Immersion

I pondered a few weeks ago about cycling saying, And I need this to become another bit of who I am. Like taking photos every day. I need to find the equivalent of the blipfoto discipline of taking a photo every day. No matter how busy or how crap the weather.

There were two things at the back of my mind. One was about game dynamics - a TED talk by Seth Priebatsch (and yes, he does look like a tosser with a tosser job title - Chief Ninja indeed - but it's a good talk), mentioned in a blog that also mentions Blipfoto as a great example of game dynamics.

The second was a 'paper' by David Maister called Strategy and the Fat Smoker, which is about business but the analogy he draws on is clear.

The primary reason we do not work at areas in which we know we need to improve is that the rewards (and pleasures) are in the future; the disruption, discomfort and discipline needed to get there are immediate.

To reach our goals, we must first change our lifestyle, our daily habits, now. Then we have to have the courage to keep up the new habits and not yield to all the old familiar temptations. Then, and only then, we get the benefits.

The third part of it was a bit of immersion. To be thinking about cycling, reading about it as well as doing it. In effect to become a cyclist in my head before I was actually a cyclist in practice.

I haven't worked out the game yet. I have some bits of it but not as organised as Blip. What I hadn't reckoned on was the impact on the photography. It's getting squeezed and becoming a bit shit. It'll rebalance itself soon enough.