Leveling Up: How to Make Your Daily Tasks More Fun

Leveling Up: How to Make Your Daily Tasks More Fun

Why did the to-do list go to therapy? Because it had too many issues and couldn't keep itself organized! The therapist prescribed it to make another to-do list.

"To-do lists are a reminder of the things we have chosen to not do today." - Greg McKeown

Organizing a to-list is essential if you want to peak-perform. Certainly, the repeatable tasks or a list of things to get done can quickly become boring and demotivating, hence leads to procrastination. Most of the stuff we procrastinate come under this category. We all have daily routines that we need to follow, whether it's going to work, cleaning the house, or running errands. But let's face it. That's where gamification comes in.

There is a way out though by taking a thing or two from video games to make it fun enough to drive us to completion. Gamifying your tasks can be a powerful way to help make daily routines more enjoyable and motivating. By applying game design techniques to your daily routine, you can make even the most mundane tasks more enjoyable and motivating.

The first step is to identify the tasks that you find most tedious. These are the tasks that you're likely to procrastinate on or avoid altogether. Once you've identified these tasks, it's time to start thinking about how you can make them more fun and engaging.

One way to do this is by setting goals and rewards for completing tasks. For example, if you're trying to motivate yourself to clean the house, you could set a goal to have everything cleaned and organized by the end of the day. Then, once you've achieved your goal, you can reward yourself with something you enjoy, such as a favorite book, movie, or video game. This is the most basic Carrot-way.

More interesting way is by adding a competitive element. This can be as simple as challenging yourself to see how quickly you can complete a task or competing against others to see who can do it the best. For example, you can set a timer and see how quickly you can clean your room. Or, you can challenge a friend or family member to a cleaning contest and see who can get their room the cleanest the fastest. You can even add time element to see if you can do it on time. Having a timer always makes it more fun.

Another effective way is by adding an element of surprise. This can be as simple as randomly selecting a task for the day or introducing new challenges. For example, you can create a list of different cleaning tasks, put them in a hat, and then randomly select one to complete each day. Or you can challenge yourself to complete a task in an unusual way, such as cleaning your room blindfolded.

Finally, you can also gamify your daily routine by tracking your progress. This can be done using a simple spreadsheet or a task management app. By tracking your progress, you can see how far you've come, and this can be a powerful motivator.

In essence, gamifying your daily routine can make even the most mundane tasks more enjoyable and motivating. By setting goals and rewards, adding a competitive element, introducing an element of surprise, and tracking progress, you can make your daily routine more fun and engaging. So, the next time you find yourself dreading a task, try gamifying it and see how much more enjoyable it becomes.

Powerful gamified apps to use: Forest, Habitica, Epic Win, SuperBetter Anirudh Cheruvu