Warrior Training: On Like Metatron

On any given day, I use my imagination much more than the average adult (I presume - there is very little data available). I fold laundry as Dr. John Watson. I spend some time as Joachim Loew, working on fundamentals with my tiny soccer superstar. I occasionally chase after wild Pokemon in public places with my children.

-

I inevitably end up with cupboards full of foods that don't amount to meals.

 The downside of being an adult with an overactive imagination is that it can be very difficult not to be distracted by everything in the universe.
How can I remember that I was thinking about making an appointment with a physician when I pull our red wagon across the bridge near our house and see the water flowing quickly in the creek - water that could very possibly have been ingested by someone in the court of Camelot or rained furiously down on creatures we are only beginning to properly envision?  How am I supposed to keep soup from boiling over when I am enamored with the picture of a health meter increasing overhead as my kid devours chunks of cheese?

I envision this 90% of the time that my children are eating.

I've spent the last few years exercising my imagination, often to the neglect of other areas of the self. Now it is time to grind a bit and round out my stats. Because approaching tasks with a gaming mindset seems to increase my ability to endure them in general, I've decided to embark upon WARRIOR TRAINING.

My various daily goals have been assigned either 1 or 5 experience points. Arbitrarily.

Here are some daily goals that earn 1 EXP: go for a walk, refrain from drinking soda, read something offline
These earn a whopping 5 EXP: complete general regiment of housework, go to a scheduled appointment, walk for over 2 miles


Right now I am at Level 1. Each day there are technically 60 points up for grabs, but realistically I am hoping to average around 40. When I hit 1000 EXP, I level up (w00t!) and reassess my goals.

Seem like a lot to keep track of? No worries. I have a google worksheet.

I decided to call this ridiculous system of motivation "Warrior Training" after a long and harrowing afternoon with my 5 year old. We were about 1.5 miles in to a 2 mile walk, and morale was low. We talked about awesome lady characters that she could remember (like Mulan) who would be able to walk really really far without getting tired. We decided that we were doing warrior training, and it made the last hill a lot easier to scale.

Presumably at some point I will level up to the point where I have reached the emotional/psychological maturity of my peers and will then transcend this RPG based motivation to grow. Today, however, it made wielding the Swiffer a little more enjoyable.