How to Gamify Your Life (& Why You Should)
“That’s what games are, in the end. Teachers. Fun is just another word for learning”
– Raph Koster
Do you ever feel like life just drags on? Like you have these big ideas or dreams you want to put into action, but can’t figure out how to actually get yourself to do the thing. Or maybe life just isn’t all that engaging in the first place. Well one concept to consider is gamification.
What Is Gamification?
Gamification is, as it sounds, a process of utilizing game-like elements and applying them to real life in order to keep morale and motivation high and make the task itself more rewarding.
Whether it be from video games, board games, or kid games, these all have elements such as clear objectives, reward systems, and processes of keeping you accountable. Through a little observation along with trial and error, we can figure out a way to turn ANYTHING into a game and turn even the most mundane adult tasks into something to look forward to thus gamifying your life.
How Does Gamification Benefit You?
Do you remember when you were a kid playing hopscotch or swinging along the monkey bars? How about basketball? Soccer? Ohh, I got it. How about Minecraft hmm? I’m willing to bet that none of those activities you did as a kid ever REALLY felt like work. More like you were having fun playing the game (I know, this is probably getting repetitive).
Well imagine if life was turned into a game (or at least the tasks within life). You would be more productive with less effort, you’d be more playful and lighthearted with life which improves your relationships with other people AND with yourself. Happier life y’all?
That fear of failure epidemic that haunts us all? As kids, it wasn’t a huge deal if we failed at a game, we’d just try again, learning from our mistakes. Gamification allows you to look at the big picture and detach from the failures that might occur along the way. It allows you to see those mistakes as honest feedback that’ll help you the next time you try. This leads us on to efficient learning. Because really, mistakes and failures are the greatest teachers. And games? Games allow us room to take the “negative” outcomes in stride and keep playing the game.
All of these factors lead up to one fact: gamification makes it easier (and natural) to take action and stay more engaged in life in general as long as you find ways to implement it into your life.
How To Gamify Your Life (or boring tasks)
- Determine Your End Goal
- Every game has objectives that keep us engaged. There are 2 types. The overarching goal and the mini objectives to get there. There are also side quests, but we’ll get to that in a bit. The key here is you need to be ultra clear with what your end goal is. It’s helpful to implement the SMART goal system here (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and time-bound).
- This is for goals in general, not just for gamification. If it’s going to be used to motivate you, you need to know WHY you want it. Is it something you’re willing to fight tooth and nail for? Is it intrinsically motivated or is it something that your family or perhaps society told you to want? When you’re stuck in a rut, this is what will get you out so don’t skimp on this one.
- Determine Your Why
- Reverse Engineer and Breakdown Your Goal
- Looking at your end goal, work backwards to figure out what needs to be done to get there. What skills will you need? Are there people you need to network with? Is there a certain amount of money you need to get to where you want to be? How much and what jobs or gigs can you do to get there?
- In this process break it down into simple actionable steps. If you want to be a consistent YouTuber, you first have to learn to make one video. Say “Outline, then script, press record, edit on Premiere Pro, make thumbnail through Canva, research SEO title and descriptions” instead of “make 5 YouTube videos”. You’re trying to make this process as easy as possible for yourself so figure out from the offset what the game plan is, and go forward one step at a time.
- Create a Rewards System
- What makes games so gratifying is how you come to expect a reward for all your hard work. And you should get rewarded. Celebrating your successes sets you up for more success (as long as you don’t get egotistical about it eh).
- Make Individual Tasks a Game
- While having the overarching goal and vision for yourself is often motivating enough, some days it doesn’t cut it. And anyway the goal is to enjoy the process so we need to make it fun for ourselves along the way. This might be extra, but here I want to give you some pointers on turning everyday tasks into a game.
- ex.
- Try something new
- Figure out a different way to complete the task you’re doing. One of the main causes of boredom is doing the same thing over and over again. It’s just not fun. So if you usually drive one way to work, take another route. If you usually say the same things at your job, try some other conversation starters. Whatever you can do to keep things different from day to day.
- If it’s too easy, make it more challenging
- I know. Why would you want to increase the difficulty? The truth to the matter is, when something is too easy, it’s simply not that engaging. There’s no novelty, or objective you’re reaching for. You already have more than enough skill for this task so it just feels like a waste of time. If there’s simply no way to make the task a little more challenging by learning something new, you could always challenge yourself on how fast you can get the task done (while maintaining quality). Or maybe how long you can last for if it’s a workout routine. Test your limits. This doubles as a way to get high off the feeling of accomplishing something.
- Do the task with other people
- Oftentimes all you need is someone to do the activity with to make it a little more engaging or entertaining. Not only that, this is a great way to gain accountability and support so you follow through on any goal you set out to do.
- Be Curious
- Use your mind. It won’t figure out how to make something more entertaining and fun for you if you don’t actively look for a way to do it for yourself.
- 1. How can I make this more fun?
- 2. How can I turn this into a game?
- 3. How can I make this more interesting? (if nothing else)
- Use your mind. It won’t figure out how to make something more entertaining and fun for you if you don’t actively look for a way to do it for yourself.
- *On a last note, make sure you adjust your environment to work for you rather than against you. Remove known distractions like your phone or the social media on your phone. Video games. Maybe the tv remote. And make it easier to do the things you mean to do, but aren’t getting to.
- Try something new
Final Thoughts
There are lots of ways you can start to claim responsibility for your life, taking action where it counts, and being more engaged with what life has to offer. While gamification does require some self-awareness for what it is you’re after and some mindfulness to keep yourself in check, it’s a realistic and fun way to go about challenging yourself and leveling up until you do reach that overarching goal you were after from level 0.
I’m not about to say this is easy, because it’s not. But it’s important to dream big and at least try for that dream life that you want to see what happens. Studies show that on their death bed, people tend to regret what they didn’t do rather than what they did do. So imagine yourself on your deathbed. What is it that you’ll regret not doing if you carried on your current path and how will that feel knowing you might never be able to do it?
I’m not saying this to scare you, I’m saying this so you gain the courage to explore, have some fun, learn, grow, and go after those dreams you’ve been putting off on the back burner. You gain nothing by sitting around and waiting for something to happen.