What's your real life skill tree?

Have you ever played a video game and thought, "I wish life had a skill tree like this"?

Maybe not, but it's an interesting thought. Applying the concept of "levelling up", where players gain experience points and improve their skills and abilities over time, to life.

Imagine mapping out your desired real-life skill tree by identifying areas you want to improve and setting goals for yourself. You could even track your progress and celebrate your achievements as you level up. The massive skill tree in the image above from Path of Exile is a great example of how you can personalise and customise a character based on your preferences.

The video game industry has been using this concept for years, and it's been incredibly successful. Games like World of Warcraft and League of Legends have millions of players who spend countless hours levelling up their characters and improving their skills. In a study around the preffered gamification strategy in adult learners 'Progressing to different levels' was shown to be the number one motivator for learning.

So how could you create a real life skill tree?

Start by imagining what kind of character you want to create for yourself? In most games players select a class, play style or area of specialisation to help guide their decisions. So think about what your strengths, play style and interests are. Get focused rather than going broad. As Miyamoto Musashi says, knowing one way means you know a thousand.

Some ideas for visualising your skill tree:

1. Habitica: Habitica is an app that turns your life into a role-playing game. You create an avatar and then earn points and rewards by completing real-life tasks and habits. You can also join a community of other players to help motivate and support each other.
2. Trello: Trello is a project management tool that can be used to create a visual representation of your skill tree. You can create different boards for each skill or area of your life, and then create cards for each task or milestone that you want to achieve. You can also move the cards around as you complete tasks and track your progress over time.
3. Miro: Mind maps are a visual way to organize and connect ideas. You can create a mind map of your skill tree by starting with a central idea (such as "My Real-Life Skill Tree") and then branching out into different skills and tasks. You can also use different colors and icons to make the map more visually appealing.
4. Excel or Google Sheets: Your skill tree doesn't need to be complicated. You can create a spreadsheet to track your progress and level up your skills. Create columns for different skills or areas of your life, and then create rows for different tasks or milestones. You can also use conditional formatting to color-code the cells based on your progress.
5. PowerUp: PowerUp is a gamified platform that allows you to track your progress towards your goals. You create an avatar and then earn points and rewards by completing real-life tasks and challenges. You can also connect with other players to share tips and motivation.
6. Draw.io: Draw.io is a free online tool for creating diagrams and flowcharts. You can use it to create a visual representation of your skill tree, like in the other examples, with different branches for different skills and tasks.

I also found 'The Human Game' and 'Project Skilltree' which seem cool, but still in development.

Who knows, maybe one day a fully customisable real life character creator and skill tree will become the new CV.