HabitRPG is all about self improvement. So are New Year’s Resolutions, too. But life isn’t just about hard work. Sometimes you should stop and smell the flowers. But why leave it at that? Make a daisy chain, or braid them into your hair (or beard) or infuse them in vodka… the options are endless! This challenge is called the Inner Child for the Outer Adult and I’ve made it to help you take time to have fun like a kid. To be honest, I don’t spend much time with my outer adult… he mainly just buys me booze, so this list was really easy for me to make. You don’t have to use HabitRPG to participate, but I find it is really helping me with my productivity (I plan to wax lyrical about it for my non-existent audience after the Christmas holidays).
While there can only be one official winner of the challenge, the touchy-feely feel-good real answer is you’re all winners if you’re participating. And there’s a second bounty of winning for us all if there are players that are willing to fill in the cells of the spreadsheet with -
“Wait, what? Spreadsheet?”
Relax, and bear with me a while. If people are kind enough to fill in the spreadsheet with their opinions, feedback, thoughts, pictures, etc then we can vicariously enjoy their fun too.
Speaking of which, here's the link to the spreadsheet:
Inner Child for the Outer Adult Spreadsheet
It is the heart, soul and core component of the challenge. I've bookmarked it, as that's faster than fishing it out of my Google Drive. If you just want to play along at home and don't care about audience involvement, then the Master List page is the only one you have to bother with, and you can stop reading now. If however, you want to let others see your antics (or see what they are up to) then keep reading. If you're participating in the challenge in conjunction with Habit, please use your username, so I can pick a winner. But if you're in it for the prize, I'd suggest that buying gems would be a much easier and faster way to get 20 gems.
Instructions to participate in the challenge/share your activities and opinions with the world:
Instructions to participate in the challenge/share your activities and opinions with the world:
Step 1:
Open the spreadsheet in the above link
Step 2:
Click on the Master List tab down the bottom of the spreadsheet.
Step 3:
Choose Duplicate
Step 4:
Step 5:
Step 6:
There's 42 different things listed, and since it officially starts on the 1st of January, it has a soft end of the 11th of February. That works out perfectly for me, since I am in Vietnam and the Tết holidays will have just finished. Depending on how many entries there are, it might take me a while through to go through them all and pick a winner to throw gems at, but like I said previously, that shouldn't be your main focus.
Some preemptive troubleshooting and imaginary question and answers:
Do I have to post about the stuff I do?
Nope. It'd be nice if you do, as you'll be sharing your joy, but it's not compulsory.
Do I have to post for every activity to be in the running to win the challenge?
No of course not. I (along with some other judges if there's a lot of entries) will be deciding it based on a whole bunch of things but quality, humour, imagination, originality, etc will certainly be beating out quantity especially if it's got attributes diametrically opposed to ones in that previous list.
What's stopping someone from deleting/copying/defacing my entries?
Nothing. That's why you should back up your data. There's a slim chance that we'll get hit by someone who is in touch with an inner child who is mean spirited and petty, and derives fun from pissing on the parades of others, but that's just a risk we'll have to take. If it does become a serious issue, I'll think of a plan B, and post it here and on the master list tab.
Help! I can't find my tab!
Why did you include X activity? It's lame/boring/embarrassing/I do it all the time?
I tried to pick a range of different things, and since I can't please everyone, I chose to please myself. There's a fair chunk of this list that I do frequently myself, or I've wanted to do for a long time, or just stumbled on and thought it sounded great.
Why didn't you include X activity? It's so much better than some of the ones on your list!
There's nothing stopping you from doing it at any time mate. These are just suggestions. Feel free to swap something out. Or post it in the comments, because someone else might think it's a grand idea too.
Do I need to have a kid with me to do them?
No, but if you've got children of your own or nieces/nephews or friends with kids and you have the patience, you could involve them too, especially if you're shy and want protective camouflage.
Can I send this list to other people?
Of course, the more the merrier! Ideally, I'd love to have so many entries that I get RSI from scrolling through them all. They don't have to play HabitRPG either. I'm sending this to a few mates that I think would enjoy it. The short link for these instructions is: http://goo.gl/vBWSna and the short link for the spreadsheet is: http://goo.gl/euHnBM
Can I do the activities with friends?
Definitely! I'm sure that will make a lot of the activities even more fun. I'm going to do a bunch with my wife and daughter, and some with my students.
Will you run it again sometime with different activities?
If people like doing it in a codified way like this, then sure. But like one of the answers above, there's nothing stopping you brainstorming your own list and doing it at any time you please.
A final word...
I haven't asked you to use your imagination too much in the actual challenge, that's because I want you to do it right now. Imagine that some of the standard boilerplate legalese* is here along the lines of :
I am not officially affiliated with HabitRPG and my (or other entrants in the challenge) views, opinions and choice of language is no way a reflection on those fine folks. If you get hurt or in trouble doing any of this stuff it is just like when you were a kid: it's your own fault, you should jolly well know better. If everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you?
*You Seppos with your litigious culture would be a grave disappointment to your founding fathers I reckon.
