Making a list, checking it twice…gonna find out if I can beat it tonight…

You’ll find that, as you grow older and more maturer (well…at least older), there is less time to spend on your favorite video games. And unless you find the one job that allows you to play games constantly or you’re Adam Sessler, games will always be categorized near, if not, the last item on your mental list of things to do.

For me, everything else precedes games, but games will be on the agenda when there is some free time available. But even then, I’m often times left just struggling with constant pausing and disjointed gameplay due to life’s many interruptions. So I fell back to a proven method of getting things done – making a list.

It’s been reported somewhere that people that write down lists of things to accomplish reach those goals faster and more often than those that don’t physically write them down. Something about physically manifesting them to actual goals that you can check off with a pencil as you go through them. Think of it like your personal achievements/trophies list.

Scoff at it all you want, but it seems to be working. I spend some time making a quick list of things to do, then when I have time, I mark off as much as I can while I play. Then again, the goals I put aside for myself are quite small – finish one level here, complete a few golf courses there. But organizing the small nuggets of gameplay into these short goals help me maintain focus on what needs to be played.

Does this take away from enjoying the game? Not really. I’m already having fun playing, but with my objectives organized, I become more focused at what needs to be done, and waste less time just wandering around.

Give it a shot. Make a list of things you’ll need to complete next and see how it goes! Results will vary, but if you have little to nil time, this might be a good alternative.