My tiny brain LOVES the dopamine kick that comes out of winning virtual games and achievements.
That might mean getting to level 80 in WoW, dominating the galaxy in an empire builder game, or getting all equipment upgrades in a FPS. They all work. And allll the little steps and unlocks on the way work as well.
Most of the time, playing those games nets me only stupid prizes.
However, every so often, I’m able to cage the mind in a positive reward loop – to gamify something that’s actually helpful.
A few things have gotten there at this point:
- This blog. Every time I publish, I copy the link and paste into a sheet. It’s like getting a level.
- Playing guitar. I’ve stopped trying to force it, and instead I bought a literal game which shows me the % mastery of different songs I’m working on. It’s an epic way to stay motivated so far.
- Sport! I recently had a friend challenge me to a bike competition via the Garmin app. Totally worked, and I biked 180km in a week (which isn’t a lot if you’re a pro, but is a ton if you haven’t been on your bike for at least 2 years). Now I’ve got to stick with the challenges, and I’ll be shooting a running challenge back shortly to keep the game afoot.
- Todo lists. The trick for me seems to be to keep them unreasonably easy. For every major thing I want to get done, splitting it into 3-5 sub-pieces makes it sooo much more rewarding to cross out. Physical crossing out seems to be key also.
I’m sure there are more things. I believe this is what some people call “caging the monkey mind” – finding ways to channel the mind’s own stupid in ways that trick it to perform.
In summary, if you can find ways to play stupid games and win awesome prizes, that’s a pretty good spot to be in.