Just wanted to add a thought before signing out tonight.  Amidst the throng of bikers along Michigan Avenue, viewable from my office at 500 N. Michigan, and the din of fireworks that sound almost like downtown Chicago has mysteriously relocated to the West Bank, I've been thinking about how people approach games from the standpoint of rules and what it means in a broader context.  From all of the years I have played games, I've noticed two distinct types of people, those who play according to the rules and those who play with the rules.  Now, the fireworks appear to have caused my brain to lose all capacity to function, or perhaps that's just the time (6:44pm as I type this), so I'll leave the conclusion to you, the reader, for now.  I'm sure that I'll be revisiting this topic shortly.

Man, it feels good to engage with an audience.  Those who have never exposed themselves to public speaking are missing a wonderful exhilaration, something of a cross between a rock star and a professor.  Every time I grab my Atek presenter's remote, firmly clenched in my right hand in a Bob Dole-esque pose, a wonderful rush of energy comes over me, as I know that I'm going to be delivering some truly valuable content to an eager audience.

It was just like I described on Thursday morning when Marcel Skacel, of XenoWize, LLC, joined me in front of an audience of 32 participants in the SCORE Chicago Web Design That Works workshop.  We had a very dynamic dialogue with the audience, as both presenters and audience simultaneously shared their best practices around web design, hosting and eCommerce.  Because there were a number of requests for additional resources in the web design space, I prepared a SCORE Chicago Web Design That Works resource list for attendees and blog readers alike to find sites devoted to a variety of the web design, marketing and sales services that they seek.  Because it can be dynamic, I have plans to add links that I discover or that are sent to me.

If you know of an invaluable site for advice on web design, marketing or sales, throw it on here as a comment and I'll incorporate it into the list.

Last week, I had a call with Paul Bellos of iO (formerly "Improv Olympic"), located in Wrigleyville to talk about collaborating and exploring improv as a vehicle for corporate training.  He suggested that I get my hands on a copy of Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch.  I received it early this week and have been voraciously consuming its pages during my daily commutes.  Nachmanovitch uses the concepts of improvisational music and acting as a way to inspire creativity and new outlooks.  Because of my passion for games, I'm especially keyed in to his conversations around games and play.   Just wanted to get it on your radar for the time being - once I complete the book, I may just write a bit of a book report for everyone ;-)

Although it may strike some of you as odd, I once again exercised my freedom to choose by leaving my office door unlocked tonight.  My laptop is safely home with me, as evidenced by this blog post that I'm writing, so it's not a matter of security.  I guess you could say that I'm advocating the right to choose.  Not about anything in particular mind you, but really about the very privilege we take for granted to be able to make choices.  Join with me some time this week by taking a decision that you have done the same for some time - perhaps riding the bus over of the train - and instead of simply going with your typical action, take a moment to actively choose, even if you make the same choice you have before.  By taking the time to make the choice, you are validating your right to do so.  Who knows - you may even discover something about which you didn't think you could choose and now realize you can.

Once you've participated in this simple activity of play, respond to this post with the choice that you made (or didn't).

I'm wrapping up some commercial real estate projects for the United States General Services Administration (US GSA), landlord to our country's federal agencies.  Right now, I'm producing what are called lease files, large packets of documents that outline the entire site selection and negotiation process.  When complete, these documents are generally a minimum of 500 pages in length, covering every single document and email exchanged during the process.

A large part of me dreaded completing these projects, viewing it as an unpleasant burden after the bulk of the engaging work - the travel, the tours, the negotiation - was completed.  However, since I am venturing to create a business devoted to games and play as a vehicle for creativity, productivity and boosting morale, I decided to don a pair of "play glasses" and look at the project differently.  Instead of looking at it as a chore, I instead viewed it as a challenging game, a race against time where I had until lunch to find and file as many of the documents as possible.  Seeing the time element as an opportunity instead of a challenge and the documents as metaphorical tokens to be collected painted the game in a whole new light and I found a couple of hours flew by and the documents were organized, hole-punched and bound with time to spare before I met with Janny Leung, director of corporate sales at Application2Graduation, for lunch.  As it turns out, I was able to enjoy a stress-free lunch with Janny, brainstorming creative ways that we could market and sell to our respective audiences instead of having the thought of the project distracting me.

Have you ever taken a mundane work task or project and turned it into a personal or team game?  If so, how did you approach it?  I am eager to hear techniques that others have used to turn work into play.