2023 hasn't been my best year, so I decided to gamify my 2024 to keep my motivation up and achieve my goals.Gamify can be a life changer if done correctly, because it makes your tasks feel less heavy and, most of all, just like in games, all the tasks are done to reach a bigger goal.Sometimes just wanting to achieve a goal isn't enough to complete tasks, because it's just easier to procrastinate, posticipate and not doing anything at all. For example, many people want to get in shape, but are too lazy to go to the gym, so they just don't, but this way, they'll never achieve the main goal.

Gamify your life

Just like a game, you need to set different things, both to make it more realistic and also to make it easier to stick to it and not give everything up:<ul><li>Rules</li><li>Main goals</li><li>Tasks</li><li>Points</li><li>Rewards</li><li>Skill levels</li><li>Lifes</li></ul>

How to do so

Just like a video game, there are some rules to follow, such as things you can and can't do, otherwise there are consequences. For example you could say that there are things that need to be done in a specific way, otherwise they don't count, or set time limits to beat procrastination (and eventually consequences if you don't respect them). Examples:<ul><li>Homework should always start at 15:00 and finish at 19:00, if something's left behind, you'll have to wake up sooner the day after to finish</li><li>Skincare should always have 5 steps, if even 1 isn't done, it doesn't count</li></ul>

Rules

As for saving Peach for Mario, have a few main goals you have to achieve, and to do that you need to complete smaller tasks. The goals should be specific and achievable, but most of all, it should be something you really care about. If you want to learn how to play the guitar, but you don't really care about it and you just wanna do it because playing guitar is cool, not only it will be harder to achieve the goal itself, but you'll also be less motivated to complete the tasks that you set to reach it. Example of my goals:<ul><li>Graduate from high school with maximum of grades</li><li>Achieving my dream body</li></ul>

Main goals

All the steps you have to do in order to achieve your goals, such like daily, weekly and monthly things you need to complete. The best way to make tasks easier to do is making them a habit. Our brain works better if there's a specific path to follow, so once your tasks become a habit, you basically won at life. Studies showed that if we can do something for 21 days straight, our brain recognises it as a habit, so that's the period of time to focus on. Of course it will never be possible to complete impossible tasks, especially if we're not used to them, so try to incorporate them gradually.

Tasks

This is the part that should keep you motivated: you gain points with each task, an you can set how you will use them to reward yourself irl.As stupid as it sound, we tend to be more motivated to do something if we know we're getting something in return, because not always the idea of reaching a goal is enough. Although, to make it more sustainable, you shouldn't be able to get too many point by doing the bare minimum, the best idea is giving higher points to start, to keep motivation up, and when the tasks became habits, give yourself less points each time.

Points

You can use the points you've earned to buy rewards, it depends on what the points simbolize.It they're money, you can use them to buy things irl, or maybe they're hours of free time you can spend however you want, it's completely up to you and should adapt to what would help you stick up to your plan.The only thing I recommend is don't be too generous with them, or you'll put less effort in what you do because you know that you can be rewarded without even trying.

Rewards

Another thing that can keep the motivation up: set up more points for when you level up, this will make you more committed into making your tasks an habit, since you'll need to complete them repeatedly in order to level up.These should mostly be related to your goals, but you can also add smaller things that you've always wanted to achieve but never cared too much about because "it's not that big of a deal"Examples:<ul><li>Health and igene</li><li>Calisthenics skills</li><li>Reading books</li><li>Perfect student</li></ul>

Skill levels

We're humans, we're not perfect, and so we'll inevitably make mistakes, the important thing is that we acknowledge that the mistake isn't the right path to follow. In order to keep up this ideology, setting lifes means having a limit, a maximum of mistakes you can make, and if you finish them, you choose some sort of "punishment" for yourself. To keep this up it might be useful to tell a friend about it and ask them for help, since of course we would just let it slide.

Lifes

I needed a way to beat procrastination and achieving my goals even without always having enough motivation to do so, I hope it'll help you too.

How to Gamify Your Life

Yugi