5 Productivity Lessons I Learned From World of Warcraft, Part I

Lesson #1: Every great warrior needs a pig.

I’ve been a part of the World of Warcraft(WoW) community since 2005.  And over the years, I’ve gone through several phases of addiction, ranging from casual dabbling to complete immersion.

To be honest, when I started up my freelance writing business, I was more than a little concerned that WoW would be my downfall.  Self-employment provides folks like me with the ability to set our own hours…and with WoW looming large in the background, that seemed like a fairly heavy temptation to bear.  But surprisingly, I was able to stay focused on  my work and only play WoW in a specific time window that I had scheduled for myself.  How was I able to maintain productivity, even in the face of such luxuriant other-worldly goodies?  Ironically, I learned to become productive through PLAYING the game.  And I’d like to share a few of those lessons with you.

1. There is no such thing as instant gratification.

When you play WoW, you generally don’t get things automatically.  Do you want titles and prestige?  Do you want that big, shiny axe you’ve always had your eye on?  Well, then you have to start from the bottom and work your way up.  And if you slay what needs to be slain, and you do the quests that need to be done, then you’ll reach the elite ranks in time.  Occasionally, there will be people that can help you by giving you advice and tools.  But at the end of the day, only you can help yourself improve.  And that can’t be done without time, diligence, and effort.

Life is exactly the same way, though many people seem to forget that fact.  There’s no magic pill that you can take to become an instant millionaire.  When you enter college, there is no “Graduate” button that rushes you through the process.  If you want to become the best in your field, you have to take responsibility for your own advancement.  Learn what needs to be done.  Work at it.  And with time, you’ll learn how to streamline the process and get things done more efficiently.  It won’t be instant, but it’ll give you a lot more insight into how to maximize your potential.  Which brings me to the next lesson…

2. Know your role.

In my years of playing, I’ve found that there’s nothing more annoying or less efficient than people who don’t understand their role in a group.  When a player is supposed to be healing, the last thing you want to see is that player rushing to the front lines to punch that big monster in the face.  Things like that are what cause entire groups to fail.  If you’ve never played WoW and you don’t think you can relate, let me ask you this: Do you have a co-worker that seems to know nothing about their job, and just comes in every day to surf the web or hang out by the water cooler?  The principle is roughly the same.

Now, am I seriously comparing WoW to a job?  Perhaps.  Imagine a group of capable, motivated, intelligent individuals being led astray by a single incompetent.  Now am I talking about a WoW group, or your work environment?  Some people have trouble telling the difference.

But my point is this:  in all things, we should know our appropriate roles and act them out with purpose.  When it’s time for me to be a writer, I forget the rest of the world and I write.   When it’s time for me to game with my friends, I log on and I kick ass.  When it’s time for me to be a boyfriend, I….boyfriend.  I boyfriend like hell.  Whatever that means.  But that’s what allows me to live to the best of my abilities:  focusing on one role at a time.  I hate to recruit the age-old adage of “Work hard, play hard”, but I fear that I must.  Giving 100% to whatever you’re doing at any given moment is crucial to becoming a more effective person.  I’ll even throw in, “A jack of all trades is a master of none.” for good measure.  You’re welcome…;).

Thanks for reading, friends…I hope you all enjoy this, as it was a very fun post to write.  There are at least four or five more lessons forthcoming, so please stay tuned!

-Tom