Page 65 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

spouses usually do) because it doesn’t feel like work—it feels like fun. They

bring more energy, innovation, and zest to what they’re doing out on the course
because it’s a game. They also bring an ongoing commitment to increasing their
skills. Everyone is interested in getting better at the games they play.

As for the effect of games on energy, consider a bunch of guys playing
poker all night. Because poker is a game, people can play it all night until the
sun comes up. When they finally come home to sleep, you might be tempted to
ask them, “How did you manage to stay up all night? Were you drinking coffee
and soda?” No, they confess, they were drinking beer. “But shouldn’t beer slow
you down and make you tired?” Not if you are playing a game! In fact, you’ll
also learn that they were probably smoking cigars and eating junk as well—not
generally known as stimulants. What was stimulating was the game. The joy of
competition.

Playwright Noel Coward once said, “Work is more fun than fun.” I included
that quote in a seminar guidebook for a sales group a year ago and one of the
participants in the back of the room raised his hand and said, “Yeah, Steve, who
is this Noel Coward guy? I figure with a quote like that he’s either a porn star or
a professional golfer.”

That line got a great laugh at my expense, but it also revealed a truth (which
almost all humor does). People believe that the fun jobs are always somewhere
else. “If only I could get a job like that!” “If only I had been a pro golfer!” But
the truth is that fulfilling and fun work can be found in anything. The more we
consciously introduce game-playing elements (personal bests listed, goals, time
limits, competition with self or others, record-keeping, and so on), the more fun

the activity becomes.

I worked on a project with a young man in Phoenix who was selling three
times as much office equipment as the average salesperson on his team. He said
he didn’t understand his coworkers who got depressed easily, took rejection
hard, and struggled with putting their deals together.

“I don’t take this that seriously,” he smiled. “I love all my sales challenges.
The tougher the prospect is, the more fun I have selling. There is absolutely
nothing personal or depressing in any of this for me. When I meet a new sales

prospect, it’s a chess game.”

Whatever it is you have to do, whether it’s a major project at work or a huge
cleaning job at home, turning it into a game will always bring you higher levels