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Learn how to gamify your life and finally reach your goals by gamifying your life. Here are the basics you need to get started!

How to Gamify Your Life: Ultimate Self Growth by Gamifying Your Life

Jul 17, 2023

By Will Moore

What It Takes to Reinvent Yourself and Achieve Self Growth

The Social Dilemma 

My early love of gaming eventually translated into a love for all technology. I’ve always been the guy that couldn’t wait to get my hands on the flashiest tech toys, bringing out the kid in me as I reached for the latest gadgets.

Many of the people I meet from my generation (and younger) understand this struggle. At first, it's exciting and empowering.

But as time goes by, it becomes clear that our knowledge and tech skills have outpaced our wisdom. We're so enthralled with the fact that we can do the impossible (thanks to technology), that we forget to stop and ask if we should accomplish this or that. As the late great Stan Lee once said, 

“With great power, there must also come great responsibility.” 

Technology - Is It Helping Us or Hurting Us?

Monster tech companies such as FB, Google, and other mobile apps are integral to our lives because they built their empires around giving us instant dopamine hits. We try to gather more information, clicking here, there and everywhere thinking that each new click brings us happiness.

Tech

This model revolves around selling user attention to the highest bidder to boost a business's bottom line. We're being subtly manipulated by algorithms, and our happiness and well-being are nowhere to be found. 

Combine this with the fact that the world is becoming increasingly obsessed with money, power, and fame, and it's no wonder teen suicide is at an all-time high. The World Happiness Report goes down each year, and our life span is declining for the first time in decades. 

Our relentless search for those quick dopamine hits and desire to make things more convenient has unwittingly led us to a fixed victim mindset, where we prefer the low-hanging fruit of failure habits over a growth mindset. We're so caught up in what we think we SHOULD do, that we neglect the things we NEED to do.

Technology is a great thing in that it helps us accomplish more with far less effort. And it's in our nature to exert as little effort as possible. This stems from our paleolithic days when conserving energy equated to our best chance of survival. But the downside is stunted personal development.

Growth requires discipline, but every time we choose to grab the low-hanging fruit, we're degrading our ability to maintain it. Life is unpredictable so it is important not to miss out on any opportunities life throws at us.

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The Quest for Lifestyle Gamification:

The Rise of Gamification in Various Areas of Life

In recent years, gamification has gained a lot of popularity as a strategy for engaging and motivating individuals in different aspects of life. For example, gamification apps and gaming elements has made getting back on track with diet to lose weight and achieve our health goals more fun filled experience. From habits tracker apps to productivity tools, gamification has become a powerful tool for transforming boring daily routine into exciting challenges. Gamification taps into our natural desire for achievement, competition, and rewards, making activities more enjoyable and encouraging long-term engagement.

Industries such as education, healthcare, and personal development have embraced gamification to enhance learning, promote healthy behaviors, and increase motivation. For example, language learning apps incorporate game-like elements such as point systems, levels, custom rewards, and leaderboards to make the process more interactive and fun.

The Benefits and Potential Drawbacks of a Gamification Apps:

Gamification Apps can offer several benefits. Firstly, they enhance motivation and engagement by providing clear goals, feedback, and rewards. It can foster a sense of progress and accomplishment, making even the challenging tasks more enjoyable and fulfilling. Gamified app also promotes self-discipline and habit formation, as it leverages our intrinsic motivation to continue striving for achievements and incremental progress.

However, there are potential drawbacks of gamification apps to consider. Excessive gamification can lead to dependency and addiction, where individuals prioritize virtual rewards over real-life responsibilities. It is important to live a balanced life and ensure that gamification enhances rather than replaces real-world experiences. Additionally, the effectiveness of gamification may vary among individuals, as personal preferences and intrinsic motivation levels differ.

The quest for lifestyle gamification has transformed different areas by leveraging our natural inclination for competition, achievement, and rewards. Gamification offers benefits such as increased motivation, engagement, and habit formation which help to overcome real life obstacles and gamify your life.

However, it is crucial to approach gamification mindfully, considering potential drawbacks and maintaining a balance between virtual experiences and real-life responsibilities. When implemented thoughtfully, a gamification system can enrich your lives, make you understand how to gamify your life, and make everyday tasks more enjoyable and fulfilling.

ABG - Always Be Growing

Quantum leaps in science and tech have made it exponentially easier to do less and less, all at the cost of watering down the number one ingredient for deep, long-term, soul-filling happiness: to Always Be Growing (ABG).

What Does It Mean to “Gamify Your Life”?

Gamifying your life means reducing the suffering associated with personal growth by applying game-like elements that will make you WANT to improve success habits. These game-like elements include:

  • Play

  • Competition

  • Reward system

  • Social connectivity

I've always been a gamer. When I first turned on my Atari 2600, I knew my life would never be the same. I could be anyone and do anything, and all it took to beat each game was a dedication to practice and master certain skills. Each game had its own unique challenges, and I loved decoding the different puzzles and unlocking more rewards.

What Does It Mean to “Gamify Your Life”?

As my adolescent struggles mounted, my Nintendo helped me cope with some extremely rough times. I could explore new galaxies, slay three-headed aliens, and score goals against the greatest athletes of all time. I could escape the terrible world around me and feel safe.

Much later in my own life - after finding happiness and building a life on my own terms - I began to think back to those video games.

I thought If only there was a way to translate my love for video games into real life to defeat the challenges facing major areas of my life like my mindset, relationships, and finances the same way I did those three-headed aliens

It's taken me 25 years to make this dream a reality. Part of the journey was understanding what it meant to truly be happy. It took me many years to dig my way out of my past and overcome my suicidal tendencies from my college days.

