I GAMED MY BRAIN AND WON

The story of an easily distracted strategist and how some cool new armour got me focused for the first time in my life. ?

For 31 years I’ve struggled to keep sustained focus on much in my life, by the time I walk into that room to do that thing I’ve forgotten what I was there for and been distracted by that Lego city set (you know the fire station one with a jet ski that puts out fires) I never got around to building. Whether its remembering to put my shoes away or not leaving an important task to the last minute, I’ve always struggled. While those deadlines always get met with great outcomes, there’s an extra energy drain that comes from kicking yourself you weren’t more organised in the lead up to it. Working in a fast paced, high pressure industry compounds this.

I’ve tried everything to get better at it. From to do lists to timeboxing and everything in between. Going to bed earlier, doing exercise in the morning, teas, energy drinks, cutting out caffeine and weird green powders in my food to try and help me focus – Of course, nothing changed. I had the will to focus, but genuinely felt like my brain and actions were out of whack. All bark, no bite if you will.

Then like Bilbo in the caves beneath Moria, I stumbled upon something pretty precious.

An app. In 2022.

Yep, I found an app in 2022 that genuinely ticked something deep inside me and I’m so blown away that I decided to use some of that new found focus to put pen to paper about it.

That App is called “Habitica” and its concept is super simple. It’s a gamified to do list.

But its not just the game that got me hooked. The way your tasks are set out is exactly how they feel in my brain.

There’s three types of tasks.

1.??????Habits. The things you are trying to change that you can achieve multiple times a day.

For me its things like packing and unpacking the dishwasher, bringing the washing basket downstairs and even things as simple as drinking a glass of water.

2.??????Dailies. The tasks I try to do each day.

Take my pass to work, don’t forget my keys and give David (my west highland Terrier) his medicine.

3.??????To Do’s. Anything and everything that sits on a traditional to do list.

For me its breaking down projects into lots of tiny parts and getting that sweet dopamine rush every time I tick off a part, and can see what’s next.

The beauty of these being broken out like this is twofold. I can’t separate my to do’s between work, home and ‘if I get time’ so the classifications blend them seamlessly. And secondly, every time I tick of a to do for example, I see and am reminded of my dailies and habits and vice versa.

If you’ve read this far congratulations, you probably don’t need this app.

Now I mentioned above a sweet dopamine rush for ticking off tasks. And this is where the gamification element comes in. Every time you tick off a tasks, you earn gold, XP, Mana (for your spells obviously) and the chance to find loot. So every time I do something on that list, it’s like a thousand tiny rounds of applause going off. You save that gold and buy things from the in app market. I currently have a dope set of gold armour with a fire sword.

Difficult tasks get you more rewards, getting streaks on your habits get you more and not achieving them loses HP. you know the drill.

Because…Here you go…Those items help you beat bosses. Yep. Bosses. You undertake challenges and every time you do a task, it takes the health of a boss down and on you go. I do a task, get rewarded, find some cool stuff and beat a boss. Then my brain gets hooked on trying to grind out tasks to get the next set and beat the next boss. It’s a glorious cycle of productivity. ?

This is the boss I'm currently fighting for a cool new sword. Every time I do a task he takes damage.

For the more “many hands” of us, you can even link up with friends, family and co-workers to tackle bosses together. I’m thinking of doing this in the lead up to our next Christmas lunch so I'm not left sinking beers while trying to finish prep at 2am on Christmas eve all while forgetting to pick up the plates to serve it on.

I’m not being paid by Habitica to promote it, My thinking is by sharing this maybe someone else out there gets that task done, has a less stressful week or improves their relationship by remembering to put their jocks in the washing basket.

Good luck.

https://habitica.com/