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The key — and a little hidden purpose — here in this game is learning how to be and experience being kind to yourself.
Here is the third blog post in a new series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read a paragraph from one of my motivational books and use it as a prompt to speak freely.
This idea was inspired by the free-writing exercise well-known among writers. I used dice and timer to turn this free-speaking exercise into fun games. I hope you enjoy watching them and maybe trying out this gameful approach for yourself and tasks you want or need to tackle today.
In this video, I read from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games: A Compressed Version of the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula.
I am reading a paragraph from the chapter titled “What?”.
Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.
These could be, for example, watching TV or random videos on YouTube, reading a book for leisure, playing an online game, staying in bed, spending time on social media, surfing the internet, etc.
To take this game to the next level, I invite you to read the book. To look at The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games and buy it on Amazon, click on its title or the image below:
If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to six of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and five in the posts solely for subscribers. The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games is one of the five.
Enjoy answering any question you receive or ask yourself in a gameful and joyful way!
Here is the eleventh and last (for now) blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute. Next week, I will start sharing another series of videos featuring my books.
In this video, I read from my book Turn Your No Into Yes: 15 Yes-or-No Questions to Disentangle Your Project.
I am reading from the short chapters titled “9. A Checklist for Your Project” and “10. Free Space in Your Checklist.”
Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.
Question 9:
Have you created a checklist for your project?
If not, do it. By now you will have gathered enough information to do so. And remember this checklist is a living document. Keep it close at hand and update it as soon as you think it time to do so. Don’t leave it for later. Follow your first impulse. The short updating of one point takes much less time than trying to get all the points together later. And it is always more accurate.
Question 10:
Have you left space to add more items or make changes?
If not, find the best format suitable for you and your customer and rewrite the checklist, allowing for the possibility of additions and changes.
And remember that along the way you might discover a new way of doing it. Don’t judge yourself for not having thought of it earlier. Just do it. Even returning to an earlier approach is a step forward, not backward.
To take the next step in boosting your entangled projects (and we all have those once in a while), I invite you to read Turn Your No Into Yes. To look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image below:
If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. Turn Your No Into Yes will appear later this year or sooner upon explicit request from the subscribers.
I wish you a beautiful, productive, fun, creative, and gameful day!
Here is the ninth blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.
In this video, I read from my book Cheerleading for Writers: Discover How Truly Talented You Are.
I am reading from the chapter with the title “S – Show Me What You’ve Got (or How a Writer Can Serve Others Without Putting Too Much Pressure on Herself).”
Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.
As with almost any book on writing and its various facets, this one will also address the aspects of showing and telling. But it will approach show and tell from another angle.
During the first three years of my writing career and especially recently, I have come to realize that I joined an exotic species of the working population.
We, writers, want to write books that we would want to read. On the other hand, we also want others to love them.
Or we write motivational guide books to pull ourselves out of initially hopeless situations. At the same time, hoping these books will pull other people out of their miseries too.
What is interesting, though, is that whether others read our works or not, people survive without them. No one seems to need what we do for their daily and most urgent needs.
Two days ago, I got a big surprise in my inbox. An author I follow has featured Cheerleading for Writers on his blog. This author is the New York Times bestselling author, John David Mann. He is co-author of many fantastic books, including the Go-Giver series with Bob Burg. Here is what he has written about this little book in his blog post titled “NINE RESOURCES TO ROCK YOUR WRITING” about resources he strongly recommends for writers, which include such legendary books as Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird:
“Cheerleading for Writers: Discover How Truly Talented You Are, by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels. This little book doesn’t lecture you; it holds your hand, brews you a cup of fresh hot tea, whispers in your ear, and reminds you of all the good things you should know about yourself. It also offers dozens of nuggets of writerly wisdom along the way, in twenty-six bite-sized pieces, A through Z.”
We all need a little cheering up and holding our hands from time to time. I am super happy that this little book can provide such comfort to writers. So I invite you to read Cheerleading for Writers and discover what it can do for you. To look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image below:
If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. Cheerleading for Writers will appear later this year or sooner upon explicit request from the subscribers.
I wish you a beautiful, cheerful, and also gameful day!
Here is the eighth blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.
In this video, I read from my book Gameful Mind: Solve the Puzzle of Your Enigmatic Subconscious (Book 5 in the “Gameful Life” series).
I am reading chapter (puzzle piece) 45, “Impatience.”
Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.
Have you noticed that when you ask a question, you expect an answer right away? Even if you put one on social media and are aware that it will take time for those you are connected with to discover the question and answer it.
You find yourself re-opening the window of the respective social media shortly after closing it. Then you check your post for the answers. And you repeat it many times that day until the first answers start arriving. After that day, as well.
You become even more impatient toward yourself when there is a question you need to answer, especially if you pose this question yourself.
“How shall I do that?” you ask yourself often.
And with impatience growing, you might change the question into an order. If you are a writer, then you might recognize this one-sided dialogue:
“Come on! How hard can it be to write a paragraph? At least write something, for goodness sake!”
But, here is the problem:
“Your brain doesn’t like being barked at. It will, in essence, fold its arms and refuse to budge, much like a stubborn child who doesn’t want to put away his toys.” — Robert Maurer, The Spirit of Kaizen: Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time
If you want to find out more about the gameful nature of your mind and especially your subconscious, then I invite you to read Gameful Mind. To look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image below:
If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. Gameful Mind will appear later this year or sooner upon explicit request from the subscribers.
I wish you a beautiful and gameful day!