Gamification as a way to boost your efficiency

Some tasks we plan and goals we set are never meant to be completed. We either see them as incredibly difficult or awfully boring. Today we bring you a great tool to make even most mundane and unpleasant things more enjoyable.

What’s gamification?

It’s quite an unusual way to approach difficult and/or mundane tasks. Gamification makes even the most boring process engaging, introducing some variety to your life and motivating you to achieve a certain goal sooner. The best part is, you can ditch the new rules you came up with any moment and go back to the way you used to do things before.

Who came up with it?

The main inventor of this unique tool is… kids. And they are not even aware. If you watch kids attentively, you will notice their whole life is a never-ending game. Game is a way to spend time and express themselves, an opportunity of personal fulfillment and a chance to get acquainted with the world around. Game is also a great aid for reinforcing skills acquired in life. Ever noticed how kids with vivid imagination are rarely bored? Because they turn even the most boring task into a game. So what keeps us from following their example?

How can we introduce elements of game into our life?

Nothing stimulates more than locking your results

What we do not register does not exist. It’s a sort of a trap for our subconscious. If we do not watch something (our income, results), best case scenario – there will be zero headway. We can only speak about some kind of growth if we monitor any minimal progress made and always keep our eyes on the ball. For instance, we need to process some information directly related to our professional activity. If there is a specific deadline, you can calculate the minimum amount of data to be processed per day. If the deadline is blurry, you can come up with your daily target yourself. In any case, your need to lock completed work on a daily basis and watch your progress. You can assess your progress visually with the help of a graph, a table or any other graphic method available. For example, you could try sticking stickers representing your daily targets from one wall to another.

Tasks that are too small slacken us up, while excessively big ones demotivate.

Set realistic targets for every day making sure completing them does not weaken your motivation. If  your steps are too small, you risk never making it to the finish line, while if you overestimate your abilities – you’ll get overstrained before time.  You can reach a realistic target without too much effort and even beat it just a little.

Cheating is not going to get you closer to the goal

We all cheated at least once or twice playing games. Although we all know full well the best result with unfair play is surrogate victory. And there is certainly no joy in that! This kind of victory brings nothing bur inner disappointment and frustration. The same rule can be applied to gamification. Do not try to cheat, always play fair and be a disinterested judge. Only playing by the rules will bring you the result you need.

Rewards boost motivation

If you carefully think out the reward system for progress made and levels completed in advance, you will have the finish line in sight sooner than you would expect. Just don’t cheat trying to get your rewards in advance. No advances! First – the result and only then the prize. And do not get too carried away with those rewards either, otherwise you will see your motivation decline.

Punishment does not work for games

Remember that by introducing a system of fines and punishments you are risking leaving the game too early in. Without seeing any result. It’s best to give more careful consideration to the item above.

Distance yourself from the virtual world as much as you can

You obviously can mark progress and keep track of your graphs on the computer, but it’s just that we can feel things better offline. Experience your progress through the sense of touch (moving stickers around) or sight (drawing graphs and tables by hand on paper).

So there you go – a few actionable game tools that can help you achieve your goals without overexerting yourself. There are a lot more of them, of course. Obviously, you can use the set of tools you pick out or come up with yourself. Best of luck!