Gamification

I use this a lot to help me get tasks done. It involves turning activities of daily living into a game – scoring points, getting rewards (if that works for you), growing a character, going on quests.

I find the best rewards for me are ones that aren’t part of the real world. For example, I use Finchcare, which is a little app with a finch, where the rewards allow you to dress up your finch, or decorate their little home. It’s not pushy – it does ask you to set a streak, but this feature is pretty ignorable. It doesn’t nag you to complete tasks, you can turn notifications off, it just celebrates what you do get done. I have tasks that are just there to be avoided, if I’m honest. If you’re interested, and would like to start with a micropet, my friend code is F9AQBHSE5D.

The other main form of gamification I use is Habitica. In this one, you have a little pixel character, that again you can earn ways to dress them up. You can also set real life rewards, if that happens to work for you. There’s also quests to go on, to defeat monsters. This really helped me for a long time to carry out cleaning, and such tasks. I might use it again to encourage myself in my studies. I do tend to set fewer dailies, because these give damage when not completed, which can become demanding.

I find the novelty of a little game a good way to work around perceived demands. It especially helps when there’s little to no consequence to skipping a task, but a boon to completing it.