How to Play the Game
tools that prompt action
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I’m a proud video gamer, and not just playing them myself, but the even nerdier version of gaming, where I love to watch other people play, too. I love expansive games that include a merry band of characters, mythical creatures, and lots of side quests.
When my video games have little puzzles to figure out or timed races to complete, it motivates me to get my butt in gear, focus, and do my best. This phenomenon is called gamification.
Gamification is defined as “the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation.” Some studies suggest that gamification can be especially helpful for folks with ADHD.
When gamification happens in real life, it can spark interest in starting or completing a task. In fact, gamification is recommended for dealing with tasks that feel especially aversive or lead to procrastination. As a quick reminder, according to procrastination researcher Timothy Pychyl, PhD, aversive tasks are things that are boring, frustrating, difficult, unstructured or ambiguous, lacking in personal meaning, or lacking in intrinsic rewards.
Gamification Should Be Personalized
Gamification works well for me when I’m dealing with aversive tasks—but I find that it’s most helpful for getting me to start doing something and for helping me to finish things quickly. It’s taken a lot of experimenting with productivity tools, timers, and apps for me to figure out where I hit my point of diminishing returns, which can occur when I use gamification tools. Here are three ways I’ve hacked my gamification approach.
I like to gamify to complete things between events. For example, if I have a meeting in 10 minutes, I might use that time to try to see how many emails I can reply to. A note on this: while an upcoming event can spark some people to get things done, it can also prompt others to feel a lack of motivation, especially for folks with ADHD who might feel stuck in “waiting mode.”
I like to gamify to achieve a streak of repetitions. I respond well to gamified challenges that require me to do an activity every day for a set number of days. But I’ve found that once I achieve my goal, it can be hard to self-motivate to keep going. For example, when I used Duolingo, I would only do my required number of minutes to complete the day’s tasks (which isn’t nearly enough to actually learn another language!). I find the monthly challenges within the O-P-E-N app somewhat helpful, but if I do two meditations in one day and hit the encouraged 31 sessions before the end of the month, I’m not as motivated to practice until the month counter restarts.
I also like the gamification aspect of habit formation in order to earn a reward, but… I’m not really motivated by restricting myself from something until I “earn” it. I love to treat myself to nice things as a way to celebrate a big win and I love to pair treats with work sessions, but holding a reward to the end of a long-term project just doesn’t do it for me. However, if there’s external accountability involved and someone else is rewarding me for achieving a goal, I’m MUCH more likely to show up again and again. (If you relate to that experience, maybe you’re an Obliger like me!)
How I Gamify IRL
Cleaning up the downstairs of my apartment in the 15 minutes it takes for my friend to drive from her home to mine
Writing a set amount of words and then giving myself permission to be done with writing for the day once I hit my word count
When I used to take sit down baths every day, I would clean out the cats’ litter box while my bath was filling up (this was literally timed—don’t want an overflowing bathtub!)
Virtual co-working sessions where I see how many admin tasks I can complete in 1 hour
Gamification Tools I Use
The Finch App for Self-Care - Use Almost Every Day (I only skip when I forget!)
I like this app a lot: it helps me track self-care activities (I suppose you could use it for work, but that’s not the Finch vibe) and there’s an option to earn points from reflecting on why you may not have done a task that day. The idea is that you have a little bird friend who cheers you on in doing self-care practices, and you can purchase outfits and deck out the bird’s little home using in-app currency you earn from completing tasks. Some of my Finch tasks are drinking water, not playing on my phone when Kris and I are hanging out together, holding my boundaries, and writing three things I’m grateful for each day.
Forest - Use Most Workdays
Forest is a Pulse and Pause timer that is highly gamified and it works well for me. There are monthly challenges that require you to focus for a certain number of hours to earn new plants for your digital garden. I usually hit the count in the first half of the month, but I still feel motivated to use the app to earn points to purchase new plants. I have a widget on my phone screen that takes up a good amount of space, so I regularly see the reminder (I also have a widget for Finch and for my O-P-E-N meditation app). I regularly use Forest when I’m working on writing projects—both to keep my butt in the chair to write for longer and to limit certain tasks to shorter work sessions.
Todoist - Used For Years But No Longer
This was my go-to to-do list app when I was working outside of my home and before I switched to using my bullet journal. I loved that I could color-code different activities and sync them to my Apple watch and my laptop. If I still used an Apple watch or if I was always on the go, I would likely use it again.
Habatica - Tool I’m Curious About But Haven’t Used Yet
I downloaded this app because it’s basically a video game for habit formation (!!!) and it seems to have a lot of fun bells and whistles. If I weren’t already using other methods for tracking my to-do list, I would go all in on this one! I love that you can set it up to give or take away points if you do or don’t do a habit, because if I were trying to earn XP to purchase an in-app little weapon or armor for my character, I would want to do the task to make it happen.
Takeaway
If you think gamification might be a helpful strategy to try, I invite you to take any of these suggestions and hack them to fit your needs. Have any gamified tools helped you in the past? What motivates you to complete certain types of tasks? How might you experiment with a gamified approach to productivity?
For anyone craving a little extra scaffolding to test out gamification, keep an eye on your inbox at the end of September. I am releasing a revamped version of a resource called “100 Pomodoros in October.” 🎃 Stay tuned!
Curiosities
I loved Meredith Farkas’s August newsletter, “Rest as a productive act”
Amelia Hruby’s book, Your Attention is Sacred: Except on Social Media, will be published on October 1st! I can’t wait! Amelia is a trained philosopher and the host of Off the Grid (a popular podcast about leaving social media). You can sign up for her waitlist for the book here.
I’m exited that Kening Zhu’s podcast botanical studies of internet magic is back after a little break. Kening is running a seasonal program called Labyrinth Library that looks luscious. I’m already at capacity with personal and work projects this fall, but if I were going to join a new program, this one looks amazing.
Take care and talk soon,
Dr. Kate
Email: kate@katehenry.com
Website: katehenry.com
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