I love video games, word games, and board games.
As a matter of fact, I like anything attached to the word “game.” I don’t love habits change. When I change a habit, it gets frustrating quickly, especially when I got serious about practices in 2013. When I would try to start doing push-ups in the morning and writing in a journal at night, if I weren’t in the spirit, I just wouldn’t do it. I recognized my need for tools, and eventually, I discovered gamification for habits. I noticed my “hit rate” go up, and I realized that when you change habits, you need a tool, such as gamification or accountability to keep your attention. My “gamify-ing” left me having more fun to get me started on a habit and kept me accountable to help me keep it consistent.
A new practice or getting rid of an old one is a scary process. It is changing the routine and doing something new. We love to say that we like to explore, but subconsciously feel a lot of comforts when we lock in.
That’s what makes habit hard to change. Pattern change, by itself, just isn’t fun and comfortable.
If you are a smoker, you may want to quit, but there is comfort in the ritual of taking our the cigarette d it up at 2:15 every day. I used just to jump in bed without reading every night, and it was easy because I could say yes or no without any consequence.
That changed the day I made reading fun with gamification, creating a good reads account and making a game of clearing my book-case. The rules are simple by the end of the year; I want to read most of my book shelf. I get points for reading a book thoroughly, giving away a book I don’t find interesting, and stopping something that seems to waste my time. The game doesn’t need complication, but challenging enough to get your engine going. , Before I started that I was lucky if I read once a week. If I don’t read every night of the week, then I lose points
I get a little more excited when there is some juice on the game or activity I find myself engaging in. The accountability, or knowing that someone is taking note, creates stakes. It was the reason that I got this blog going on a daily basis.I used to write, and I spent years doing it on and off (Look at the archives for this blog – they go back to 2012). Every day I would “check my pulse” to see if I cared to write. When I added the accountability, that changed from once every few weeks to every day.
I have done this for the last six months.
My secret for accountability?
I put that I write every day at the bottom of every email, and invite the person to read the first post. I can’t let that person down, because if they check and don’t see a new post or check the next day and don’t see a post, I lose credibility. My credibility is paramount to me, so I have an impulse to write every day, and the result is this blog.
By gamifying the habits we want to do or get out of, we are more likely to do them. Getting started with anything is easier when engaged. Accountability keeps everything consistent. If I want to compare my work to someone else or even myself, the right accountability systems help. Soon the habit isn’t something I have to make energy to do, but I become compelled to engage. Things change in every moment, and by engaging practices, it’s easier to take advantage of each moment, and enjoy them as they pass. It’s also nice to sneak in a game every once in a while.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 