Learn More About How to Become the Best Version of Yourself

To win the game of life means figuring out what truly makes you happy. Once you know what you want out of life, you learn how to gamify your life, develop customized success habits and build positive momentum.

What I've learned is that we will never be perfect, but we can experience true happiness by gamifying self-reinvention and feeding that momentum with positive reinforcement over the course of the rest of our lives. No cheat codes necessary.

Examples of Gamification for Amusement

Many big tech companies use gamification to get us hooked on their product or service. 

As we scroll through social media, we're getting our dopamine shots from the virtual connectivity and a sense of excitement for what we might see in our feeds.

Feeds

When we order from the Starbucks app, we get points, power ups, and an immersive experience that has us wanting to come back again and again. 

Playing games like Candy Crush dazzle us with colorful graphics constantly exploding like fireworks and an extremely satisfying system of points and leveling-up.

Examples of Gamification for Personal Growth

The good news is that I've seen the pendulum begin to swing the other direction with companies incorporating wellness into their gamified products.

For example, Peloton gamifies fitness with a high-tech interface, rewards system, and social connectivity and competition with others.

Calm gamifies our meditation and breathing with advancing levels and an online community. 

Bumble gamifies meeting other people in person using social prompts, rewards, and a catchy activity of swiping right or left based on your preferences. It helps us to connect with people and build deep connection.

Preferences

Self-reinvention Can Be Fun & Addictive (in a good way)

Gamification is the process of making boring, undesirable, and/or difficult tasks easier to perform by incorporating game-like elements to reinforce daily success habits. It's a way to ease our brains more naturally into WANTING to take action by giving us those shots of dopamine in a healthier, more sustainable way.

How to Gamify your Life - The Game of Life Has Rules

Just like any game, the game of life has rules. I refer to these as universal principles that have been around since the beginning of time. The key to winning the game of life is becoming aware of and mastering these rules/principles holistically using success habits.

The Game of Life Has Rules

Growth Owner Versus Fixed Victim

I believe to beat the game of life, you must take ownership by becoming what I call a growth owner versus a fixed victim. 

A growth owner is someone who understands that every day is an opportunity to level up. By contrast, fixed victims blame their circumstances and choose instead to seek dopamine hits using shortcuts and low-hanging fruit.

Everyone can be a growth owner if they choose. And gamifying your self-growth and being present minded can help you find pleasure in the process of ongoing improvement.

Your 5 Cores

It all starts with a fundamental understanding of what makes you tick. We must identify the main areas of life, find balance, and continually work to improve them. I've labeled these main areas as the Five Areas of Life, which are…

  1. Mindset

  2. Career & Finances

  3. Relationships

  4. Physical Health

  5. Emotional Health

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Without taking all five cores seriously, you will likely excel in one area at the expense of others. An imbalance in your life will prevent happiness, which is why it’s critical to work them all together.

The more you're able to master the underlying rules of these five cores and customize them to your “player” in the “game of life,” the better chance you'll have to complete tasks at each level and increase your happiness. Doing this requires eliminating your failure habits and replacing them with success habits.

Honoring Commitments to Yourself

Discipline and accountability are the two key ingredients to achieving the deep, long-term, soul-filling happiness we all seek. It means owning those actions that ultimately result in your growth and happiness. 

Self-reinvention is understanding what needs to be done, making a plan, and sticking to the commitments you make to yourself until they become part of who you are - daily success habits.

Momentum & the Law of Compounding

Success Loop of Personal Growth

Ultimately, the ultimate goal is to help you step out of what I call your “failure loop” (guided by your fixed victim mindset) and into your “success loop” led by your growth-owner mindset. This success loop is the foundation of positive momentum in your personal goals in life.

Success Loop of Personal Growth

Powering yourself up to the next level in the game of life won’t be easy - worthwhile things rarely are. But the good news is it’s a front-loaded process that will harness the same law of compounding currently being used against you by Big Tech.

"Tiny daily improvements accumulate over time to form massive results. Improving by 1% on its own isn’t remarkable, but if you improve by 1% every single day one core at a time, it will compound into something remarkable.” – James Clear, author of Atomic Habits

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Conclusion: Embrace the Gamer to Learn How to Gamify your Life:

Embracing the gamer within can lead to a transformative journey in various areas of your life. By incorporating gamification principles and strategies, you can turn mundane daily tasks into exciting challenges, fostering motivation, engagement, and personal growth.

Through gamification, you tap into your innate desire for achievement, competition surprise rewards, and rewards, making activities more enjoyable and encouraging long-term commitment. Whether it's leveling up in a fitness app, earning badges for learning achievements, or tracking progress in a habit-building game, gamification offers a powerful tool for personal transformation.

By embracing the gamer mindset, you can infuse elements of fun, motivation, learn how to gamify your life, and purpose into everyday activities. This mindset allows you to approach new challenges with enthusiasm, persistence, and a sense of adventure. It empowers you to set goals, track progress, and celebrate achievements along the way.

So, why not embrace the gamer within and embark on a journey of transformation? Take advantage of the power of gamification to make positive changes, unlock your potential, and live a more fulfilling and exciting life. Let the gamer mindset guide you towards success, as you strive for progress, conquer challenges, and create a life that truly engages and inspires you.

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Will Moore is a gamification, habits and happiness expert.

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Address: 1101 Davis St, Evanston, IL 60201, United States

Phone: +1 847-495-2433