beginning to end. Too big for your “To Do” list?

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Tags: Gaming

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 10:26 am and is filed under Professional Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.