[This is part 1 in the RPG Productivity Player’s Guide series.]
In this first episode of our RPG Productivity Player’s Guide, we’ll start with the search for a megaplot. Every RPG has a megaplot, an overarching story that guides the game and determines the ultimate outcome. Games differ on how strict that plot is or how much leeway players have in creating their own story.
In real life, it’s pretty much the same. I don’t want to get morbid, but after you’ve died, people will tell the story of your life. What will they say your life was about? In other words:
What is the megaplot of your life?
Define Your Megaplot
Let’s define your megaplot as your goal(s) in life; what you’d want your life to be about. You can be as intentional about this as you want, and also as specific as you like.
Some people prefer to write a personal mission statement. It’s certainly a method that will help you keep focus. The advantage of a mission statement or any approach really where you define the megaplot for your life, is than you can use it to base decisions on. Does this fit into your megaplot? If not, it has to go.
Others prefer to keep it looser and not tie themselves down. That’s fine as well. I think there’s something to be said for being open to new things, even when they don’t immediately fit into what you now think your goals should be.
A third approach is to write your ‘funeral speech’: what you want people to say about you after you’ve gone. Yup, there’s that morbid vibe again, but some people swear by it.
Whatever way you want to define your megaplot, the idea is that you define it in some way. Only then can you make sound decisions in your life that help you reach your goals.
Take my husband for instance. He has a busy job with a large company, but early in our life together he decided he would always put his family first. And he has. He has turned down profitable job offers because they weren’t good for us as a family. Whenever we had a personal crisis, he was there. He has not missed a birthday, rarely is absent at school events and always has time for our son and for me. And making these decisions is relatively easy for him, because it’s his life goal.
Productivity isn’t a goal in itself; it’s about reaching the goals you strive for with a minimal investment of time, energy, and money. That’s why your megaplot has to be the start of your productivity journey. You have to know where you want to go before deciding how best to get there.
So I’ll ask once more: What’s your megaplot?
Eric Dye says
Agh.
A lot to think about here, Rachel.
Thank you.
Rachel Blom says
You’re very welcome. I’m big on intentional living…but it’s hard and it takes courage to make the tough decisions!
Curtis says
Good stuff.
Rachel Blom says
Thanks!